Disruptive Coloration

2021 ◽  
pp. 2066-2068
Author(s):  
Changku Kang ◽  
Thomas N Sherratt
Keyword(s):  
Disruptive Coloration

scholarly journals Outline and surface disruption in animal camouflage

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1657) ◽  
pp. 781-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Stevens ◽  
Isabel S Winney ◽  
Abi Cantor ◽  
Julia Graham
Keyword(s):  
Body Shape ◽  
Luminance Contrast ◽  
The Body ◽  
Maximum Effect ◽  
High Contrast ◽  
High Luminance ◽  
Effective Surface ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Disruptive Coloration ◽  
Visual Mechanism

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.

A new silky lacewing (Neuroptera: Psychopsidae) from the Middle Jurassic of Inner Mongolia, China

Zootaxa ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2663 (1) ◽  
pp. 59 ◽  
Author(s):  
YUANYUAN PENG ◽  
VLADIMIR N. MAKARKIN ◽  
QIANG YANG ◽  
DONG REN
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Early Cretaceous ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Inner Mongolia ◽  
Type Species ◽  
Colour Pattern ◽  
Disruptive Coloration ◽  
Jiulongshan Formation

Cretapsychops decipiens sp. nov. is described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia in China. The new species is distinguished from the type species known from the Early Cretaceous Wealden Supergroup of England mainly by its longer costal gradate series and distinctive colour pattern of the forewings. The disruptive coloration of its forewings may perform a defensive (concealment) function. The structure of CuA is peculiar in Cretapsychops and is different from that of all other known psychopsid genera.

scholarly journals Empirical tests of the role of disruptive coloration in reducing detectability

2007 ◽  
Vol 274 (1615) ◽  
pp. 1325-1331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stewart Fraser ◽  
Alison Callahan ◽  
Dana Klassen ◽  
Thomas N Sherratt
Keyword(s):  
Field Experiments ◽  
Human Subjects ◽  
Common Features ◽  
Background Matching ◽  
Disruptive Coloration ◽  
Oak Trees ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Body Shapes ◽  
Better Than

Disruptive patterning is a potentially universal camouflage technique that is thought to enhance concealment by rendering the detection of body shapes more difficult. In a recent series of field experiments, artificial moths with markings that extended to the edges of their ‘wings’ survived at higher rates than moths with the same edge patterns inwardly displaced. While this result seemingly indicates a benefit to obscuring edges, it is possible that the higher density markings of the inwardly displaced patterns concomitantly reduced their extent of background matching. Likewise, it has been suggested that the mealworm baits placed on the artificial moths could have created differential contrasts with different moth patterns. To address these concerns, we conducted controlled trials in which human subjects searched for computer-generated moth images presented against images of oak trees. Moths with edge-extended disruptive markings survived at higher rates, and took longer to find, than all other moth types, whether presented sequentially or simultaneously. However, moths with no edge markings and reduced interior pattern density survived better than their high-density counterparts, indicating that background matching may have played a so-far unrecognized role in the earlier experiments. Our disruptively patterned non-background-matching moths also had the lowest overall survivorship, indicating that disruptive coloration alone may not provide significant protection from predators. Collectively, our results provide independent support for the survival value of disruptive markings and demonstrate that there are common features in human and avian perception of camouflage.

scholarly journals Disruptive coloration, crypsis and edge detection in early visual processing

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1598) ◽  
pp. 2141-2147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Stevens ◽  
Innes C Cuthill
Keyword(s):  
Edge Detection ◽  
Pattern Matching ◽  
Visual Processing ◽  
Colour Vision ◽  
The Body ◽  
Detection Algorithms ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Early Visual Processing ◽  
Disruptive Coloration ◽  
Risk Of Predation

