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

Autor(es)

Duarte, Rafael Campos ^{[1, 2]} ; Stevens, Martin ^[3] ; Valero Flores, Augusto Alberto ^[2]

Afiliação do(s) autor(es)

^[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

• Tipo de documento: Artigo Científico
• Fonte: SCIENTIFIC REPORTS; v. 8, OCT 30 2018.
• Citações Web of Science: 1

Resumo

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)

• Processo FAPESP: 12/17003-0 - Polimorfismo e sua função em camarões carídeos: uso de habitat e táticas reprodutivas em Hippolyte obliquimanus
• Beneficiário: Rafael Campos Duarte
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Brasil - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 15/04484-8 - Camuflagem por semelhança com o substrato e coloração disruptiva na espécie de camarão polimórfica Hippolyte obliquimanus
• Beneficiário: Rafael Campos Duarte
• Modalidade de apoio: Bolsas no Exterior - Estágio de Pesquisa - Doutorado
• Processo FAPESP: 15/22258-5 - Fortalecimento da colaboração científica entre o Centro de Ecologia e Conservação da Universidade de Exeter (Reino Unido) e o Centro de Biologia Marinha da Universidade de São Paulo
• Beneficiário: Augusto Alberto Valero Flores
• Modalidade de apoio: Auxílio à Pesquisa - Pesquisador Visitante - Internacional