Camouflage Comparisons among Fox Squirrels from the Mississippi River Delta
Camouflage Comparisons among Fox Squirrels from the Mississippi River Delta
复制标题
密西西比河三角洲狐松鼠的伪装比较
DOI：
10.2307/1382215
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发表时间：
1992
影响因子：
1.7
通讯作者：
R. Kiltie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
R. Kiltie
密西西比河三角洲的狐松鼠（Sciurus niger subauratus）种群包括浅刺豚鼠、深色刺豚鼠和非刺豚鼠。我通过测量这些变形在整体亮度（强度）、亮度斑块的平均大小以及亮度斑块大小的变化方面与树皮背景的匹配程度，测试了捕食维持这种多态性的可能性。结果表明，浅色刺鼠变体始终是最神秘的，因此仅靠静态伪装无法解释多态性。要么当松鼠移动时，深色变体必须具有抗捕食者优势，要么与捕食无关的深色颜色的其他一些优势必须抵消静态伪装中浅色刺豚鼠颜色的优势。
Populations of fox squirrels ( Sciurus niger subauratus ) from the delta of the Mississippi River include pale-agouti, dark-agouti, and nonagouti-black individuals. I tested the possibility that predation could maintain this polymorphism by measuring how well these morphs matched tree-bark backgrounds with respect to overall brightness (intensity), average size of brightness patches, and variation in sizes of brightness patches. Results indicated that pale-agouti morphs consistently are most cryptic and hence that static camouflage alone cannot account for the polymorphism. Either there must be an antipredator advantage for dark morphs when the squirrels are moving, or some other advantage to dark coloration that is unrelated to predation must counterbalance the advantage to pale-agouti coloration in static camouflage.