R for all (I): Introduction to the new age of biological analyses

An increasing number of new and more sophisticated quantitative analyses forces biologists to find an adequate statistical software. In our opinion free software R is the best solution for many types of ecological and other biological analyses. R software provides tools for effective data handling, modern statistical methods and excellent graphic facilities. In our paper we introduce R, discuss benefits of the program and briefly comment several R packages appropriate for biologist. In the next articles of the series about R we will try to illustrate the usage of particular R packages or statistical methods on real data examples