IsoPOPd

IsoPOPd analyzes population matrix models to quantify how life-history vital rates, including survival and fertility, and their higher-order interactions determine the asymptotic population growth rate (finite rate of growth, i.e., the dominant eigenvalue).

Key Features:

• Characteristic equation decomposition: Applies the characteristic equation to decompose contributions of individual vital rates to the dominant eigenvalue.
• Population matrix model support: Operates on population matrix models, applicable to 2- or 3-stage life cycles and demonstrated on a 3-stage model of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
• Vital-rate quantification: Quantifies effects of survival and fertility rates on the asymptotic population growth rate.
• Higher-order interaction analysis: Captures higher-order interactions among vital rates that complicate direct linkages between management actions and population dynamics.
• Management intervention assessment: Links changes in vital rates to projected effects on population growth for evaluation of management scenarios.

Scientific Applications:

• Resource Management: Predicting outcomes of interventions by relating changes in survival and fertility to population growth.
• Conservation Biology: Informing species-specific conservation strategies through analysis of vital-rate contributions to growth.
• Ecological Research: Investigating mechanisms of population growth and the role of life-history traits and interactions in matrix models.

Methodology:

Uses population matrix models and applies the characteristic equation to decompose the contributions of survival and fertility rates to the dominant eigenvalue, demonstrated on a 3-stage Odocoileus virginianus model.