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Dark butterflies camouflaged from predation in dark tropical forest understories
Author(s) -
CHENG WENDA,
XING SHUANG,
CHEN YI,
LIN RONG,
BONEBRAKE TIMOTHY C.,
NAKAMURA AKIHIRO
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12499
Subject(s) - predation , camouflage , butterfly , ecology , habitat , biology , understory , tropical rainforest , rainforest , canopy
Darker organisms may benefit by better camouflaging within darker habitats in addition to thermal advantages facilitating more efficient absorption of heat from solar radiation. Artificial butterflies were used to show that dark‐coloured organisms suffered from lower predation risks within closed, shady habitats, whereas no such relationships were found within open habitats. It was found that actual butterfly communities were also darker in closed than in open habitats.