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The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds

Visual patterns are common in animals. A broad survey of the literature has revealed that different patterns have distinct functions. Irregular patterns (e.g., stipples) typically function in static camouflage, whereas regular patterns (e.g., stripes) have a dual function in both motion camouflage a...

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Autores principales: Marshall, Kate L A, Gluckman, Thanh-Lan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BlackWell Publishing Ltd 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26045950
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1482
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author Marshall, Kate L A
Gluckman, Thanh-Lan
author_facet Marshall, Kate L A
Gluckman, Thanh-Lan
author_sort Marshall, Kate L A
collection PubMed
description Visual patterns are common in animals. A broad survey of the literature has revealed that different patterns have distinct functions. Irregular patterns (e.g., stipples) typically function in static camouflage, whereas regular patterns (e.g., stripes) have a dual function in both motion camouflage and communication. Moreover, irregular and regular patterns located on different body regions (“bimodal” patterning) can provide an effective compromise between camouflage and communication and/or enhanced concealment via both static and motion camouflage. Here, we compared the frequency of these three pattern types and traced their evolutionary history using Bayesian comparative modeling in aquatic waterfowl (Anseriformes: 118 spp.), which typically escape predators by flight, and terrestrial game birds (Galliformes: 170 spp.), which mainly use a “sit and hide” strategy to avoid predation. Given these life histories, we predicted that selection would favor regular patterning in Anseriformes and irregular or bimodal patterning in Galliformes and that pattern function complexity should increase over the course of evolution. Regular patterns were predominant in Anseriformes whereas regular and bimodal patterns were most frequent in Galliformes, suggesting that patterns with multiple functions are broadly favored by selection over patterns with a single function in static camouflage. We found that the first patterns to evolve were either regular or bimodal in Anseriformes and either irregular or regular in Galliformes. In both orders, irregular patterns could evolve into regular patterns but not the reverse. Our hypothesis of increasing complexity in pattern camouflage function was supported in Galliformes but not in Anseriformes. These results reveal a trajectory of pattern evolution linked to increasing function complexity in Galliformes although not in Anseriformes, suggesting that both ecology and function complexity can have a profound influence on pattern evolution.
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spelling pubmed-44497532015-06-04 The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds Marshall, Kate L A Gluckman, Thanh-Lan Ecol Evol Original Research Visual patterns are common in animals. A broad survey of the literature has revealed that different patterns have distinct functions. Irregular patterns (e.g., stipples) typically function in static camouflage, whereas regular patterns (e.g., stripes) have a dual function in both motion camouflage and communication. Moreover, irregular and regular patterns located on different body regions (“bimodal” patterning) can provide an effective compromise between camouflage and communication and/or enhanced concealment via both static and motion camouflage. Here, we compared the frequency of these three pattern types and traced their evolutionary history using Bayesian comparative modeling in aquatic waterfowl (Anseriformes: 118 spp.), which typically escape predators by flight, and terrestrial game birds (Galliformes: 170 spp.), which mainly use a “sit and hide” strategy to avoid predation. Given these life histories, we predicted that selection would favor regular patterning in Anseriformes and irregular or bimodal patterning in Galliformes and that pattern function complexity should increase over the course of evolution. Regular patterns were predominant in Anseriformes whereas regular and bimodal patterns were most frequent in Galliformes, suggesting that patterns with multiple functions are broadly favored by selection over patterns with a single function in static camouflage. We found that the first patterns to evolve were either regular or bimodal in Anseriformes and either irregular or regular in Galliformes. In both orders, irregular patterns could evolve into regular patterns but not the reverse. Our hypothesis of increasing complexity in pattern camouflage function was supported in Galliformes but not in Anseriformes. These results reveal a trajectory of pattern evolution linked to increasing function complexity in Galliformes although not in Anseriformes, suggesting that both ecology and function complexity can have a profound influence on pattern evolution. BlackWell Publishing Ltd 2015-05 2015-04-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4449753/ /pubmed/26045950 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1482 Text en © 2015 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Original Research
Marshall, Kate L A
Gluckman, Thanh-Lan
The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
title The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
title_full The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
title_fullStr The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
title_full_unstemmed The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
title_short The evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
title_sort evolution of pattern camouflage strategies in waterfowl and game birds
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4449753/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26045950
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.1482
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