Variable crab camouflage patterns defeat search image formation.

ABSTRACT: Understanding what maintains the broad spectrum of variation in animal phenotypes and how this influences survival is a key question in biology. Frequency dependent selection - where predators temporarily focus on one morph at the expense of others by forming a "search image" - can help explain this phenomenon. However, past work has never tested real prey colour patterns, and rarely considered the role of different types of camouflage. Using a novel citizen science computer experiment that presented crab "prey" to humans against natural backgrounds in specific sequences, we were able to test a range of key hypotheses concerning the interactions between predator learning, camouflage and morph. As predicted, switching between morphs did hinder detection, and this effect was most pronounced

SUBMITTER: Troscianko J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7935895 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature