Introduction

How do we adequately capture and celebrate the scientific achievements of our mentors, colleagues, and peers to honour their legacy? Measuring and interpreting impact in the natural sciences remains a challenge (Sinatra et al. 2016). While simple indices, such as H-index, provide a measure of academic output that may approximate impact (Pauly and Stergiou 2005), they do not begin to capture broader socio-economic effects of a scientific career or the personal achievements and influence of a scientist (see https://sfdora.org/). Citation analysis largely fails to capture career contributions to the economy, environment, culture, quality of life, human health, and society (Penfield et al. 2014). This shortfall permeates through the academic reward system. For instance, a recent survey of 126 Flemish researchers identified that research assessment indicators related to openness, transparency, quality, and innovation were perceived as highly important in advancing science, but largely overlooked in faculty evaluations and career advancement decisions (Aubert Bonn and Pinxten 2021). Moreover, the influence of our mentors on their peer and student networks extends broadly, having far-reaching implications that are difficult to identify and assess qualitatively and even more difficult to assess quantitatively. The field of bibliometrics is rapidly advancing our ability to better capture the sphere of influence of a scientist and their contributions beyond simple indices. Herein, I use bibliometric tools to synthesize the scientific contributions of the late David Lloyd George Noakes (1942–2020) based on a compiled Endnote™ library of his publications (library available upon request). David was scientifically productive, but his legacy far exceeds simple academic standards in myriad ways; his career provides a shining example of great science and the life of a great scientist.

The compiled bibliography is not likely complete, but it provides a large enough sample to draw meaningful inferences about David’s scientific contributions. I sincerely apologize for any omissions as they were unintentional. While a simple synthesis of academic achievements falls short of demonstrating the immense impact of this remarkable man, it should provide readers with a sense for the scope and scale of David’s scientific contributions and provide a glimpse of the diverse global network he developed and nurtured over the course of his career. This bibliographic synthesis is intended to form the basis for the many detailed investigations of notable achievement, advancement of fields, and societal impact within this volume that together may honour the loss of a giant in our field—David Lloyd George Noakes (1942–2020).

The professional career of Dr. D.L.G. Noakes

David Noakes was a scholar and educator. In 1965, he earned a B.Sc. (Honours) in Biology, and in 1966, an M.Sc. in Zoology from the University of Western Ontario. In 1971, he earned a Ph.D. in Zoology from University of California, Berkeley. After a brief stint as demonstrator in the Zoology Department at the University of Edinburgh (1970–1972), he accepted a position at University of Guelph, Ontario where he spent 33 years (1972–2005). During his time at Guelph, he served as Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, Acting Chair of the Zoology Department (1989–1990), and Director of the Axelrod Institute of Ichthyology (1990–1996; 2000–2002). In 2005, he accepted the position of Full Professor at Oregon State University in the Fisheries and Wildlife Department, serving as Director of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center (OHRC) where he remained until his passing in 2020. David also served as a visiting professor at 11 institutions in Canada, China, England, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Thailand, and the USA.

Bibliographic overview

David Noakes was an editor. He served as Editor of the Fish & Fisheries Monograph Series (Springer; 1999–2020), Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Biology of Fishes (Springer; 2001–2020); Co-Editor of Fundamental Ecology monograph series (Springer; 2005–2020); and Editor of Guelph Ichthyology Reviews (1990–2005). He has also served as Advisory Editor for Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (1995–1997) and Associate Editor for Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (1997–1998). Editorial service is part of the “invisible labor” of academia and often unrecognized or undervalued in academic reward structures, even though it prominently contributes to advancing fields, steering future research directions, and providing a primary teaching resource.

David was a prolific writer. He produced more than 213 publications including nine books, 29 book sections, and 175 peer-reviewed articles between 1973 and 2021 (average ~ 4.5 publications per year; Table 1). According to his 2010 curriculum vitae, he also published 15 non-peer-reviewed reports and 14 book reviews between 1969 and 2010 (not included in Table 1). I was unable to collect accurate records of non-peer-reviewed publications for the last decade or so of his career, but these certainly included annual reports of the OHRC and other valuable contributions. Several articles he co-authored and a book—The behavior, ecology and evolution of cichlid fishes; edited by Maria E. Abate and David L.G. Noakes (2021; not included in Table 1 as it was published after compiling the data for the current article)—were published posthumously, and more contributions may be forthcoming. David was the sole author of 34 (~ 16%) and lead author of 22 (~ 10%) articles. David used publishing as a means to mentor and advance the careers of junior members of his network, often offering them lead authorship as opposed to taking credit himself. His articles appeared in diverse outlets ranging from applied journals, such as the North American Journal of Fisheries Management, to leading academic journals, such as Current Biology (impact factor 9.6 based on 2020 data).

Table 1 Bibliography of publications by David L.G. Noakes between 1972 and 2021
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Research themes

David Noakes was thematically focused but conceptually broad. His research aligned with three primary themes: (1) behaviour, ecology, and evolution of fishes; (2) behaviour as it influences fish populations; and (3) native salmonine conservation. Eight focal areas are nested within the three research themes (Table 2). The first two themes encompassing six focal areas were self-identified by David in his 2010 curriculum vitae, whereas the third theme aligns with the OHRC mission and to some extent demarcates a shift in focus during the second half of his career. However, despite changes in study organisms and systems concurrent with his move to OHRC, most of his research during the latter half of his career still aligned with the two self-identified research themes, but was separated herein to recognize valuable contributions to the OHRC mission. Among the 213 articles compiled (Table 1), 172 aligned with themes and focal areas. Note that my alignment of publications with focal areas was largely subjective, and while based on publication titles and keywords, some overlap among thematic areas led to uncertainty in alignment of some publications with themes. Despite this caveat, behaviour, ecology, and evolution of fishes (research theme 1) was clearly the most active area of research comprising 75% of his efforts (Fig. 1). Native salmonine conservation was the next most accomplished theme comprising 20% of his efforts and nearly all effort during the latter portion of his career at OHRC. An overarching concept that permeated all of David’s teaching and research was the notion of pattern and process. “Pattern” refers to natural history or the cataloguing and describing of biological diversity and the word pattern appeared in 124 (~ 58%) of his publications (based on PDF search via Endnote™). “Process” refers to the events that are responsible for the patterns of diversity at any given time and appeared in 95 (~ 45%) publications. The phrase “patterns and processes” appeared in six publications. Outside of the research themes identified in Table 2, an additional 22 publications focused on applied science, that is, tools, techniques, and technologies, such as the efficacy of clove oil as a fish anesthetic, defining management and conservation units, and recently, producing wild fish phenotypes in the hatchery. Nineteen (11%) publications did not relate to his research themes; 12 of those were tributes to colleagues and five were on birds (Aves spp.; see “Taxonomy of research” below).

Table 2 Thematic and focal areas of David L.G. Noakes’ research program. The first two research themes were self-identified and the third reflects the mission of the Oregon Hatchery Research Center (2014 Research Plan; available here: https://www.dfw.state.or.us/fish/ohrc/docs/2021/OHRC_Research_Plan.pdf), where he spent the later portion of his career
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Fig. 1
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Publications (1973–2021) by David L.G. Noakes organized by three main research themes and focal areas within those themes: (A) early social behaviour of salmonid fishes; (B) early life history and evolution of charrs, Salvelinus species; (C) biology of North Atlantic eels Anguilla anguilla and A. rostrata; (D) behaviour, ecology, and evolution of sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus in Iceland; (E) impact of barrier dams on stream fishes; (F) biology and conservation of sturgeons Acipenser species; (G) mechanisms that create differences between hatchery and wild salmonines; and (H) approaches to manage hatchery fish that conserve and protect native salmonines

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Taxonomy of research

Given the research themes described above, it is not surprising that a broad range of species were represented in David Noakes’ research programme. One hundred-and-fifty-four publications aligned with 38 species in 16 families and three classes (Fig. 2). Salmonidae was the most prevalent taxonomic group studied, representing nearly 60% of his 154 species-specific published works (n = 92)—the Salvelinus charrs comprising nearly half of that effort (n = 49). Remarkably, the next most prevalent taxonomic group was Homo sapiens (n = 12). David made concerted effort throughout his career to celebrate the field of fish biology and honour its foremothers and fathers. He led or contributed to twelve tributes, the most famous of which were Springer Developments in Environmental Biology of Fishes volumes in appreciation of Dr. Bill Ricker and an anthology in honour of Women in Ichthyology: Ethelwynn Trewavas, Rosemary Lowe-McConnell, and Eugenie Clark. He cared deeply about people, history, and tradition.

Fig. 2
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Taxonomy of publications (1973–2021) by David L.G. Noakes

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Scientific network

David Noakes was collaborative. He was remarkable at facilitating connections, particularly for his students, and fostering strong and lasting collaborations that often resulted in enduring friendships. His ability to connect people to ideas and ideas to people is evidenced by 262 unique co-authors and co-editors, including his son (Jeff) and brother (Don). Co-authors were associated with 110 unique partner institutions: 60 academic; 25 federal or national government; 13 sub-federal government; 7 industrial; 4 Indigenous organizations or communities; and 2 international commissions (data from co-author affiliations for 171 [~ 80%] of the publications compiled in Table 1). His co-author network spanned 17 countries. The ratio of female (45%) to male students (including committees and post-docs) mentored by David Noakes is noteworthy and admirable, demonstrating a remarkable quality of character and strong support for diversity and inclusion in STEM, well ahead of its time.

David’s co-author network (data from 158 articles downloaded from Scopus on 01 December 2021 representing ~ 75% of articles compiled in Table 1) consisted of 41 clusters, the largest containing 22 co-authors contributing to work on lampreys (Petromyzontidae) (Fig. 3). The right side of the network depicted in Fig. 3 largely represents relationships from his time at the University of Guelph (1972–2005), including strong nodes associated with Icelandic and Japanese collaborations, and primarily focuses on research theme 1 (behaviour, ecology, and evolution of fishes). The left side of the network depicts his collaborations at Oregon State University and is primarily associated with research theme 3 (native salmonine conservation). Research theme 2 (behaviour as it influences fish populations) is represented by the cluster at the top center with F.W.H Beamish at its centroid. The strongest nodes emerging from David’s co-author network were Carl Schreck (Oregon State University; 18 articles), Moira Ferguson (University of Guelph; 14 articles), Skúli Skúlason (Hólar University/Icelandic Museum of Natural History; 12 articles), and Rob McLaughlin (University of Guelph; 11 articles).

Fig. 3
figure 3

Co-authorship network generated from a subset (n = 158) of publications by Dr. David L.G. Noakes between 1973 and 2021 (data from Scopus, 01 December 2021). Each circle represents a co-author (not all names provided) and the size of the circle represents the number of co-authorships. Colours correspond to year of publication per the scale in the top left corner of the figure. The co-author network was visualized using VOSviewer (available here: https://www.vosviewer.com/)

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Many enduring relationships were facilitated by David through scientific conferences and symposia he either co-founded or regularly attended, including the Charr Symposium, the Coregonid Symposium, Ecological and Evolutionary Ethology of Fishes, and the Yodzis Symposium. Through these meetings, he developed strong working relationships and even stronger friendships. David’s co-authors only represent a fraction of his social and professional network, which included undergraduate students, university administrators and staff, resource managers, rightsholders, stakeholders, and the public—these elements of his network are difficult to quantify, but certainly helped define who he was and what he represented (Bouvier et al. this issue).

Concluding remarks

David Noakes left a strong legacy in his scientific contributions and that legacy will perpetuate via his vast lineage of students and network of colleagues, many of whom were close friends. While I attempted to synthesize his bibliography and took a cursory look at his co-author network, other contributions to this issue will certainly dive deeper into notable achievements, advancement of fields, and societal impacts of the career works of David L.G. Noakes. Rest easy, sir—you will be missed, but never forgotten.