A Primer of Ecology With R

by Stevens, M. Henry H.

• ISBN13: 9780387898810
• ISBN10: 0387898816
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-07-15
• Publisher: Springer Nature

Summary

Ecology is more quantitative and theory-driven than ever before, and A Primer of Ecology with R combines an introduction to the major theoretical concepts in general ecology with the programming language R, a cutting edge Open Source tool. Starting with geometric growth and proceeding through stability of multispecies interactions and species-abundance distributions, this book demystifies and explains fundamental ideas in population and community ecology. Graduate students in ecology, along with upper division undergraduates and faculty, will all find this to be a useful overview of important topics.In addition to the most basic topics, this book includes construction and analysis of demographic matrix models, metapopulation and source-sink models, host-parasitoid and disease models, multiple basins of attraction, storage effects and the successional niche, neutral theory, and diversity partitioning. Several sections include examples of confronting models with data. Chapter summaries and problem sets at the end of each chapter provide opportunities to evaluate and enrich one's understanding of the ecological ideas that each chapter introduces.This book illustrates ecological ideas using R, the Open Source programming language and environment. R is rapidly becoming the lingua franca of quantitative sciences, and this text provides a straightforward introduction to using the R programming environment in ecology. An appendix provides a general introduction, and examples of code throughout each chapter give readers the option to develop their growing R skills.