Are fruit colors adapted to consumer vision and birds equally efficient in detecting colorful signals?
Are fruit colors adapted to consumer vision and birds equally efficient in detecting colorful signals?
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DOI：
10.1086/510097
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发表时间：
2007-01-01
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Vorobyev, Misha
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Schaefer, H. Martin;Schaefer, Veronika;Vorobyev, Misha
植物的繁殖通常需要动物媒介。传统上，果实和花朵的颜色被视为一种适应，以便于检测传粉者和种子传播者。这个长期存在的假设预测，与不同物种的叶子相比，水果更容易被自己的叶子检测到。我们测试了这一假设，通过分析130鸟分散的水果和它们各自的背景之间的色彩对比，根据鸟类的视觉。从鸟的角度来看，水果与它们自己的背景的对比并不比其他植物物种的对比更强烈。因此，果实颜色不适合鸟类种子传播者最大化的显眼性。然而，与果实展示相关的二级结构增加了它们的对比度。我们使用水果的颜色来评估是否紫外线和紫色类型的鸟类视觉系统同样有效地检测颜色信号。在明亮的光线下，水果和背景之间的色彩对比对紫外线视觉来说更强。这种优势是由于蓝色和紫外光锥的光谱灵敏度重叠较少，在昏暗的光线条件下会消失。我们认为，雀形目与紫外线锥可能主要使用epigamic信号，不太显眼的鸟类捕食者（大概是紫色的视觉）。此类信号的可能实例是基于类胡萝卜素的信号。
Reproduction in plants often requires animal vectors. Fruit and flower colors are traditionally viewed as an adaptation to facilitate detection for pollinators and seed dispersers. This long-standing hypothesis predicts that fruits are easier to detect against their own leaves compared with those of different species. We tested this hypothesis by analyzing the chromatic contrasts between 130 bird-dispersed fruits and their respective backgrounds according to avian vision. From a bird's view, fruits are not more contrasting to their own background than to those of other plant species. Fruit colors are therefore not adapted toward maximized conspicuousness for avian seed dispersers. However, secondary structures associated with fruit displays increase their contrasts. We used fruit colors to assess whether the ultraviolet and violet types of avian visual systems are equally efficient in detecting color signals. In bright light, the chromatic contrasts between fruit and background are stronger for ultraviolet vision. This advantage is due to the lesser overlap in spectral sensitivities of the blue and ultraviolet cones, which disappears in dim light conditions. We suggest that passerines with ultraviolet cones might primarily use epigamic signals that are less conspicuous to their avian predators (presumably with violet vision). Possible examples for such signals are carotenoid-based signals.