Background matching and disruptive coloration as habitat-specific strategies for camouflage
Background matching and disruptive coloration as habitat-specific strategies for camouflage
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DOI：
10.1038/s41598-019-44349-2
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发表时间：
2019-05-24
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Stevens, Martin
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Price, Natasha;Green, Samuel;Stevens, Martin
露营是一个关键的防御在整个类群和往往至关重要的生存。一个常见的策略是背景匹配，类似于环境的颜色和模式。然而，这种方法可能是无效的，在复杂的栖息地，匹配一个补丁可能会导致其他补丁的可见性增加。相比之下，伪装身体轮廓的破坏性色彩可能对复杂的背景有效。这些想法很少被测试，以前的工作主要集中在人工系统上。在这里，我们测试的伪装策略的海岸蟹（Carcinus maenas）在两个栖息地，是一个物种，是高度可变的，能够塑料的外观变化，生活在多种环境中。使用捕食者（鸟类和鱼类）的视觉建模和图像分析，我们量化的背景匹配和破坏螃蟹从岩石池和泥滩，预测破坏将占主导地位，在视觉上复杂的岩石池，但背景匹配更均匀的泥滩。正如预期的那样，岩石池个人有显着较高的边缘中断比滩涂蟹，而滩涂蟹更紧密地匹配的基板比岩石池蟹的颜色，亮度和图案。我们的研究表明，随性表达的伪装策略依赖于视觉环境，与防御策略的演变和相互关联的影响。
Camouflage is a key defence across taxa and frequently critical to survival. A common strategy is background matching, resembling the colour and pattern of the environment. This approach, however, may be ineffective in complex habitats where matching one patch may lead to increased visibility in other patches. In contrast, disruptive coloration, which disguises body outlines, may be effective against complex backgrounds. These ideas have rarely been tested and previous work focuses on artificial systems. Here, we test the camouflage strategies of the shore crab (Carcinus maenas) in two habitats, being a species that is highly variable, capable of plastic changes in appearance, and lives in multiple environments. Using predator (bird and fish) vision modelling and image analysis, we quantified background matching and disruption in crabs from rock pools and mudflats, predicting that disruption would dominate in visually complex rock pools but background matching in more uniform mudflats. As expected, rock pool individuals had significantly higher edge disruption than mudflat crabs, whereas mudflat crabs more closely matched the substrate than rock pool crabs for colour, luminance, and pattern. Our study demonstrates facultative expression of camouflage strategies dependent on the visual environment, with implications for the evolution and interrelatedness of defensive strategies.