Animal Camouflage (original) (raw)

In the last decade, research on the previously dormant field of camouflage has advanced rapidly, with numerous studies challenging traditional concepts, investigating previously untested theories and incorporating a greater appreciation of the visual and cognitive systems of the observer. Using studies of both real animals and artificial systems, this book synthesises the current state of play in camouflage research and understanding. It introduces the different types of camouflage and how they work, including background matching, disruptive coloration and obliterative shading. It also demonstrates the methodologies used to study them and discusses how camouflage relates to other subjects, particularly with regard to what it can tell us about visual perception. The mixture of primary research and reviews shows students and researchers where the field currently stands and where exciting and important problems remain to be solved, illustrating how the study of camouflage is likely to progress in the future.

'… the broad overview on the functions and mechanisms of camouflage in various communication systems makes reading this book very enjoyable.'

H. Martin SchaeferSource: Basic and Applied Ecology

Contents

Contents

Select Frontmatter

Select Contents

Select Contributors

Select 1 - Animal camouflage

Select 2 - Crypsis through background matching

Select 3 - The concealment of body parts through coincident disruptive coloration

Select 4 - The history, theory and evidence for a cryptic function of countershading

Select 5 - Camouflage-breaking mathematical operators and countershading

Select 6 - Nature's artistry

Select 7 - Camouflage behaviour and body orientation on backgrounds containing directional patterns

Select 8 - Camouflage and visual perception

Select 9 - Rapid adaptive camouflage in cephalopods

Select 11 - Camouflage in marine fish

Select 12 - Camouflage in decorator crabs

Select 13 - Camouflage in colour-changing animals

Select 14 - The multiple disguises of spiders

Select 15 - Effects of animal camouflage on the evolution of live backgrounds

Select 16 - The functions of black-and-white coloration in mammals

Select 17 - Evidence for camouflage involving senses other than vision

Select Index

Select Plate section

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