The researchers compared two methods, co-inertia analysis and canonical correspondence analysis, to study a plant community in China with few environmental variables. Both methods showed similar results, with the first axes correlating with elevation. The second axis of co-inertia analysis matched the third axis of canonical correspondence analysis, and vice versa. The first three axes of both methods were linked to elevation, slope position, soil thickness, and litter layer thickness. Co-inertia analysis had higher eigenvalues and variance in species-environment relation compared to canonical correspondence analysis.