E07: Dai Shizuka on Sociality and Space Use

Episode Summary:

In this episode, Matthew speaks with Dai Shizuka (@ShizukaLab), an associate professor in the school of biological sciences at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

They start out by talking about social networks in humans and non-human animals. They discuss applying these techniques to non-model organisms, like the golden-crowned sparrows that Dai has studied. Then they talk about the relationship between space use and sociality, and the feedback between the two.  After the break, they talk about how Dai was drawn to animal behavior while growing up in urban environments, and his work to promote justice for those in his academic and non-academic communities.

For more content from this interview with Dai, check out the Supplemental Material bonus episode in your feed.

This week's Two-Minute Takeaway comes from Brett Hodinka (@BrettHodinka), a graduate student at Simon Fraser University. Read more about Brett's work here.

Media relevant to today's show:

1.  Dai's paper establishing the existence of stable social networks in golden-crowned sparrows

Shizuka, D., Chaine, A. S., Anderson, J., Johnson, O., Laursen, I. M., & Lyon, B. E. (2014). Across‐year social stability shapes network structure in wintering migrant sparrows. Ecology Letters, 17(8), 998-1007.

2.  Dai's work demonstrating that manipulation of badges of status does not fool sparrows that know each other

Chaine, A. S., Shizuka, D., Block, T. A., Zhang, L., & Lyon, B. E. (2018). Manipulating badges of status only fools strangers. Ecology letters, 21(10), 1477-1485.

3.  Check out the Asian Community and Cultural Center in Lincoln, NE

Credits:

The Animal Behavior Podcast is created by Matthew Zipple (@MatthewZipple) and Amy Strauss (@avstrauss).

You can contact us at animalbehaviorpod@gmail.com and find us on Twitter (@AnimalBehavPod).

Our theme song is by Sally Street (@Rainbow_Road13), assistant professor in evolutionary anthropology at Durham University in the UK. You can find her on Sound Cloud here: https://soundcloud.com/rainbow_road_music.

Musical transitions by André Gonçalves (@fieryangelsfell), a researcher at the primate research institute at Kyoto University.

Our logo was designed by Adeline Durand-Monteil (@adelinedurandm), a master’s student in ecology and evolution. You can see more of Adeline's work on her website: https://adelinedurandmonteil.wordpress.com/.

The Animal Behavior Podcast is produced with support from the Animal Behavior Society (@AnimBehSociety)