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Sargent Lab - Teaching

Bio 770 - Section OO3: Graduate Seminar
Exploring Animal Social Networks

Spring Semester 2013

Tentatively Tuesdays 2:00-3:50pm (TBD)

(pdf course flyer)

Instructor: Craig Sargent, Office: 115-116, MDR#3.

Contact Information:
Telephone:
859-257-8742, 
e-mail: csargent@email.uky.edu
www: http://darwin.uky.edu/~sargent/

Textbook: Readings will be mostly from the following textbook..,

Darren P. Croft, Richard James & Jens Krause 2008. Exploring Animal Social Networks. 192pp. Princeton University Press.

...plus selected research papers from the primary literature.

Author Websites: Darren Croft, Richard James, Jens Krause

World Wide Web:  http://darwin.uky.edu/~sargent/Bio 770/770SocNet.html

Course Description: This seminar will focus on using social network theory to analyze animal social networks, from a "how to" point of view. In particular, this textbook and seminar emphasizes social networks where animals' individual identities are known, and where we have information on pairwise interactions among individuals. Emphasis is placed on what valuable new insights social network theory gives us above and beyond simply studying individual behavior or two-way interactions. We will explore actual datasets with analytical and graphical software (see below).  

Class Meetings: Class time will consist of a combination of discussion of the readings from the book and the primary literature, along with some hands on experience at the computer with real data.  

Tentative Schedule:

Topic Reading
Introduction Chapter 1
Data Collection Chapter 2
Visual Exploration Chapter 3
Node-Based Measures Chapter 4
Statistical Tests of Node Based Measures Chapter 5
Searching for Substructures Chapter 6
Comparing Networks Chapter 7
Future Directions Chapter 8
Case Studies Primary Literature

Software:

  • UCINET: A comprehensive software package for the analysis of social networks (Borgatti, S.P., Everett, M.G. and Freeman, L.C. 2002). A trial version can be downloaded here, which includes NetDraw (see below). Steve Borgatti has generously given us a license code to register these copies, and this registration code can be obtained from your instructor.
  • NetDraw: A free program for visualizing social network data in 2D space. 
  • SocProg: A series of MATLAB programs by Hal Whitehead for analyzing social structure, population structure and movement patterns of identified individuals. Runs under MATLAB, and there is a stand alone version available as well.
  • PopTools: PopTools is a free add-in for Microsoft Excel for studying matrix population models, simulation of stochastic processes, and calculation of Monte Carlo and bootstrap statistics. 

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