Delhey plumage lightness benchmark
Environmental covariates for trait imputation on 5809 passerine species (Delhey et al. 2019).
Traits: lightness_male, lightness_female
Covariates: annual_mean_temperature, annual_precipitation, percent_tree_cover, mean_temperature_of_warmest_quarter, precipitation_of_warmest_quarter, midLatitude
Test-set RMSE
Missing: 20%
| Trait |
Mean imputation |
BM baseline |
pigauto (no covariates) |
pigauto + covariates |
|---|
| lightness_male |
1.0062 |
0.5961 |
0.5961 |
0.5956 |
| lightness_female |
1.0139 |
0.6259 |
0.6239 |
0.6275 |
Missing: 40%
| Trait |
Mean imputation |
BM baseline |
pigauto (no covariates) |
pigauto + covariates |
|---|
| lightness_male |
1.0239 |
0.6473 |
0.6473 |
0.6473 |
| lightness_female |
0.9911 |
0.7063 |
0.7073 |
0.7063 |
Missing: 60%
| Trait |
Mean imputation |
BM baseline |
pigauto (no covariates) |
pigauto + covariates |
|---|
| lightness_male |
0.9807 |
0.6943 |
0.6943 |
0.6943 |
| lightness_female |
0.9757 |
0.7273 |
0.7273 |
0.7262 |
Test-set Pearson r
Missing: 20%
| Trait |
Mean imputation |
BM baseline |
pigauto (no covariates) |
pigauto + covariates |
|---|
| lightness_male |
– |
0.8067 |
0.8067 |
0.8064 |
| lightness_female |
– |
0.7890 |
0.7912 |
0.7889 |
Missing: 40%
| Trait |
Mean imputation |
BM baseline |
pigauto (no covariates) |
pigauto + covariates |
|---|
| lightness_male |
– |
0.7759 |
0.7759 |
0.7759 |
| lightness_female |
– |
0.7120 |
0.7116 |
0.7120 |
Missing: 60%
| Trait |
Mean imputation |
BM baseline |
pigauto (no covariates) |
pigauto + covariates |
|---|
| lightness_male |
– |
0.7151 |
0.7151 |
0.7151 |
| lightness_female |
– |
0.6842 |
0.6842 |
0.6840 |
Covariate lift summary
RMSE ratio of pigauto + covariates relative to pigauto (no covariates). Values < 1 indicate covariates help.
| Missing % | Trait | RMSE (no cov) | RMSE (with cov) | Ratio |
|---|
| 20% |
lightness_female |
0.6239 |
0.6275 |
1.006 |
| 20% |
lightness_male |
0.5961 |
0.5956 |
0.999 |
| 40% |
lightness_female |
0.7073 |
0.7063 |
0.999 |
| 40% |
lightness_male |
0.6473 |
0.6473 |
1.000 |
| 60% |
lightness_female |
0.7273 |
0.7262 |
0.999 |
| 60% |
lightness_male |
0.6943 |
0.6943 |
1.000 |
Wall time: 229.2 min. Generated: 2026-04-17 17:09
Reference: Delhey K, Dale J, Valcu M, Kempenaers B (2019). Ecology Letters, 22(5): 726-736.