Predation Cost of Conspicuous Male Coloration in Collard Lizards (Crotaphytus collaris)

Food requirement variations lead to color vision being an exponentially valuable trait in the evolutionary success of the primates based on its influences in foraging behavior. If an animal is unable to discriminate a piece of fruit from being ripe or unsafe to eat, they could potentially become sick, thus negatively impacting their chances of reproduction and survival (Regan et al., 2005).

One of the prevailing theories about why primates have such good color vision is that it allowed them to pick out fruits against the green backgrounds of forests and jungles (Osorio et al., 2004). New World monkey color vision is an evolutionary puzzle because the same evolutionary pressures for finding food should act similarly on both sexes.

Since there were only 30 Rivius as the predators, the females would have a much easier time breeding with whomever they wanted to as Rivius can only eat baby guppies. The percentage for brighter males was 47%, 31%, and 24% for the brightest males, and for the bright males it was, 44%. 46%, and 29% to make on average of 34% and 39.667% of the total population. The percentages for the drabber males were only a mere, 6%, 15%, and 25% for the drab males and 4%, 8%, and 21% for the drabbest males creating a tiny average of 15.334% for the drab males and 11% for the drabbest of males. With this in mind, it showed compared to the drabber guppies, with little predators, the females had sexually prefered the brighter males from the percentages of the population distributions I had obtained. If the females guppies had no preference, it would lean toward having more equal percentages and if the females prefered the drabber guppies, there would be much higher percentages for them, showing us an obvious preference for the brighter

The Pharomachrus mocinno has evolved many behavioural and physical traits as a result of adaptation to the current environment and lifestyle it leads, however this proposal will focus on the unusual plume tail length of the male P. mocinno. This particular species habitat requires nests as high as 22 meters in rotting trees (Seigfried et al. 2010). Therefore, the function of the feathers would typically be assumed to enhance flight, as that would make sense as a useful function in this scenario due to the high elevation. Surprisingly, however, the long length of the plume tail actually decreases the speed of the male bird due to the drag force of air (Norberg 1995) and requires it to drop backward off the branches before being able to fly forward normally (LaBastille et al. 1972). With such issues with the long plume tails, would sexual selection really be in this traits’ favour? In a study done on the widowbird such was the case; males with longer plumes were mated the most (Andersson 1982). However, the widowbird is completely black (including its tail), while in the case of Pharomachrus mocinno it is a very colourful bird. Previous studies also have shown, that the bright reflective colours on the male’s bodies help in attracting females (LaBastille et al. 1972).

In regards to the social information being a factor, if some females saw their other female counterparts swimming toward an attractive male, they too would swim toward the attractive male. Another goal researchers had in mind was to show that females with bigger brains and smaller, do not differ in their ability to perceive color. How the researchers proceeded with this concept was through interbreeding. Five generations of breeding allowed researchers to study brain sizes that differed 13 percent. After the interbreeding, 36 large brained females and 36 small brained females were dropped into separate, small white tanks to see how they responded to colors they saw. The researchers pinpointed their question through these tests: optomor circling,compass reaction, nystagmic reaction, and zero motivation. The optomotor circling was used to view the visual performance of guppies, the compass reaction was the idea that if a female guppie turned herself to the color and the direction of the color, she would go toward that. Nystagmic reaction was following the color back and forth and realizing it was there. And finally there was Zero motivation, which determined if she was going to swim toward the

The predictions that were made prior to the experiment being ran about the concentration of pigments in Drosophila were similar to the observed concentration of pigments. Once four fly heads of each pigment were crushed onto filter paper, chromatography was ran. After six hours of the chromatography being run, they were removed from the solvent and dried. Once the filter paper was dry, it was placed under a UV light for a better observation of the pigments present in the eyes of the fly. What was found in the white was much less than in the wild type due to the fact that in the white eyed fly, both enzymes that start the pigment production (the pteridine pathway and the ommochrome pathway) are blocked or changed so no pigments can be produced.

