Reproducible research in the study of biological coloration

Abstract

The study of colour in nature has generated insights into fundamental evolutionary and ecological processes, and research into colour traits is a rapidly growing field (Kelber & Osorio, 2010). The ongoing interest in biological coloration has in part been driven by the increased availability of key technologies, including spectrometry and photography, and concurrent advances in methods for analysing colour data, such as visual models (e.g. Endler & Mielke, 2005; Kelber, Vorobyev, & Osorio, 2003; Stevens, Parraga, Cuthill, Partridge, & Troscianko, 2007). While these developments are positive for the field, the increasingly complex analyses being run on ever greater amounts of data heighten the need for comprehensive methods reporting and diligent data management (Alsheikh-Ali, Qureshi, Al-Mallah, & Ioannidis, 2011; Nekrutenko & Taylor, 2012).