<scp>RI</scp>n<scp>S</scp>p: an <scp>r</scp> package for the analysis of individual specialization in resource use

Abstract

Summary In the last decade, an increasing number of papers testifies a renewed interest in the topic of individual specialization in resource use and its implication at higher levels of ecological organization. We present the package R Individual Specialization ( RI n S p) for the free open‐source statistical software r . RI n S p provides a comprehensive set of classical and recently proposed indices for quantifying the degree of individual specialization using both categorical and continuous resource use data. The package also includes tools for ad hoc M onte C arlo and jackknife resampling procedures for significance testing, plotting and input/output data manipulation. The use of RI n S p is demonstrated by two examples. In addition, the potential of the package to be implemented beyond its original scope for multi‐level quantitative analyses of individual trait variance in natural communities is illustrated.