Open AccessMODULAR: software for the autonomous computation of modularity in large network sets
Author(s) -
Marquitti Flavia Maria Darcie,
Guimarães Paulo Roberto,
Pires Mathias Mistretta,
Bittencourt Luiz Fernando
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
ecography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.973
H-Index - 128
eISSN - 1600-0587
pISSN - 0906-7590
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2013.00506.x
Subject(s) - modularity (biology) , modular design , computer science , bipartite graph , set (abstract data type) , software , key (lock) , ecological network , theoretical computer science , distributed computing , complex network , computation , ecology , programming language , graph , biology , genetics , computer security , ecosystem , world wide web
Many ecological systems can be represented as networks of interactions. A key feature in these networks is their organization into modules, which are subsets of tightly connected elements. We introduce MODULAR to perform rapid and autonomous calculation of modularity in network sets. MODULAR reads a set of files representing unipartite or bipartite networks, and identifies modules using two different modularity metrics widely used in the ecological networks literature. To estimate modularity, the software offers five optimization methods to the user. The software also includes two null models commonly used in studies of ecological networks to verify how the degree of modularity differs from two distinct theoretical benchmarks.