Mechanisms of spectral orientation in a diurnal dung beetle
(2022) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 377(1862).- Abstract
Ball rolling dung beetles use a wide range of cues to steer themselves along a fixed bearing, including the spectral gradient of scattered skylight that spans the sky. Here, we define the spectral sensitivity of the diurnal dung beetle Kheper lamarcki and use the information to explore the orientation performance under a range of spectral light combinations. We find that, when presented with spectrally diverse stimuli, the beetles primarily orient to the apparent brightness differences as perceived by their green photoreceptors. Under certain wavelength combinations, they also rely on spectral information to guide their movements, but the brightness and spectral directional information is never fully disentangled. Overall, our results... (More)
Ball rolling dung beetles use a wide range of cues to steer themselves along a fixed bearing, including the spectral gradient of scattered skylight that spans the sky. Here, we define the spectral sensitivity of the diurnal dung beetle Kheper lamarcki and use the information to explore the orientation performance under a range of spectral light combinations. We find that, when presented with spectrally diverse stimuli, the beetles primarily orient to the apparent brightness differences as perceived by their green photoreceptors. Under certain wavelength combinations, they also rely on spectral information to guide their movements, but the brightness and spectral directional information is never fully disentangled. Overall, our results suggest the use of a dichromatic, primitive colour vision system for the extraction of directional information from the celestial spectral gradient to support straight-line orientation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods'.
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- author
- Yilmaz, Ayse LU ; El Jundi, Basil LU ; Belušič, Gregor ; Byrne, Marcus ; Baird, Emily LU and Dacke, Marie LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-10-24
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Coleoptera, colour vision, intensity-based orientation, photoreceptors, spectral contrast
- in
- Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 377
- issue
- 1862
- article number
- 20210287
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:36058237
- scopus:85137228989
- ISSN
- 0962-8436
- DOI
- 10.1098/rstb.2021.0287
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 85bc5527-2487-415a-bffa-0e3492c35b64
- date added to LUP
- 2022-10-17 09:12:58
- date last changed
- 2024-04-18 04:51:06
@article{85bc5527-2487-415a-bffa-0e3492c35b64,
abstract = {{<p>Ball rolling dung beetles use a wide range of cues to steer themselves along a fixed bearing, including the spectral gradient of scattered skylight that spans the sky. Here, we define the spectral sensitivity of the diurnal dung beetle Kheper lamarcki and use the information to explore the orientation performance under a range of spectral light combinations. We find that, when presented with spectrally diverse stimuli, the beetles primarily orient to the apparent brightness differences as perceived by their green photoreceptors. Under certain wavelength combinations, they also rely on spectral information to guide their movements, but the brightness and spectral directional information is never fully disentangled. Overall, our results suggest the use of a dichromatic, primitive colour vision system for the extraction of directional information from the celestial spectral gradient to support straight-line orientation. This article is part of the theme issue 'Understanding colour vision: molecular, physiological, neuronal and behavioural studies in arthropods'.</p>}},
author = {{Yilmaz, Ayse and El Jundi, Basil and Belušič, Gregor and Byrne, Marcus and Baird, Emily and Dacke, Marie}},
issn = {{0962-8436}},
keywords = {{Coleoptera; colour vision; intensity-based orientation; photoreceptors; spectral contrast}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{10}},
number = {{1862}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Mechanisms of spectral orientation in a diurnal dung beetle}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0287}},
doi = {{10.1098/rstb.2021.0287}},
volume = {{377}},
year = {{2022}},
}