Outline and surface disruption in animal camouflage. Export

@article{citeulike:3653136, abstract = {Camouflage is an important strategy in animals to prevent predation. This includes disruptive coloration, where high-contrast markings placed at an animal's edge break up the true body shape. Successful disruption may also involve non-marginal markings found away from the body outline that create 'false edges' more salient than the true body form ('surface disruption'). However, previous work has focused on breaking up the true body outline, not on surface disruption. Furthermore, while high contrast may enhance disruption, it is untested where on the body different contrasts should be placed for maximum effect. We used artificial prey presented to wild avian predators in the field, to determine the effectiveness of surface disruption, and of different luminance contrast placed in different prey locations. Disruptive coloration was no more effective when comprising high luminance contrast per se, but its effectiveness was dramatically increased with high-contrast markings placed away from the body outline, creating effective surface disruption. A model of avian visual edge processing showed that surface disruption does not make object detection more difficult simply by creating false edges away from the true body outline, but its effect may also be based on a different visual mechanism. Our study has implications for whether animals can combine disruptive coloration with other 'conspicuous' signalling strategies.}, author = {Stevens, Martin and Winney, Isabel S. and Cantor, Abi and Graham, Julia}, citeulike-article-id = {3653136}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1450}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19019788}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=19019788}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://journals.royalsociety.org/content/a1224kj171001h02}, day = {22}, doi = {10.1098/rspb.2008.1450}, issn = {0962-8452}, journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society}, keywords = {camouflage, color, disruptive, natureinspired, pattern, vision}, month = {February}, number = {1657}, pages = {781--786}, posted-at = {2009-09-22 18:47:17}, priority = {2}, title = {Outline and surface disruption in animal camouflage.}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1450}, volume = {276}, year = {2009} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3653136 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3653136 N2 - Camouflage is an important strategy in animals to prevent predation. This includes disruptive coloration, where high-contrast markings placed at an animal's edge break up the true body shape. Successful disruption may also involve non-marginal markings found away from the body outline that create 'false edges' more salient than the true body form ('surface disruption'). However, previous work has focused on breaking up the true body outline, not on surface disruption. Furthermore, while high contrast may enhance disruption, it is untested where on the body different contrasts should be placed for maximum effect. We used artificial prey presented to wild avian predators in the field, to determine the effectiveness of surface disruption, and of different luminance contrast placed in different prey locations. Disruptive coloration was no more effective when comprising high luminance contrast per se, but its effectiveness was dramatically increased with high-contrast markings placed away from the body outline, creating effective surface disruption. A model of avian visual edge processing showed that surface disruption does not make object detection more difficult simply by creating false edges away from the true body outline, but its effect may also be based on a different visual mechanism. Our study has implications for whether animals can combine disruptive coloration with other 'conspicuous' signalling strategies. IS - 1657 JF - Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society SN - 0962-8452 EP - 786 TI - Outline and surface disruption in animal camouflage. VL - 276 SP - 781 KW - camouflage KW - color KW - disruptive KW - natureinspired KW - pattern KW - vision AU - Stevens, Martin AU - Winney, Isabel AU - Cantor, Abi AU - Graham, Julia PY - 2009/02/22/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.1450 ER -