A community effect matrix is deemed valid if it is a square matrix, with no missing values, where each element has the value NA, -1, 0 or 1.
References
Puccia, C. J. and Levins, R. (1986) Qualitative Modeling of Complex Systems: An Introduction to Loop Analysis and Time Averaging. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. <tools:::Rd_expr_doi("10.4159/harvard.9780674435070")>.