Publications by R on R (for ecology)
How to do a simple linear regression in R
In this tutorial I show you how to do a simple linear regression in R that models the relationship between two numeric variables. Check out this tutorial on YouTube if you’d prefer to follow along while I do the coding: The first step is to load some data. We’ll use the ‘trees’ dataset that comes built in with R: # Load the data: data(tr...
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The essential functions of R cheatsheet
? Download link is at the bottom of the post ? Something that I quickly came to learn as an ecologist using R is that out of the hundreds (possibly thousands?) of functions available in R, only a handful were those that I used frequently throughout my code. I’m also learning to speak Spanish right now, and I’ve found that for learning a new l...
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The myth of the R learning curve
I think that the “difficult” R learning curve is a myth. That’s because what people call the “R learning curve” is actually the combination of several disparate skill sets that are often taught as one conglomerated curriculum. Let me explain. Most university courses in biology that teach R, don’t just teach R. The goal of those classe...
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How to actually make a quality scatterplot in R
Scatterplots are one of the most common types of data visualizations you will encounter as a biologist. They present the relationship between two continuous variables. We might take them for granted by their simplicity, but we shouldn’t assume the seeming intuition with which we can see and comprehend these figures. They are a powerful tool, bu...
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Five fun things you can do with R (Vol. 1)
I’ve been having fun with R through some side projects lately. One of which involves trying to use some machine learning and evolutionary algorithms to teach my computer to draw… (I hope to share a post on that project before too long). But that got me thinking… so I decided to start a series of posts on fun projects you can do with R that ...
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Intro to evolutionary algorithms with R for beginners (from scratch) [PART 1]
Evolution by natural selection is a powerful process that leads to (and continues to shape) the wonderful diversity of organisms on Earth today. It is fairly simple in its mechanics—essentially an optimization routine that allows species to evolve to an ever-changing environment: Basic flowchart of biological evolution by natural selection In...
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Video tutorial on the essentials of R for ecology cheatsheet
Hey everyone! I just finished putting together a video tutorial that goes over my Essential Functions of R (for ecology) Cheatsheet. I decided to create a separate post here because some of you were asking for an easy walk-through of the functions on the cheatsheet and I think that merits its own post. For those that are ready to just download th...
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How to go from R to nice tables in Microsoft Word
As scientists, we often have data or results in R that we want to export to Microsoft Word for the reports or publications that we’re writing. In this tutorial I show you how to do just that. You can also watch this tutorial as a video if you want to follow along while I code: The first step is to load up some data. We’re going to use the Or...
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Where to ask for help when coding in R
When learning R, it can be tough to figure out how to apply what you’ve learned to your own data. We often learn general skills that are helpful for manipulating our data, but things aren’t always so simple when it comes to your own analysis. Sometimes, we have very specific problems that we need to address but don’t know how. In this blog ...
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How to install (and update!) R and RStudio
One of the first steps to learning R is to have it downloaded and installed on your computer. In this post I’ll show you how to do that and how to download and install RStudio—a key tool for using R, and how I do all my work and tutorials. If you want to follow along with a video tutorial, you can click on the image below where you can watch ...
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