A global analysis of bird plumage patterns reveals no association between habitat and camouflage

Evidence suggests that animal patterns (motifs) function in camouflage. Irregular mottled patterns can facilitate concealment when stationary in cluttered habitats, whereas regular patterns typically prevent capture during movement in open habitats. Bird plumage patterns have predominantly converged on just four types—mottled (irregular), scales, bars and spots (regular)—and habitat could be driving convergent evolution in avian patterning. Based on sensory ecology, we therefore predict that irregular patterns would be associated with visually noisy closed habitats and that regular patterns would be associated with open habitats. Regular patterns have also been shown to function in communication for sexually competing males to stand-out and attract females, so we predict that male breeding plumage patterns evolved in both open and closed habitats. Here, taking phylogenetic relatedness into account, we investigate ecological selection for bird plumage patterns across the class Aves. We surveyed plumage patterns in 80% of all avian species worldwide. Of these, 2,756 bird species have regular and irregular plumage patterns as well as habitat information. In this subset, we tested whether adult breeding/non-breeding plumages in each sex, and juvenile plumages, were associated with the habitat types found within the species’ geographical distributions. We found no evidence for an association between habitat and plumage patterns across the world’s birds and little phylogenetic signal. We also found that species with regular and irregular plumage patterns were distributed randomly across the world’s eco-regions without being affected by habitat type. These results indicate that at the global spatial and taxonomic scale, habitat does not predict convergent evolution in bird plumage patterns, contrary to the camouflage hypothesis.This research was funded by an Entente Cordiale Scholarship to M.S., a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council studentship to K.L.A.M. and the Cambridge Overseas Trust to T-L.G

Viewing the efficiency of chaos control

This paper aims to cast some new light on controlling chaos using the OGY- and the Zero-Spectral-Radius methods. In deriving those methods we use a generalized procedure differing from the usual ones. This procedure allows us to conveniently treat maps to be controlled bringing the orbit to both various saddles and to sources with both real and complex eigenvalues. We demonstrate the procedure and the subsequent control on a variety of maps. We evaluate the control by examining the basins of attraction of the relevant controlled systems graphically and in some cases analytically

The mechanisms underlying convergent evolution in the plumage patterns of birds

Convergent evolution is a central theme in biology. Birds are an ideal system to examine the mechanisms underlying convergent evolution. Although bird patterning is diverse, within-feather patterns have repeatedly converged on the same four types: mottled patterns, scales, bars and spots. Other avian patterns occur, e.g. stripes, but are rare. In my thesis I examine the four main mechanisms underlying convergent evolution in plumage patterns: evolutionary genetics, evolutionary development, natural selection for signaling and camouflage. Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) is a model system in developmental biology. Examining the developmental basis of pattern formation using molecular techniques, the dorsal patterning of embryonic quail is likely due to activation of the melanocortin-1 receptor, which is a highly conserved pathway in vertebrates. I examined whether a reaction-diffusion based theoretical model of pattern formation may predict developmental constraint in two groups that have different lifestyles and spectacular patterns: waterfowl (Anseriformes) and gamebirds (Galliformes). Tracing the evolutionary trajectory of pattern evolution with Bayesian comparative modeling there was evidence for developmental constraint in pattern evolution. Adaptive explanations may also result in convergence. Cuckoo-hawk mimicry has been demonstrated in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) and the Eurasian sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus), but may be prevalent in Old World cuckoos. Randomly selecting a parasitic cuckoo from each genera of Old World cuckoos and <8 sympatric raptors, I quantified their barred patterns using digital image analysis and found that parasitism can explain convergent evolution in the patterns of parasitic cuckoos and raptors. Patterns may have evolved due to ecological selection. Examining the patterns of 80% of all avian species worldwide, I found that habitat does not predict patterning, and that all four patterns are found in all habitats. These results demonstrate that the mechanisms of convergent evolution are diverse, and that development and natural selection have contributed to pattern evolution.The Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust, the John Stanley Gardiner Fund, and the Pembroke college graduate research fund

An Overview of the Field of Semiotics

AbstractThe quantitative increase in recent years of research into semiotics, among other methods of reading works of art, is notable. Since semiotics is the act of reading as based on a meta-language that is constructed and grounded in logic, understanding the methods applied by the field requires time and experience. In addition, the application of models that differ in relation to each other under different schools of thought and under different names makes its yet more difficult to comprehend the field of semiotics. Despite the different models that are available, approaches display certain commonalities as they are born of the same foundations and objectives. This study will aim to pinpoint the common aspects of the intellectual foundations, methods, objectives and research limitations of the different schools of thought and the models that are involved in the study of semiotics

