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Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey

Veronica Mavrovouna, Olivier Penacchio, William Allen Orcid Logo

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, Volume: 134, Issue: 4, Pages: 803 - 808

Swansea University Author: William Allen Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1093/biolinnean/blab130

Abstract

Here, we investigate the camouflage consequences of animal orientation behaviour. Shadows can be a conspicuous cue to the presence of prey. For bilaterally symmetrical animals, light field modelling indicates that camouflage will be improved when an animal orients its longitudinal axis directly towa...

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Published in: Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
ISSN: 0024-4066 1095-8312
Published: Oxford University Press (OUP) 2021
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa58531
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first_indexed 2021-11-02T15:51:54Z
last_indexed 2021-11-24T04:16:01Z
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spelling 2021-11-23T12:09:47.3740251 v2 58531 2021-11-02 Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey d6f01dd06d25fa8804daad86e251b8a5 0000-0003-2654-0438 William Allen William Allen true false 2021-11-02 SBI Here, we investigate the camouflage consequences of animal orientation behaviour. Shadows can be a conspicuous cue to the presence of prey. For bilaterally symmetrical animals, light field modelling indicates that camouflage will be improved when an animal orients its longitudinal axis directly towards or away from the sun, because the appearance of shadows is minimized. We test this prediction with a field predation experiment, in which wild birds hunt for artificial camouflaged prey oriented with the longitudinal axis either parallel or perpendicular to the sun. We find that prey oriented parallel to the sun are 3.93 times more likely to survive than prey oriented perpendicular to the sun. This result demonstrates the strong orientation dependence of camouflage. Given the dramatic difference in survival of prey with different orientations, we suggest that camouflage should be investigated as an important determinant of the positional behaviour of animals. Journal Article Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 134 4 803 808 Oxford University Press (OUP) 0024-4066 1095-8312 antipredator, camouflage, countershading, orientation, predation, visual ecology 1 12 2021 2021-12-01 10.1093/biolinnean/blab130 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences COLLEGE CODE SBI Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) 2021-11-23T12:09:47.3740251 2021-11-02T15:47:13.8060901 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Veronica Mavrovouna 1 Olivier Penacchio 2 William Allen 0000-0003-2654-0438 3 58531__21638__02fbeaf5d9cf42f4af2fd9acbd2dd581.pdf 58531.pdf 2021-11-23T12:07:48.9093623 Output 351599 application/pdf Version of Record true This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License true eng https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
spellingShingle Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
William Allen
title_short Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
title_full Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
title_fullStr Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
title_full_unstemmed Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
title_sort Orienting to the sun improves camouflage for bilaterally symmetrical prey
author_id_str_mv d6f01dd06d25fa8804daad86e251b8a5
author_id_fullname_str_mv d6f01dd06d25fa8804daad86e251b8a5_***_William Allen
author William Allen
author2 Veronica Mavrovouna
Olivier Penacchio
William Allen
format Journal article
container_title Biological Journal of the Linnean Society
container_volume 134
container_issue 4
container_start_page 803
publishDate 2021
institution Swansea University
issn 0024-4066
1095-8312
doi_str_mv 10.1093/biolinnean/blab130
publisher Oxford University Press (OUP)
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description Here, we investigate the camouflage consequences of animal orientation behaviour. Shadows can be a conspicuous cue to the presence of prey. For bilaterally symmetrical animals, light field modelling indicates that camouflage will be improved when an animal orients its longitudinal axis directly towards or away from the sun, because the appearance of shadows is minimized. We test this prediction with a field predation experiment, in which wild birds hunt for artificial camouflaged prey oriented with the longitudinal axis either parallel or perpendicular to the sun. We find that prey oriented parallel to the sun are 3.93 times more likely to survive than prey oriented perpendicular to the sun. This result demonstrates the strong orientation dependence of camouflage. Given the dramatic difference in survival of prey with different orientations, we suggest that camouflage should be investigated as an important determinant of the positional behaviour of animals.
published_date 2021-12-01T04:15:08Z
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score 10.999524

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