MODULAR: software for the autonomous computation of modularity in large network sets

摘要

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 fi les representing unipartite or bipartite networks, and identifi es modules using two diff erent modularity metrics widely used in the ecological networks literature. To estimate modularity, the software off ers fi ve optimization methods to the user. Th e software also includes two null models commonly used in studies of ecological networks to verify how the degree of modularity diff ers from two distinct theoretical benchmarks.