Analyzing Numeric Data Column

[jecohen]

Hi! I'm trying to run my data through the Qiime pipeline and calculate diversity metrics. However, I'm having trouble getting Qiime2 to run columns in my metadata file. I'm trying to read in a numeric column, Temperature, using the code below:
qiime diversity beta-group-significance --i-distance-matrix /center1/AMPLICON/jecohen/QiimePlate001_16S/filtered2/core-metrics-results/unweighted_unifrac_distance_matrix.qza --m-metadata-file /center1/AMPLICON/jecohen/QiimePlate001_16S/filtered2/core-metrics-results/Plate001_Qiime_metadata.tsv --m-metadata-column Temperature --o-visualization /center1/AMPLICON/jecohen/QiimePlate001_16S/filtered2/core-metrics-results/unweighted-unifrac-temperature-significance.qzv --p-pairwise

However, I get the following error message: (1/1) Invalid value for '--m-metadata-file': Metadata column is of type

'numeric', but expected Categorical.

How can I define a numeric column for analysis? Here's an image of my metadata if it helps:

Thanks for the help! I'm hoping to visualize my first samples soon.

• Jake

[Mehrbod_Estaki]

Hi @jecohen ,
The short answer is you can't.
You have successfully created the distance matrix, however the PERMANOVA test in the beta-group-significance action is expecting a categorical column. From its help file:

--m-metadata-column COLUMN  MetadataColumn[Categorical]
                       Categorical sample metadata column.          [required]

If you are looking to run a test on a continuous variable, you should use the qiime diversity adonis test instead which allows for continuous variables:

--p-formula TEXT     Model formula containing only independent terms
                       contained in the sample metadata. These can be
                       continuous variables or factors,[...]

[jecohen]

Thanks! I wasn't aware of the requirements for the PERMANOVA test. I've been able to progress in my pipeline though!