New textbook on Integrated Population Models

The new IPM textbook by Schaub and Kéry will kick-start your own population modelling with this powerful class of models. This book is an invaluable resource on animal population modelling in the 21st century.

Integrated population models (IPMs) are population models fit to multiple, disparate data sets via a joint likelihood. Using all available information not only makes sense, but it also leads to more precise parameter estimates and lets one estimate more parameters. Academic Press have just published the first monograph on IPMs. In part 1, the theory of IPMs is developed in detail, including concise presentations of matrix population models, which IPMs generalise, and a vast overview of the types of statistical models that form the building blocks for an IPM. Part 2 contains 10 case studies. Each species is illustrated in a superb colour photograph, which will please the naturalist heart of every statistical ecologist. All population models are defined by informative life-cycle graphs and algebra, which naturally leads to their definition in JAGS software. All essential R and JAGS code is printed in the book, while a webpage contains complete code, and an R package contains all data sets and necessary R functions. The target audience of this book ranges from ecological statisticians looking for a synthesis of the state of the art in the field, to population ecologists and conservation biologists asking scientific questions, and to wildlife managers wanting to base their decisions on scientific evidence rather than on gut feelings. The book is highly accessible and suitable for university courses and self-study alike.