Adaptions to visually noisy environments in cuttlefish

许多动物依靠它们的视觉系统完成广泛的行为任务。然而，在其他刺激物干扰视觉线索的环境中，视觉信息可能很难检测到。这种所谓的“视觉噪音”可能会阻碍某些行为，如识别猎物，但也可以被动物利用，例如，通过伪装。在海洋环境中，焦散闪烁是一种普遍存在的视觉噪声。然而，关于焦散对海洋生物视觉系统和行为的影响的文献很少。对于墨鱼来说，情况也是如此。尽管被认为是高度可视化的动物，近年来在视觉生态学领域的许多研究中也使用了焦散闪光，但对焦散闪烁对其视觉加工和相应行为方面的影响知之甚少。因此，我将使用最先进的技术，包括时空同步的强度偏振屏幕和无标记深度学习跟踪软件，调查焦散闪烁是否以及在多大程度上损害墨鱼的视力和行为。研究乌贼和其他头足类动物在腐蚀性环境中的行为，不仅有助于进一步了解这些无脊椎动物的动态行为谱和复杂的认知能力，而且对于理解动物如何处理视觉信息也具有更广泛的意义，特别是在那些神经回路与脊椎动物截然不同的动物中。

Many animals rely on their visual systems for a wide range of behavioural tasks. However, visual information can be difficult to detect in environments where other stimuli disrupt visual cues. This so-called 'visual noise' can come as a hindrance for certain behaviours such as prey detection, but can also be exploited by animals, for example, through camouflage. In the marine environment, caustic flicker is a ubiquitous visual noise. However, literature about the effect of caustics on the visual systems and behaviour of marine organisms is sparse. This is no less true for cuttlefish. Despite being considered as highly visual animals and their recent use in numerous studies in the field of vision ecology, little is known about the effect of caustic flicker on their visual processing and their corresponding behavioural aspects. Therefore, I will investigate if and to what degree caustic flicker impairs the vision and behaviour of cuttlefish using state- of-the-art technologies including spatiotemporally synchronised intensity-polarization screens and markerless deep- learning tracking software. Investigating how cuttlefish and other cephalopods behave in caustic environments is not only helpful to further comprehend the dynamic behavioural repertoires and complex cognitive abilities of these invertebrates, it also has broader implications for understanding how animals process visual information, especially in those with vastly different neural circuits to vertebrates.