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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

The adaptive value of camouflage and colour change in a polymorphic prawn

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Author(s):
Duarte, Rafael Campos [1, 2] ; Stevens, Martin [3] ; Valero Flores, Augusto Alberto [2]
Total Authors: 3
Affiliation:
[1] Univ Sao Paulo, Fac Filosofia Ciencias & Letras Ribeirao Preto, Programa Posgrad Biol Comparada, Ribeirao Preto - Brazil
[2] Univ Sao Paulo, Ctr Biol Marinha, Rod Manoel Hypolito do Rego, Km 131-5, BR-11612109 Sao Sebastiao, SP - Brazil
[3] Univ Exeter, Ctr Ecol & Conservat, Penryn Campus, Penryn TR10 9FE - England
Total Affiliations: 3
Document type: Journal article
Source: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS; v. 8, OCT 30 2018.
Web of Science Citations: 1
Abstract

Camouflage has been a textbook example of natural selection and adaptation since the time of the earliest evolutionists. However, aside from correlational evidence and studies using artificial dummy prey, experiments directly showing that better camouflaged prey to predator vision are at reduced risk of attack are lacking. Here, we show that the level of camouflage achieved through colour adjustments towards the appearance of seaweed habitats is adaptive in reducing predation pressure in the prawn Hippolyte obliquimanus. Digital image analysis and visual modelling of a fish predator (seahorse) predicted that brown prawns would be imperfectly concealed against both brown and red seaweed respectively, whereas pink prawns should be well camouflaged only in red weed. Predation trials with captive sea horses (Hippocampus reidi), coupled with high-speed video analyses, closely matched model predictions: predation rates were similar for brown prawns between seaweed types, but pink individuals were attacked significantly less on red than brown weed. Our work provides some of the clearest direct evidence to date that colour polymorphism and colour change provides a clear adaptive advantage for camouflage, and also highlights how this can be asymmetric across morphs and habitats (i.e. dependent on the specific background-morph combination). (AU)

FAPESP's process: 12/17003-0 - Polymorphism and function in caridean shrimps: habitat use and reproductive tactics in Hippolyte obliquimanus
Grantee:Rafael Campos Duarte
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
FAPESP's process: 15/04484-8 - Camouflage by background matching and disruptive colouration in the polymorphic shrimp species Hippolyte obliquimanus
Grantee:Rafael Campos Duarte
Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
FAPESP's process: 15/22258-5 - Strengthening of the scientific collaboration between the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, UK, and the Centre for Marine Biology, University of São Paulo
Grantee:Augusto Alberto Valero Flores
Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International