Calculating the variance of the finite rate of population change from a matrix model in Mathematica [An article from: Environmental Modelling and Software]

This digital document is a journal article from Environmental Modelling and Software, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
The finite annual rate of population increase (@l) is a fundamental demographic parameter that characterizes the relative annual change in animal numbers. Uncertainty in the estimation of @l from demographic population viability analyses (PVAs) has been largely limited to sensitivity analysis, calculating a pseudo-distribution for @l@? using Monte Carlo methods, or by use of bootstrap methods. The delta method has been used and suggested by several researchers, but no one has provided the computational means to implement it. In this paper, we present Mathematica code to calculate @l and its variance based on eigenvalue calculations of a Leslie transition matrix. We demonstrate the procedure using data from a Hawaiian hawk (Buteo solitarius) study.