0.2 Acknowledgements

Any initiative spanning quite as long a period as the PRIMER software represents (the first recognisable elements were committed to paper over 30 years ago) is certain to have benefited from the contributions of a vast number of individuals: colleagues, students, collaborators and a plethora of PRIMER users. So much so, that it would be invidious to try to produce a list of names – we would be certain to miss out important influences on the development of the ideas and examples of this manual and thereby lose good friends! But we are no less grateful to all who have interacted with us in connection with PRIMER and the concepts that this manual represents. One name cannot be overlooked however, that of Prof Marti Anderson (Massey University, NZ); our collaboration with Marti, in which her research has been integrated into add-on software (PERMANOVA+) to PRIMER, has further broadened and deepened these concepts.

Similar sentiments apply to funding sources: most of the earlier work was done while all authors were employed by Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), and for the last 14 years two of us (KRC, RNG) have managed to turn this research into a micro-business (PRIMER-E Ltd) which, though operating quite independently of PML, continues to have close ties to its staff and former staff, represented by the other two authors (PJS, RMW). We are grateful to the former senior administrators in the PML and the Natural Environment Research Council of the UK who actively supported us in a new life for this research in the private sector – it has certainly kept us out of mischief for longer than we had originally expected!

Prof K R Clarke (founder PRIMER-E and Hon Fellow, PML)
R N Gorley (founder PRIMER-E)
Dr P J Somerfield (PML)
Prof R M Warwick (Hon Fellow, PML)
2014