Stochastic synchronization in globally coupled phase oscillators

Cooperative effects of periodic force and noise in globally Cooperative effects of periodic force and noise in globally coupled systems are studied using a nonlinear diffusion equation for the number density. The amplitude of the order parameter oscillation is enhanced in an intermediate range of noise strength for a globally coupled bistable system, and the order parameter oscillation is entrained to the external periodic force in an intermediate range of noise strength. These enhancement phenomena of the response of the order parameter in the deterministic equations are interpreted as stochastic resonance and stochastic synchronization in globally coupled systems.Comment: 5 figure

Insulin-like growth factor 1 and growth seasonality in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) - comparisons with temperate and tropical cervids

Growth in temperate and arctic deer is seasonal, with higher growth rates in spring and summer while growth rates are low or negative in autumn and winter. We have measured IGF1 concentrations in the plasma of reindeer calves exposed to a manipulated photoperiod, indoors, of either 16 hours light followed by 8 hours dark each day (16L:8D) (n = 3) or 8L:16D (n = 3) from about the autumnal to the vernal equinox, to determine whether the seasonal growth spurt normally seen in spring is associated with changes in the circulating level of IGF1. A high quality concentrate diet was available ad libitum. The animals were weighed, and bled every 2 weeks and plasma samples assayed for IGF1 by radioimmunoassay. 6-8 weeks after the start of the study those calves exposed to 16L.-8D showed a significant increase in plasma IGF1 concentration which was maintained until the close of the experiment, 24 weeks after the start. In contrast IGF1 plasma concentrations in those calves exposed to a daylength of 8L:16D did not significantly alter during the study. The elevated IFG1 in the 16L:8D group was associated with rapid weight gain compared with the 8L:16D group. We have shown that the seasonal growth spurt is preceded by an elevation in plasma IFG1 concentration. Further, this elevation in IGF1 is daylength dependent. For comparison IGF1 and growth rate seasonal profiles from temperate and tropical deer are included. This comparison reveals that seasonal increases in IGF1 take place only in animals with a seasonal growth spurt. Thus IGF1 plasma level elevations seem most closely associated with the resumption of rapid growth in spring following the winter

The future of evolutionary medicine: sparking innovation in biomedicine and public health

Evolutionary medicine - i.e. the application of insights from evolution and ecology to biomedicine - has tremendous untapped potential to spark transformational innovation in biomedical research, clinical care and public health. Fundamentally, a systematic mapping across the full diversity of life is required to identify animal model systems for disease vulnerability, resistance, and counter-resistance that could lead to novel clinical treatments. Evolutionary dynamics should guide novel therapeutic approaches that target the development of treatment resistance in cancers (e.g., via adaptive or extinction therapy) and antimicrobial resistance (e.g., via innovations in chemistry, antimicrobial usage, and phage therapy). With respect to public health, the insight that many modern human pathologies (e.g., obesity) result from mismatches between the ecologies in which we evolved and our modern environments has important implications for disease prevention. Life-history evolution can also shed important light on patterns of disease burden, for example in reproductive health. Experience during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has underlined the critical role of evolutionary dynamics (e.g., with respect to virulence and transmissibility) in predicting and managing this and future pandemics, and in using evolutionary principles to understand and address aspects of human behavior that impede biomedical innovation and public health (e.g., unhealthy behaviors and vaccine hesitancy). In conclusion, greater interdisciplinary collaboration is vital to systematically leverage the insight-generating power of evolutionary medicine to better understand, prevent, and treat existing and emerging threats to human, animal, and planetary health

Microextensive Chaos of a Spatially Extended System

By analyzing chaotic states of the one-dimensional Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation for system sizes L in the range 79 <= L <= 93, we show that the Lyapunov fractal dimension D scales microextensively, increasing linearly with L even for increments Delta{L} that are small compared to the average cell size of 9 and to various correlation lengths. This suggests that a spatially homogeneous chaotic system does not have to increase its size by some characteristic amount to increase its dynamical complexity, nor is the increase in dimension related to the increase in the number of linearly unstable modes.Comment: 5 pages including 4 figures. Submitted to PR