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Article: New ecology and sociobiology study findings have been reported by scientists at University of Melbourne.
- Article from:
- Ecology, Environment & Conservation
- Article date:
- November 13, 2009
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"Barred plumage is common among bird species. It is often interpreted as a form of crypsis because pigmentation patterns are less detectable against heterogeneous backgrounds," scientists in Melbourne, Australia report.
"However, it has also been suggested that barred plumage could signal plumage condition, because it makes irregularities in the plumage perceptually salient. Little empirical work exists on the function of barred plumage, in part because we lack a way for quantifying the regularity of the pattern. Here, we present a method to analyze digital photographs of barred plumage and quantify the regularity of its pattern, and also provide software to ...