Models for demography of plant populations
This article discusses the use of Bayesian analysis and methods to analyse the demography of plant populations, and more specifically to estimate the demographic rates of trees and how they respond to environmental variation. It examines data from individual (tree) measurements over an eighteen-year period, including diameter, crown area, maturation status, and survival, and from seed traps, which provide indirect information on fecundity. The multiple data sets are synthesized with a process model where each individual is represented by a multivariate state-space submodel for both continuous (fecundity potential, growth rate, mortality risk, maturation probability) and discrete states (maturation status). The results from plant population demography analysis demonstrate the utility of hierarchical modelling as a mechanism for the synthesis of complex information and interactions.