Dazzled and Disrupted: Iridescence as defence
Iridescence (a form of structural colour where the hue
changes according to the angle of viewing) is extremely widespread, both in
mechanisms of production and occurrence, in plant and animal kingdoms, however
its adaptive advantage and the selective pressures leading to its occurrence is
frequently unclear. In 1909, Thayer suggested that iridescence could act as a
form of camouflage, however, this potential function has not been previously
investigated.
This project will focus on the visual impact of the
different structural forms of iridescence found in nature, each of which has
different optical effects. Bio-mimicking structures produced synthetically will
be used to determine the impact of different structural forms of iridescence on
accurate visual identification of shape, speed, patterning and colour against a
variety of backgrounds and light environments will be tested using behavioural
parameters in a variety of visual systems.
This project, supervised by Dr Heather Whitney and
Professor Innes Cuthill in the School of Biological Sciences, University of
Bristol, UK, is in competition with others for funding (UK and other EU
applicants only), and the closing date for application is Friday 11th January,
via this application portal: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/swdtp/
. For more information, please email Heather Whitney (heather.whitney@bristol.ac.uk),
enclosing a CV.