Elizabeth Hobson

2015-09-102018-09-06

Rank in parakeets

My paper “Social feedback and the emergence of rank in animal society” was published in PLOS Computational Biology. The paper is the result of some really fun collaborative work with Simon DeDeo, where we ask: what do individuals understand about rank, when do they understand it, and how do they figure it out?… [Read full details]

2015-04-102018-08-20

LaTeX revision hacks

The text of this pdf (below) provides an overview of how to use automated line referencing and updatable block quotes within a revised manuscript and in writing a letter of response to an editor. The .tex used to generate this pdf follows below.… [Read full details]

2015-04-102018-08-20

Attribute-ordered networks

Social networks can be complex, especially in dense groups where many individuals interact with many other individuals. In some cases, ties among individuals are weighted (i.e. by the number of interactions), directed (i.e. aggression is directed from a winner to a loser), and bi-directional ties occur (i.e.

… [Read full details]

2015-01-282018-08-20

Profile in Live Science

From Live Science

Parrot Pecking Order Hints at Humans’ Social Lives

By Catherine Crawley, NIMBioS | January 28, 2015 01:25am ET

Elizabeth Hobson catches a parakeet in a mist net. She studies how animals behave in their social interactions and what motivates these interactions.

… [Read full details]

2015-01-012018-11-08

Perception of relationships

My new paper was published in a special issue on Animal Social Networks. I am extremely proud of my fantastic undergraduate collaborators on this work, Darlene John and Tiffany McIntosh. They both were essential in getting the data for these experiments during a long field season in Florida.

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2014-10-192018-08-20

Socio-ecology of parakeets

Hobson, Elizabeth, Michael Avery, Timothy Wright. The socioecology of Monk Parakeets: insights into parrot social complexity. The Auk: Ornithological Advances 131(4): 756-775.

[link to journal] [link to erratum] [pdf of erratum]

**Note: Due to a bug in SOCPROG 2.4,

… [Read full details]

2010-06-012018-09-19

Adaptive flexibility hypothesis – new paper

My new paper, “Behavioral flexibility and species invasions: the adaptive flexibility hypothesis”, led by Tim Wright and Jessica Eberhard, has been published.

Abstract

Behavioral flexibility is an important adaptive response to changing environments for many animal species. Such plasticity may also promote the invasion of novel habitats by introduced species by providing them with the ability to expand or change their ecological niche, a longstanding idea with recent empirical support.

… [Read full details]

2008-08-192018-08-20

Monk parakeet project, Florida

I traveled to Gainesville Florida for some of my dissertation work on monk parakeet sociality. I worked with a captive population to study how social structure emerged in novel groups when I introduced them into large semi-natural flight pens. I had assistance from two amazing field technicians, Tiffany McIntosh and Darlene John.… [Read full details]

2007-08-212018-08-21

Monk parakeet project, Argentina

Graduate research — Entre Ríos, Argentina

I captured and marked monk parakeets, observed behavior, recorded vocalizations, and conducted experimental manipulations as part of my dissertation research.

Map tile by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC BY SA.… [Read full details]

2006-07-212018-08-21

Monk parakeet project, Connecticut

Graduate research — Connecticut

I conducted pilot work for my dissertation research. I recorded invasive monk parakeet calls, trapped birds, marked them, and observed their behavior.

Map tile by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. Data by OpenStreetMap, under CC BY SA.… [Read full details]