Population modelling & methods
Demography is rooted within actuarial science. As such, demographic research is rather quantitative. Thus, tracking statistical progress in demographic modelling has become challenging for a range of ecologists and conservation managers. The lack of connection between demographic modelling techniques and biologists has hindered the further combination of ecological/evolutionary questions and robust demographic models in the field.
The SalGo team leads the development of open-access R routine and packages (e.g. IPMpack, ipmR, R-Age, R-COMPADRE) that allow users to relatively easily and reliably apply demographic techniques to the analyses of laboratory and field collected data of animals, plants, and microbes. These approaches help researchers answer a wide range of questions, from conservation biology and management, to ecology, evolution and economics.
The SalGo team also runs frequent workshops on the development, analyses and interpretation of demographic modelling techniques (e.g. integral projection models, life tables, matrix population models, integrated population models) both nationally and internationally. If you would like to host one of such events, please contact us with details on the number of potential participants, venue, and economic support - we charge flight, accommodation, meals and a teaching fee (the latter is waived for developing countries). We are particularly interested in running these activities in areas of the globe where less demographic knowledge is available.
