demogR: A Package for the Construction and Analysis of Age-structured Demographic Models in R

Abstract

The analysis of matrix population models has become a fundamental tool in ecology, conservation biology, and life history theory. In this paper, I present demogR, a package for analyzing age-structured population models in R. The package includes tools for the construction and analysis of matrix population models. In addition to the standard analyses commonly used in evolutionary demography and conservation biology, demogR contains a variety of tools from classical demography. This includes the construction of period life tables, and the generation of model mortality and fertility schedules for human populations. The tools in demogR are generally applicable to age-structured populations but are particularly useful for analyzing problems in human ecology. I illustrate some of the capabilities of the package by doing an evolutionary demographic analysis of several human populations.