Dynamic colour change and the confusion effect against predation

Murali, Gopal; Kodandaramaiah, Ullasa

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-36541-7

Cited by 24 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…Indeed, for limbed or convoluted three-dimensional structures, such as mangroves and branched corals, the caustic flicker will illuminate several features concurrently, which may make estimations of a scene's depth or the spatial positioning of a target more difficult. Moreover, the variation of signal that arises from water caustic flicker is likely to affect not only the perceived motion of a specific prey item, but also feature binding of individuals [37,38], the perception of group movement [39], the type of movement an organism exhibits, and colour discrimination [40]; the latter, together with the effect upon features and movements, imply possible negative consequences of water caustics for signalling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater caustics disrupt prey detection by a reef fish

et al. 2020

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Natural habitats contain dynamic elements, such as varying local illumination. Can such features mitigate the salience of organism movement? Dynamic illumination is particularly prevalent in coral reefs, where patterns known as ‘water caustics’ play chaotically in the shallows. In behavioural experiments with a wild-caught reef fish, the Picasso triggerfish ( Rhinecanthus aculeatus ), we demonstrate that the presence of dynamic water caustics negatively affects the detection of moving prey items, as measured by attack latency, relative to static water caustic controls. Manipulating two further features of water caustics (sharpness and scale) implies that the masking effect should be most effective in shallow water: scenes with fine scale and sharp water caustics induce the longest attack latencies. Due to the direct impact upon foraging efficiency, we expect the presence of dynamic water caustics to influence decisions about habitat choice and foraging by wild prey and predators.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater caustics disrupt prey detection by a reef fish

et al. 2020

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“…There are a variety of plausible alternative anti-predation mechanisms that may cause birds to evolve contrasting hidden signals [8,38,39]. Brooke [40] found that species of wader with flash marks are more likely to flock and proposed three inter-related predation-based explanations for the association, namely (i) it has evolved as a signal to conspecifics to flee, (ii) it generates a confusion effect in grouped prey and (iii) it serves to coordinate flight.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The anti-predation benefit of flash displays is related to the distance at which the prey initiates its escape

2021

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Flash behaviour is widespread in the animal kingdom and describes the exposure of a hidden conspicuous signal as an animal flees from predators. Recent studies have demonstrated that the signal can enhance survivorship by leading pursuing predators into assuming the flasher is also conspicuous at rest. Naturally, this illusion will work best if potential predators are ignorant of the flasher's resting appearance, which could be achieved if the prey flees while the predator is relatively far away. To test this hypothesis, we compared the survival of flashing and non-flashing computer-generated prey with different flight initiation distances (FIDs) using humans as model predators. This experiment found that flash displays confer a survivorship advantage only to those prey with a long FID. A complementary phylogenetic analysis of Australian bird species supports these results: after controlling for body size, species with putative flashing signals had longer FIDs than those without. Species with putative flashing signals also tended to be larger, as demonstrated in other taxa. The anti-predation benefit of flash displays is therefore related to the nature of escape behaviour. Since birds with hidden signals tend to flee at a distance, the flash display here is unlikely to function by startling would-be predators.

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“…Interference with optic flow cues may be why biting flies are deterred from landing on zebras [50]. Speed judgement errors can be accentuated by internal pattern motion in addition to whole-body motion [49,51], much like the 'passing cloud' display of cuttlefish [31].…”

Section: Increasing the Noisementioning

confidence: 99%

Camouflage in a dynamic world

Cuthill

Matchette

Scott‐Samuel

2019

Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences

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We review how animals conceal themselves in the face of the need to move, and how this is modulated by the dynamic components and rapidly varying illumination of natural backgrounds. We do so in a framework of minimising the viewer's signal-tonoise ratio. Motion can match that of the observer such that there is no relative motion cue, or mimic that of background objects (e.g. swaying leaves). For group-living animals, matched motion and coloration is a special case of the latter 'motion masquerade', where each animal is a potential signal against the noise of other individuals. Recent research shows that dynamic illumination, such as underwater caustics or dappled forest shade, greatly impedes detection of moving targets, so may change the balance of predator-prey interactions.

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Dynamic colour change and the confusion effect against predation

Cited by 24 publications

References 57 publications

Underwater caustics disrupt prey detection by a reef fish

Underwater caustics disrupt prey detection by a reef fish

The anti-predation benefit of flash displays is related to the distance at which the prey initiates its escape

Camouflage in a dynamic world

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