University of Exeter researchers have developed new camera technology
Shows what habitats look like to animals such as bees and lizards
For example, dandelions look pink to insects because they see UV light
Technology could help researchers understand how colours and patterns in nature can be used by predators to hunt and others to stay hidden
By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline
Published: August 6 2015
From pink dandelions and yellow snowdrops to bright orange leaves, new technology has revealed what the world looks like though different animals’ eyes.
Researchers have come up with new software that converts digital photos to animal vision.
It can be used to analyse colours and patterns and could shed light on how predators hunt and vulnerable creatures camouflage themselves.
The camera technology was developed by scientists at the University of Exeter and shows that dandelions look bright pink to bees and leaves a vibrant orange to lizards.
While humans and most apes see using three primary colours, other mammals are only sensitive to blue and yellow.
But birds, reptiles, amphibians and some insects see it in four or more primary colours and many of them can see the ultraviolet range – a world completely invisible to us without the use of full spectrum cameras.
The flowers look particularly bright to bees because they see in ultraviolet (UV). Their almost fluorescent colour is effective in attracting pollinators.
HUMANS SEE COLOURS DIFFERENTLY WITH THE CHANGING OF SEASONS
Scientists have discovered we see things differently in winter compared to summer.
They examined how our colour perception changes with the seasons and how we process pure, or ‘unique’ yellow.
Unique yellow is particularly interesting to scientists because it is stable across large populations, meaning everyone agrees what unique yellow looks like despite the fact that people's eyes are often very different.
PhD student at the University of York and lead author, Lauren Welbourne, said: ‘What we are finding is that between seasons our vision adapts to changes in environment.
‘So in summer when there is a much larger amount of foliage, our visual system has to account for the fact that on average we are exposed to far more green.
‘In York, you typically have grey, dull winters and then in summer you have greenery everywhere.
‘Our vision compensates for those changes and that, surprisingly, changes what we think “yellow” looks like.
‘It's a bit like changing the colour balance on your TV.’
UV is also often important for birds, reptiles and other insects in their colourful sexual displays to attract mates.
Tenerife lizards are able to see more colourful details than humans, such as blue patches on each other’s cheeks, because they appear stronger through their UV vision.
The example shows how colours can be used as private signals in some species where evolutionary pressures for sexual signalling compete with evading predators.
The technology has already been used by Exeter's Sensory Ecology group in a wide range of studies, such as colour change in green shore crabs, tracking human female face colour changes through the ovulation cycle and determining the aspects of camouflage that protect nightjar clutches from being spotted by potential predators.
‘Viewing the world through the eyes of another animal has now become much easier thanks to our new software,’ said Jolyon Troscianko from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the university
‘Digital cameras are powerful tools for measuring colours and patterns in nature but until now it has been surprisingly difficult to use digital photos to make accurate and reliable measurements of colour.
‘Our software allows us to calibrate images and convert them to animal vision, so that we can measure how the scene might look to humans and non-humans alike.’
Until now scientists had to use a number of complex processes involving layering their images and changing them to show UV channels as well as converting them to how a specific animal would see manually.
The software makes the process much simpler and works by combining a standard photograph with one taken through a UV-pass filter.
It can then generate functions to show the image through an animal's eyes.
The researchers have set specific data on camera settings for commonly studied animals, such as humans, blue ****, peafowl, honey bees, ferrets and some fish.
The study was published in the journal Methods in Ecology & Evolution.
It’s hoped that because the software is open source, it could make it easier for other scientists to image photographs.
Shows what habitats look like to animals such as bees and lizards
For example, dandelions look pink to insects because they see UV light
Technology could help researchers understand how colours and patterns in nature can be used by predators to hunt and others to stay hidden
By Sarah Griffiths for MailOnline
Published: August 6 2015
From pink dandelions and yellow snowdrops to bright orange leaves, new technology has revealed what the world looks like though different animals’ eyes.
Researchers have come up with new software that converts digital photos to animal vision.
It can be used to analyse colours and patterns and could shed light on how predators hunt and vulnerable creatures camouflage themselves.
The camera technology was developed by scientists at the University of Exeter and shows that dandelions look bright pink to bees and leaves a vibrant orange to lizards.
While humans and most apes see using three primary colours, other mammals are only sensitive to blue and yellow.
But birds, reptiles, amphibians and some insects see it in four or more primary colours and many of them can see the ultraviolet range – a world completely invisible to us without the use of full spectrum cameras.
The flowers look particularly bright to bees because they see in ultraviolet (UV). Their almost fluorescent colour is effective in attracting pollinators.
HUMANS SEE COLOURS DIFFERENTLY WITH THE CHANGING OF SEASONS
Scientists have discovered we see things differently in winter compared to summer.
They examined how our colour perception changes with the seasons and how we process pure, or ‘unique’ yellow.
Unique yellow is particularly interesting to scientists because it is stable across large populations, meaning everyone agrees what unique yellow looks like despite the fact that people's eyes are often very different.
PhD student at the University of York and lead author, Lauren Welbourne, said: ‘What we are finding is that between seasons our vision adapts to changes in environment.
‘So in summer when there is a much larger amount of foliage, our visual system has to account for the fact that on average we are exposed to far more green.
‘In York, you typically have grey, dull winters and then in summer you have greenery everywhere.
‘Our vision compensates for those changes and that, surprisingly, changes what we think “yellow” looks like.
‘It's a bit like changing the colour balance on your TV.’
UV is also often important for birds, reptiles and other insects in their colourful sexual displays to attract mates.
Tenerife lizards are able to see more colourful details than humans, such as blue patches on each other’s cheeks, because they appear stronger through their UV vision.
The example shows how colours can be used as private signals in some species where evolutionary pressures for sexual signalling compete with evading predators.
The technology has already been used by Exeter's Sensory Ecology group in a wide range of studies, such as colour change in green shore crabs, tracking human female face colour changes through the ovulation cycle and determining the aspects of camouflage that protect nightjar clutches from being spotted by potential predators.
‘Viewing the world through the eyes of another animal has now become much easier thanks to our new software,’ said Jolyon Troscianko from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the university
‘Digital cameras are powerful tools for measuring colours and patterns in nature but until now it has been surprisingly difficult to use digital photos to make accurate and reliable measurements of colour.
‘Our software allows us to calibrate images and convert them to animal vision, so that we can measure how the scene might look to humans and non-humans alike.’
Until now scientists had to use a number of complex processes involving layering their images and changing them to show UV channels as well as converting them to how a specific animal would see manually.
The software makes the process much simpler and works by combining a standard photograph with one taken through a UV-pass filter.
It can then generate functions to show the image through an animal's eyes.
The researchers have set specific data on camera settings for commonly studied animals, such as humans, blue ****, peafowl, honey bees, ferrets and some fish.
The study was published in the journal Methods in Ecology & Evolution.
It’s hoped that because the software is open source, it could make it easier for other scientists to image photographs.
