# Plugin diversity

**URL:** https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926
**Category:** User Support
**Created:** [March 27, 2023, 7:12am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926 "2023-03-27T07:12:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Vanesa\_Fernandez](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/vanesa_fernandez/32/15353_2.png) [@Vanesa\_Fernandez](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Vanesa_Fernandez)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 7:12am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/1 "2023-03-27T07:12:30Z")

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When I run this command I get this error, can someone check my metadata file or help me in any way?

(qiime2-2023.2) vanesa@MacBook-Pro-de-Vanesa emp-paired-end-sequences % qiime diversity alpha-group-significance   
--i-alpha-diversity core-metrics-results/faith\_pd\_vector.qza   
--m-metadata-file metadata.tsv \   
--o-visualization core-metrics-results/faith-pd-group-significance.qzv

qiime diversity alpha-group-significance   
--i-alpha-diversity core-metrics-results/evenness\_vector.qza   
--m-metadata-file metadata.tsv \   
--o-visualization core-metrics-results/evenness-group-significance.qzv  
Plugin error from diversity:

Metadata does not contain any columns that satisfy this visualizer's requirements. There must be at least one metadata column that contains categorical data, isn't empty, doesn't consist of unique values, and doesn't consist of exactly one value.

Debug info has been saved to /var/folders/gk/q2nm38xd67l\_c4r76vz0tz8m0000gn/T/qiime2-q2cli-err-g1ngs7o0.log  
Plugin error from diversity:

Metadata does not contain any columns that satisfy this visualizer's requirements. There must be at least one metadata column that contains categorical data, isn't empty, doesn't consist of unique values, and doesn't consist of exactly one value.

Debug info has been saved to /var/folders/gk/q2nm38xd67l\_c4r76vz0tz8m0000gn/T/qiime2-q2cli-err-nsorwocz.log

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### Author: ![timanix](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/timanix/32/17879_2.png) [@timanix](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/timanix)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 7:17am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/2 "2023-03-27T07:17:04Z")

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Hi!

> [@Vanesa\_Fernandez](#):
>
> Metadata does not contain any columns that satisfy this visualizer's requirements. There must be at least one metadata column that contains categorical data, isn't empty, doesn't consist of unique values, and doesn't consist of exactly one value.

In your metadata file, you should have some categorical columns in which levels are not unique. It can be a treatment, sample source, location and any other parameter you would like to test. [Here is an excellent example](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/alpha-group-significance-metadata-requiring-categorical-data/13338/4).

Best,

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### Author: ![Vanesa\_Fernandez](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/vanesa_fernandez/32/15353_2.png) [@Vanesa\_Fernandez](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Vanesa_Fernandez)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 8:42am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/3 "2023-03-27T08:42:48Z")

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![Captura de pantalla 2023-03-27 a las 10.36.48](https://forum-qiime2-org.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/2X/7/721eb7ae43356ee40eb2c140148f50f7fe509e47.png)  
I send you my table, I have columns of categorical and numerical. I don't really know where the error is.

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### Author: ![timanix](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/timanix/32/17879_2.png) [@timanix](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/timanix)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 9:24am UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/4 "2023-03-27T09:24:18Z")

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You are trying to run statistical test on your samples. It will not work if you don't have groups to compare. Based on your metadata file you have only three samples, it is not enough for statistical test. You should have groups that are not unique to compare. For example, let's take "Description" column. To run alpha diversity test, you should have replicates for each level in that column, but you have only 3 samples and all of them are unique regarding the column value.

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### Author: ![Vanesa\_Fernandez](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/vanesa_fernandez/32/15353_2.png) [@Vanesa\_Fernandez](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/Vanesa_Fernandez)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 4:47pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/5 "2023-03-27T16:47:59Z")

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I have a total of 12 samples with different treatments, but no replicates of each treatment. Does that mean I can't do this statistical analysis?

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### Author: ![timanix](https://forum.qiime2.org/user_avatar/forum.qiime2.org/timanix/32/17879_2.png) [@timanix](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/timanix)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2023, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/6 "2023-03-27T17:15:53Z")

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> [@Vanesa\_Fernandez](#):
>
> but no replicates of each treatment.

Yes, to run statistics one need at least 2 groups with replicates (minimum 3-5 replicates per group but it is always better to have more).

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### Author: ![system](https://forum-qiime2-org.s3.dualstack.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/3X/2/1/21af5fe23cb6f4579467c66a9ed94e55274ca7bd.svg) [@system](https://forum.qiime2.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2023, 11:16pm UTC](https://forum.qiime2.org/t/plugin-diversity/25926/7 "2023-04-27T23:16:24Z")

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