popdemo: an R package for population demography using projection matrix analysis

Abstract

Summary 1. Effective population management requires accurate predictions of future population dynamics and how they may be manipulated to achieve management goals. 2. The R package popdemo provides software tools for novel analytical methods that aim to enhance the predictive power of basic population projection matrix models. These include indices of transient population dynamics and transfer function analyses. 3. We use a case study to demonstrate the use and importance of these methods for population management and briefly discuss their potential application outside population ecology.