Polarized light as an alternative to colour in animal vision

Información del proyecto

PLACAV

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 656070

DOI

10.3030/656070

Proyecto finalizado el 17 Septiembre 2016

Fecha de la firma de la CE 20 Marzo 2015

Fecha de inicio 1 Marzo 2015

Fecha de finalización 28 Febrero 2017

Financiado con arreglo a

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Coste total

€ 195 454,80

Aportación de la UE

€ 195 454,80

Coordinado por

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
United Kingdom

Objetivo

Imagine life without colour. Many of the rich layers of information in our visual world would disappear and simple tasks, such as finding a red apple in a tree, would be far more difficult. There are many examples of animals in nature that have limited colour vision, yet some have managed to develop high-performance eyes that, in some respects, far surpass our own visual capabilities. One of the ways that animals have achieved this is to make use of the polarization of light rather than colour. The reasons behind this are not understood and represent a novel area for scientific exploration.

Many animals have been shown to be sensitive to the polarization of light, but nearly all research to date has focussed on dedicated eye structures for detecting specific cues such as the polarized sky field for navigation (e.g. in honey bees, ants, and locusts). The recent discovery that some animals make use of a highly developed sensitivity to polarized light across the whole visual field of their image-forming eyes opens the way for new investigations into the use of polarized light for object detection and discrimination, a field previously dominated by the study of colour and intensity visual systems.

I have shown in recent investigations that fiddler crabs have highly-acute sensitivity to polarized light across their whole visual field. These animals have been model species for behavioural ecology research over the past 50 years and so represent an ideal organism for developing a clear understanding of image-based polarization vision. The central question of what has caused evolution, in the case of fiddler crabs, to develop high performance polarization vision rather than colour vision will be addressed at both the physiological and behavioural levels by asking the following two broad questions:
Q1 – How is polarized light information processed in the nervous system of fiddler crabs?
Q2 – How do fiddler crabs use polarized light information in their natural environment?

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › neurobiología
• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › ecología
• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › zoología › entomología › apidología
• ciencias naturales › informática y ciencias de la información › inteligencia artificial › visión artificial › detección de objetos
• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › ciencias biológicas del comportamiento › ecología del comportamiento

Palabras clave

• polarized light
• vision
• crustacean

Programa(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PROGRAMA PRINCIPAL
  
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
  

Tema(s)

• MSCA-IF-2014-EF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF-EF)
  

Régimen de financiación

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

Convocatoria de propuestas

H2020-MSCA-IF-2014

Coordinador

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

• Aportación neta de la UEn: € 195 454,80
• Dirección: BEACON HOUSE QUEENS ROAD ; BS8 1QU BRISTOL ; Reino Unido
• Región: South West (England) › Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area › Bristol, City of
• Tipo de actividad: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Coste total: € 195 454,80