IBRtools: An R package for calculating integrated biomarker indexes.

Abstract

Multibiomarker studies are useful to evaluate the early warning signs of environmental degradation, and their unified responses are often assessed through two common indexes, Integrated Biomarker Response (IBR) and Integrated Biological Responses version 2 (IBRv2). The R package IBRtools allows users to calculate both IBR and IBRv2 while simultaneously incorporating all the biomarkers under evaluation. The package includes functions for calculating the indexes IBR and IBRv2 and obtaining their standardized values, as well a function for radar chart creation and three example datasets. Here we describe the main algorithms involved in IBR and IBRv2 calculations, a description of the novel package and illustrate a workflow using data examples available on the package to guide the user on how to accurately acquire the values for either the IBR index or the IBRv2 index. The IBRtools package provides a user-friendly platform for R users to obtain IBR index and IBRv2 values, making it straightforward even for large datasets.