pavo: an R package for the analysis, visualization and organization of spectral data

1. Recent technical and methodological advances have led to a dramatic increase in the use of spectrometry to quantify reflectance properties of biological materials, as well as models to determine how these colours are perceived by animals, providing important insights into ecological and evolutionary aspects of animal visual communication. 2. Despite this growing interest, a unified cross-platform framework for analyzing and visualizing spectral data has not been available. We introduce pavo, an R package that facilitates the organization, visualization, and analysis of spectral data in a cohesive framework. pavo is highly flexible, allowing users to (a) organize and manipulate data from a variety of sources, (b) visualize data using R's state-of-the-art graphics capabilities, and (c) analyze data using spectral curve shape properties and visual system modeling for a broad range of taxa. 3. In this paper, we present a summary of the functions implemented in pavo and how they integrate...