Pigments-pigments change the colour from the natural colour to make it more pigmented which is making the colour stronger and

Organisms possess several types of color vision depending on what wavelengths they are sensitive to. Humans are trichromatic, because their vision is formed by long, middle and short wavelength sensitive cones (Carroll, et.al, 2009). Depending on the environment, primates will have different variations of color vision. (Melin, et.al, 2017). Routine trichromacy and polymorphic trichromacy both track different food sources. Routine trichromacy is helpful for tracking down reddish-yellow fruit and seasonal leaves while polymorphic trichromacy is helpful for tracking down ripe fruits and insects (Melin, et.al, 2017).

At the beginning of the simulation the average spot brightness was 6.35±0.97 and at the end of the simulation there was a brightness average of 18.53±1.26. There was a significant increase which supports the idea that there is a higher chance that in a predator free environment, female guppies prefer to mate with males that have brighter

Pigments extracted from different greens have different polarities and may be different colors. Mixed pigments can be separated using chromatography paper. Chromatography paper is able to separate mixed pigments due to their polarity and solubility. Pigments of chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and beta carotene will be separated on chromatography paper because each has its own polarity and solubility, which results in different distance traveled up the paper. Beta carotene is non-polar so it travels the highest distance, followed by chlorophyll a. Chlorophyll b is the most polar; therefore, it travels the shortest distance. The separated pigments on the chromatography paper can be eluted in acetone and absorbance spectrum is

Guppies are mostly known for being brilliantly coloured aquarium fish and are one of the world’s most widely distributed tropical fish due to its striking appearance. In the wild Poecilia reticulata (aka Guppies) are native to Northeastern Venezuela and are a highly adaptable fish that are able to survive a range of different ecological conditions, therefore, inhibit many environments. Males of this species have been known to display a variety of complex colours and mosaics of spots in order to attract mates, though not as dramatically patterned as its domesticated cousin. It is believed that these patterns and colours are determined by X and Y linked genes. However, the genes for colour are only expressed in adult males making them an example of sexual dimorphism which is a phenotypic differentiation between females and males which can be expressed by size, colour, ornamentation and behaviour. In this case, the two differ as wild female guppies are all grey in colour while males have splashed of colour and spot patterns.

I have learned that often a bright-colored organism indicates that it is poisonous (Belk, Borden-Maier, 2010). However, the poison-color link is not necessarily always present. Warning coloration is called “aposematic coloration” also serves to deter predators.

In this experiment, paper chromatography was used to determine what pigments were present in spinach extract. From this experiment, we can see that four different types of pigments are present in the spinach extract used, the following are those pigments: chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, beta carotene, and xanthophyll. The absorption and reflection of these pigments all revolve around the basis of the electromagnetic spectrum. The form of electromagnetic radiation is released as light and overall it is a type of energy that travels in waves. Going back to the spectrum itself, all the different types of electromagnetic radiation combine to form the electromagnetic spectrum, which tells us which colors can be absorbed and/or reflected. Each wave

In evolutionary terms colour and the way it is perceived is an important aspect. Sumner and Mollon (2000a) conducted research looking into the photopigments and the detection of targets. They found that the L/M subsystem provides an advantage for the detection of fruits and leaves. This led them to their conclusion that finding these foods may have been an essential selective advantage in the original development and maintenance of primate trichromacy, and thus the process of colour perception can be beneficial to primates. Despite having the same visual system, the research is problematic as it was conducted on animals, and thus the findings may not be the same when applying it to the human concept of colour vision. Further support towards the evolutionary basis of colour perception comes from Bompas, Kendall and Sumner (2013) who found that normal trichromats made faster responses and fewer errors than their colour deficient competitors. This shows that colour is an important aspect and both of these research findings combined suggest enhanced survival due to the way in which colour is

The purpose of this lab is to determine which pigments in a plant support or effect photosynthesis, based on starch production, which wavelengths of light are involved in photosynthesis, and identify plant pigments found in a plant leaf by means of paper chromatography.