Evaluating intercepts from demographic models to understand resource limitation and resource thresholds

Understanding resource limitation is critical to effective management and conservation of wild populations, however resource limitation is difficult to quantify partly because resource limitation is a dynamic process. Specifically, a resource that is limiting at one time may become non-limiting at another time, depending upon changes in its availability and changes in the availability of other resources. Methods for understanding resource limitation, therefore, must consider the dynamic effects of resources on demography. We present approaches for interpreting results of demographic modeling beyond analyzing model rankings, model weights, slope estimates, and model averaging. We demonstrate how interpretation of y-intercepts, odds ratios, and rates of change can yield insights into resource limitation as a dynamic process, assuming logistic regression is used to link estimates of resources with estimates of demography. In addition, we show how x-intercepts can be evaluated with respect to odds ratios to understand resource thresholds.