Morrison, E. S. | Search bioRxiv

bioRxiv2026

Biophysical resetting of specialization drives evolutionary diversification of a metabolic network

Organisms must integrate external inputs whose availability they do not control into internal functions that require precision. Birds exemplify this challenge: they cannot synthesize carotenoids, yet closely integrate diet-derived carotenoids into vision, pigmentation and yolk provisioning, raising the question of how unpredictability of external supply coevolves with precision of internal use. Here we analyze 32 core carotenogenesis proteins across 172 bird species and show that the resolution is a biophysical bow-tie: ordered, self-attracting complexes of absorption and enzymatic conversion proteins are linked by a hub of disordered, phase-separating and self-avoiding carriers that consistently resets the propagation of specialization. Across species, the specialization-resetting properties of these carriers and not the changes in conserved absorption or enzymatic complexes drive metabolic network diversification by inducing metabolic branching rather than by accumulating dietary carotenoid-specific paths. By decoupling the upstream origin of inputs from their downstream routing, this biophysical bow-tie architecture explains three defining features of avian carotenogenesis: physiological sensitivity, openness to novel inputs, and the internalization of control required for precise internal functions. Non-specific carriers thus produce specific outcomes, sustaining the connectivity and remarkable diversification of a metabolic network built entirely on an unpredictable external resource.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2024

Bird Name-a-thon: Categorizing English bird names using crowdsourcing

Common names of species are important for communicating with the general public. In principle, these names should provide an accessible way to engage with and identify species. The common names of species have historically been labile without standard guidelines, even within a language. Currently, there is no systematic assessment of how often common names communicate identifiable and biologically relevant characteristics about species. This is a salient issue in ornithology, where common names are used more often than scientific names for species of birds in written and spoken English, even by professional researchers. To gain a better understanding of the types of terminology used in the English-language common names of bird species, a group of 85 professional ornithologists and non-professional contributors classified unique descriptors in the common names of all recognized species of birds. In the AvianLexiconAtlas database produced by this work, each species common name is assigned to one of ten categories associated with aspects of avian biology, ecology, or human culture. Across 10,906 species of birds, 89% have names describing the biology of the species, while the remaining 11% of species have names derived from human cultural references, human names, or local non-English languages. Species with common names based on features of avian biology are more likely to be related to each other or be from the same geographic region. The crowdsourced data collection also revealed that many common names contain specialized or historic terminology unknown to many of the data collectors, and we include these terms in a glossary and gazetteer alongside the dataset. The AvianLexiconAtlas can be used as a quantitative resource to assess the state of terminology in English-language common names of birds. Future research using the database can shed light on historical approaches to nomenclature and how people engage with species through their names.

zoology↗