©2016 The R Foundation

Scientific software is an increasingly important part of scientific research, and ecologists have been at the forefront of developing open source tools for ecological research. Much of this software is distributed via R packages – there are over 200 R packages for ecology and evolution on CRAN alone. Methods regularly publishes Application articles introducing R packages (and other software) that enable ecological research, and we’re always looking for new ways to enable even more and better ecological software.

This December, we will be teaming up with rOpenSci and special interest groups from BES, GfÖ and NecoV to hold our first Ecology Hackathon at the Ecology Across Borders conference in Ghent. The hackathon will be held as a one-day pre-conference workshop on Monday 11th December. Together, the attendees will identify some challenges for ecological research, and team up to build R packages that help solve them.

We’ve started compiling potential topics for new R packages in a collaborative document, but we need more. Are you having any difficulties in your research that could be solved with an R package? Is there a package that you wish existed but have never been able to find? If so, WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Please take a look at our current list of challenges and add your suggestions!