Biology subjects

Pick, J. L.

Publications and source records attributed to Pick, J. L..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

Colonial legacies in eponymous species names: a global network perspective

Eponymous etymologies (i.e., organisms named after people) are prevalent in global taxonomy worldwide, across scientific and common names. The persistent usage of eponyms has been intensely debated in recent times, across various sociopolitical, applied and philosophical perspectives. However, a rigorous statistical analysis of eponyms and their enduring colonial legacies remains hitherto unexplored. Here, we use a global and spatially-explicit network analysis to examine 2416 contemporary bird eponyms (21% of all bird species on earth) and their relationships with historical European colonialism. Additionally, we develop and utilise a Colonial Exposure Index (CEI) that summarizes the geopolitical influence of various colonial empires on modern-day countries. Our results show that an overwhelming majority of bird eponyms worldwide are named after people belonging to countries where the bird species does not occur. A majority of these eponyms honor scientists, aristocrats and army officers from erstwhile colonial empires, with eponymous species descriptions peaking during colonial expansion. Importantly, our analysis highlights a positive relationship between the Colonial Exposure Index (a metric factoring the duration and area of a country colonized by a specific empire) and the number of eponymous bird species honoring persons from that specific empire. Our temporal analysis, however, shows that the use of eponyms has recently shifted towards honoring native persons and distinguished conservation champions. Overall, this study presents an important statistical examination of eponyms and their colonial legacies, thereby providing valuable context for ongoing debates on the reform or retention of eponyms worldwide.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2025

Plasma insulin-like growth-factor 1 (IGF-1) concentrations predict early life-history traits in a wild mammal

O_LIThe hormone insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) is a key player in the insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS) pathway. Extensive biogerontological research demonstrates that this evolutionarily conserved nutrient-sensing pathway plays a causal role in the regulation of growth, reproduction and longevity under laboratory conditions. However, its potential role as a mediator of adaptive life-history variation in highly variable natural environments remains unclear. C_LIO_LIWe measured IGF-1 concentrations in blood samples from approximately four-month-old wild Soay sheep lambs (n=669), collected over nine summers. We tested whether IGF-1 (i) was positively correlated with proxies of resource availability, (ii) was associated with morphological traits measured concurrently, and (iii) predicted subsequent fitness-related traits. C_LIO_LIPlasma IGF-1 concentrations were higher in males compared to females, and positively correlated with measures of resource availability in both sexes. IGF-1 was lower in years of high population density when per capita food availability was reduced; in twin lambs who have fewer available resources compared to singletons; and in lambs born to young and old mothers, who have poor maternal provisioning compared to mothers of intermediate age. C_LIO_LIHigher IGF-1 levels in summer were correlated with higher body mass, faster post-natal somatic growth and increased skeletal size, measured at the same time. These associations were independent of our proxies of resource availability. C_LIO_LILambs with higher summer IGF-1 were more likely to survive their first winter and reproduce the following spring. The association between IGF-1 and reproduction was independent of our resource availability proxies, whereas the association with first-winter survival was not. The association between summer IGF-1 and reproduction was mediated by positive associations with summer body mass. C_LIO_LIOur study reveals population-level phenotypic plasticity in circulating IGF-1, also finding IGF-1 to be positively associated with key morphological traits and positively predict fitness traits in early life. These findings highlight IGF-1 as a candidate physiological mechanism underpinning plastic responses to variation in food availability and influencing life-history traits in a wild mammal. C_LI

ecology↗

bioRxiv2024

Separating the genetic and environmental drivers of body temperature during the development of endothermy in an altricial bird

When altricial birds hatch, they are unable to regulate their own temperature, but by the time they fledge they are thermally independent. Early-life conditions have been shown to be an important factor contributing to an individuals performance in adult life. However, it is currently unknown to what extent body temperature during endothermy development is driven by genetic variation or by the early environment. We use thermal images of cross-fostered house sparrows (Passer domesticus) throughout the nestling period to separate genetic and environmental drivers of body temperature. Our results show small heritability of body temperature. We further found that there are effects from the natal environment which carry over into the late nestling stage. A correlation between early to the mid-nestling period was explained by the natal environment and during this period body temperature and growth follow independent developmental trajectories. Furthermore, higher body temperature is under viability selection independent of body mass. We, therefore, demonstrate the natal environment influences future offspring phenotype in a novel measure; body temperature. Our study provides the first study into the environmental and genetic drivers of body temperature variation in a wild bird, furthering our understanding of how an individuals traits evolve.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2018

Reproducible, flexible and high throughput data extraction from primary literature: The metaDigitise R package

O_LIResearch synthesis, such as comparative and meta-analyses, requires the extraction of effect sizes from primary literature, which are commonly calculated from descriptive statistics. However, the exact values of such statistics are commonly hidden in figures.\nC_LIO_LIExtracting descriptive statistics from figures can be a slow process that is not easily reproducible. Additionally, current software lacks an ability to incorporate important meta-data (e.g., sample sizes, treatment / variable names) about experiments and is not integrated with other software to streamline analysis pipelines.\nC_LIO_LIHere we present the R package metaDigitise which extracts descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations and correlations from four plot types: 1) mean/error plots (e.g. bar graphs with standard errors), 2) box plots, 3) scatter plots and 4) histograms. metaDigitise is user-friendly and easy to learn as it interactively guides the user through the data extraction process. Notably, it enables large-scale extraction by automatically loading image files, letting the user stop processing, edit and add to the resulting data-frame at any point.\nC_LIO_LIDigitised data can be easily re-plotted and checked, facilitating reproducible data extraction from plots with little inter-observer bias. We hope that by making the process of figure extraction more flexible and easy to conduct it will improve the transparency and quality of meta-analyses in the future.\nC_LI

evolutionary biology↗