Spectral tuning of Amazon parrot feather coloration by psittacofulvin pigments and spongy structures

Tinbergen, Jan; Wilts, Bodo D.; Stavenga, Doekele G.

doi:10.1242/jeb.091561

Cited by 46 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(46 reference statements)

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“…663 Thus, our findings indicate that many species of red and yellow feathered birds that appear 664 conspicuous to other birds and humans may in fact be cryptic or poorly visible to predators 665 because of background matching (Stevens and Merilaita, 2011). Our findings also have broader Focusing now on peacock eyespots, the large color contrasts for peafowl vision arise from 689 spectral tuning between the reflectance spectra of each peacock eyespot color patch and peafowl 690 single cone spectral sensitivities, similar to the agreement reported earlier between red and 691 yellow pigment reflectance spectra and tetrachromatic UVS cone responses for parrot plumage 692 and vision (Tinbergen et al, 2013). It is especially notable that the greatest color contrasts are 693 due to the blue-green ring, since its iridescence has been found to correlate with peacock mating 694 success (Dakin and Montgomerie, 2013;Loyau et al, 2007), and its chromatic contrast was 695 calculated to be the most salient signal in images of a displaying peacock (Pike, 2018).…”

supporting

confidence: 88%

How conspicuous are peacock eyespots and other colorful feathers in the eyes of mammalian predators?

Kane

Wang

Fang

et al. 2019

Preprint

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16Feathers perceived by humans to be vividly colorful are often presumed to be equally 17 conspicuous to other mammals, and thus to present an enhanced predation risk. However, many 18 mammals that prey on adult birds have dichromatic visual systems with only two types of color-19 sensitive visual receptors (one sensitive to ultraviolet light), rather than the three characteristic of 20 humans and four of most birds. Thus, understanding how these predators perceive color requires 21 quantitative visual modeling. Here, we use a combination of reflectance spectroscopy, 22 multispectral imaging, color vision modelling and visual texture analysis to compare the visual 2 23 signals available to conspecifics and to mammalian predators for multicolored feathers from the 24 Indian peacock (Pavo cristatus) as well as red and yellow parrot feathers; we also take into 25 account the effects of distance-dependent blurring due to visual acuity. When viewed by 26 tetrachromatic birds against a background of green vegetation, most of the feathers studied had 27 color and brightness contrasts similar to values previously found for ripe fruit. By contrast, 28 when viewed by dichromat mammalian predators, the color and brightness contrasts of these 29 feathers were only weakly detectable and often did not reach detection thresholds for typical 30 viewing distances. We furthermore show that the peacock's erect train has undetectable color 31 and brightness contrasts and visual textures when photographed against various foliage 32 backgrounds. Given the similarity of photoreceptor sensitivities and feather reflectance 33 properties across relevant species, these findings are consistent with many feathers of similar hue 34 being inconspicuous, and in some cases potentially cryptic, in the eyes of their mammalian 35 predators. These results suggest that many types of colorful feathers are likely to be cryptic to 36 mammals while providing a communication channel perceptible to birds, while emphasizing the 37 importance of understanding diverse sensory receivers in the evolution of animal coloration. 38 39 5 91predators with a variety of visual systems (Stevens and Merilaita, 2011). Our goal was to test the 92 assumption that colorful feathers that are highly conspicuous to conspecific birds are also readily 93 detectable by these predators. To determine how generalizable our results were to other hues of 94 colorful plumage, we also measured reflectance spectra and multispectral images of red and 95 yellow parrot feathers. We then used psychophysical vision models to test whether conspecifics 96 and dichromatic mammalian predators can readily detect the color and brightness contrasts 97 between feathers and green vegetation. Our analysis modeled the appearance of feathers at 98 various distances to determine when each observing species could distinguish color patches 99 relative to the surrounding environment. 100 101 In addition to color cues, visual salience depends on the presence of pattern features that are 102 perceptually discr...

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supporting

confidence: 88%

How conspicuous are peacock eyespots and other colorful feathers in the eyes of mammalian predators?

Kane

Wang

Fang

et al. 2019

Preprint

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“…in budgerigars and parrots [28,29]. For instance, the wing scales of the nireus group papilionids (Papilio: Papilionini) have inconspicuous ridges above a pigmented layer of irregular cylinders, separated from a flat lower lamina, which acts as a thin film reflector [12].…”

Section: Tuning Of Wing Colorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spectrally tuned structural and pigmentary coloration of birdwing butterfly wing scales

Wilts

Matsushita

Arikawa

et al. 2015

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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The colourful wing patterns of butterflies play an important role for enhancing fitness; for instance, by providing camouflage, for interspecific mate recognition, or for aposematic display. Closely related butterfly species can have dramatically different wing patterns. The phenomenon is assumed to be caused by ecological processes with changing conditions, e.g. in the environment, and also by sexual selection. Here, we investigate the birdwing butterflies, Ornithoptera , the largest butterflies of the world, together forming a small genus in the butterfly family Papilionidae. The wings of these butterflies are marked by strongly coloured patches. The colours are caused by specially structured wing scales, which act as a chirped multilayer reflector, but the scales also contain papiliochrome pigments, which act as a spectral filter. The combined structural and pigmentary effects tune the coloration of the wing scales. The tuned colours are presumably important for mate recognition and signalling. By applying electron microscopy, (micro-)spectrophotometry and scatterometry we found that the various mechanisms of scale coloration of the different birdwing species strongly correlate with the taxonomical distribution of Ornithoptera species.

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“…The yellow color remains unchanged on both the dorsal and ventral sides. As indicated in [25,26], this yellow color is caused by a special class of pigment called psittacofulvins. The barbules attached to the green barbs also contain the yellow pigment.…”

Section: Optical Structural and Spectral Characterisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…6 shows the calculated reflection spectra for four characteristic lengths: 140, 175, 205, and 230 nm. Note that parrots have four types of cone photoreceptors that are respectively sensitive to UVA, blue, green, and red wavelengths [25,39]. Thus, the choice of these specific values is to render the resulting reflection peaks that match the sensitivity peaks of parrot visual photoreceptors.…”

Section: Optical Function Of the Yellow Pigmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Color Production in Blue and Green Feather Barbs of the Rosy-faced Lovebird

Zhang

Dong

Shi

et al. 2014

Materials Today: Proceedings

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We study experimentally and theoretically the coloration mechanisms of blue and green feather barbs in the rosy-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis). Structural characterizations reveal that both the blue and green barbs contain a similar rod-connected amorphous diamond-structured photonic crystal (RAD-PC), producing basically a non-iridescent blue structural color. Numerical simulations show that the existence of a photonic pseudogap in the photonic density of states of the RAD-PC is the physical origin of the non-iridescent blue coloration. The green color in the green barbs is a mixed color coming from the blue structural color in the RAD-PC and the yellow color in the cortex layer that contains a yellow pigment. The optical function of the yellow pigment for achieving a saturated green color is discussed. The interesting coloration mechanisms unraveled may help us get in-depth understandings of the ingenious strategies of color production in nature and valuable inspirations as well.

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Spectral tuning of Amazon parrot feather coloration by psittacofulvin pigments and spongy structures

Cited by 46 publications

References 29 publications

How conspicuous are peacock eyespots and other colorful feathers in the eyes of mammalian predators?

How conspicuous are peacock eyespots and other colorful feathers in the eyes of mammalian predators?

Spectrally tuned structural and pigmentary coloration of birdwing butterfly wing scales

Color Production in Blue and Green Feather Barbs of the Rosy-faced Lovebird

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