Many animals use concealing markings to reduce the risk of predation. These include background pattern matching (crypsis), where the coloration matches a random sample of the background and disruptive patterns, whose effectiveness has been hypothesized to lie in breaking up the body into a series of apparently unrelated objects. We have previously established the effectiveness of disruptive coloration against avian predators, using artificial moth-like stimuli with colours designed to match natural backgrounds as perceived by birds. Here, we investigate the mechanism by which disruptive patterns reduce detectability, using a computational vision model of edge detection applied to photographs of our experimental stimuli, calibrated for bird colour vision. We show that, disruptive coloration is effective by exploiting edge detection algorithms that we use to model early visual processing. Thus, ‘false’ edges are detected within the body rather than at its periphery, so inhibiting successful detection of the animal's body outline.

scholarly journals Disruptive coloration and binocular disparity: breaking camouflage

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1896) ◽  
pp. 20182045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy J. Adams ◽  
Erich W. Graf ◽  
Matt Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Stereoscopic Vision ◽  
Dimensional Structure ◽  
Depth Information ◽  
Edge Enhancement ◽  
Depth Cues ◽  
Disruptive Coloration ◽  
True Shape ◽  
Binocular Depth

Many species employ camouflage to disguise their true shape and avoid detection or recognition. Disruptive coloration is a form of camouflage in which high-contrast patterns obscure internal features or break up an animal's outline. In particular, edge enhancement creates illusory, or ‘fake’ depth edges within the animal's body. Disruptive coloration often co-occurs with background matching, and together, these strategies make it difficult for an observer to visually segment an animal from its background. However, stereoscopic vision could provide a critical advantage in the arms race between perception and camouflage: the depth information provided by binocular disparities reveals the true three-dimensional layout of a scene, and might, therefore, help an observer to overcome the effects of disruptive coloration. Human observers located snake targets embedded in leafy backgrounds. We analysed performance (response time) as a function of edge enhancement, illumination conditions and the availability of binocular depth cues. We confirm that edge enhancement contributes to effective camouflage: observers were slower to find snakes whose patterning contains ‘fake’ depth edges. Importantly, however, this effect disappeared when binocular depth cues were available. Illumination also affected detection: under directional illumination, where both the leaves and snake produced strong cast shadows, snake targets were localized more quickly than in scenes rendered under ambient illumination. In summary, we show that illusory depth edges, created via disruptive coloration, help to conceal targets from human observers. However, cast shadows and binocular depth information improve detection by providing information about the true three-dimensional structure of a scene. Importantly, the strong interaction between disparity and edge enhancement suggests that stereoscopic vision has a critical role in breaking camouflage, enabling the observer to overcome the disruptive effects of edge enhancement.

scholarly journals New Jurassic tettigarctid cicadas from China with a novel example of disruptive coloration

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Chen ◽  
Haichun Zhang ◽  
Bo Wang ◽  
Yan Zheng ◽  
Xiaoli Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disruptive Coloration

scholarly journals Disruptive contrast in animal camouflage

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2433-2438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Stevens ◽  
Innes C Cuthill ◽  
Amy M.M Windsor ◽  
Hannah J Walker
Keyword(s):  
Background Luminance ◽  
High Contrast ◽  
Early Literature ◽  
Background Matching ◽  
Disruptive Coloration ◽  
Average Luminance ◽  
Intuitive Idea ◽  
Colour Patterns

Camouflage typically involves colour patterns that match the background. However, it has been argued that concealment may be achieved by strategic use of apparently conspicuous markings. Recent evidence supports the theory that the presence of contrasting patterns placed peripherally on an animal's body (disruptive coloration) provides survival advantages. However, no study has tested a key prediction from the early literature that disruptive coloration is effective even when some colour patches do not match the background and have a high contrast with both the background and adjacent pattern elements (disruptive contrast). We test this counter-intuitive idea that conspicuous patterns might aid concealment, using artificial moth-like targets with pattern elements designed to match or mismatch the average luminance (lightness) of the trees on which they were placed. Disruptive coloration was less effective when some pattern elements did not match the background luminance. However, even non-background-matching disruptive patterns reduced predation relative to equivalent non-disruptive patterns or to unpatterned controls. Therefore, concealment may still be achieved even when an animal possesses markings not found in the background. Disruptive coloration may allow animals to exploit backgrounds on which they are not perfectly matched, and to possess conspicuous markings while still retaining a degree of camouflage.

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