Biology Letters: October

This article published in Biology Letters focuses on a topic pertinent to animal behavior and evolutionary anthropology. Disruptive coloration is a common mechanism used by organisms (i.e. moths) to avoid detection by predators. However, the researchers brought up the point that there has not been experimental evidence relating disruptive coloration and decreased likelihood of detection. From this, the researchers designed an experiment in which human subjects were asked to search for computer-generated moth targets; eye movement of the human subjects was measured. The researchers found that an increase in the number of edge-intersecting patches (simulating disruptive coloration) on the moth decreases the probability of it being detected. From these results, the researchers discussed that there is a strong evolutionary basis for disruptive coloration and provided experimental evidence for this adaptation.