Countershading enhances camouflage by reducing prey contrast.

ABSTRACT: A three-dimensional body shape is problematic for camouflage because overhead lighting produces a luminance gradient across the body's surface. Countershading, a form of patterning where animals are darkest on their uppermost surface, is thought to counteract this luminance gradient and enhance concealment, but the mechanisms of protection remain unclear. Surprisingly, no study has examined how countershading alters prey contrast, or investigated how the presence of a dorsoventral luminance gradient affects detection under controlled viewing conditions. It has also been suggested that the direction of the dorsoventral luminance gradient (darkest or lightest on top) may interfere with predators' abilities to resolve prey's three-dimensional shape, yet this intriguing idea has never been tes

SUBMITTER: Donohue CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7287359 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature