Abstract
Visual systems are generally highly adaptive, and are likely to be a reflection of the selective pressure brought to bear on the evolution of modern animals (Wald, 1940; Lythgoe, 1979). At the same time, we believe that signals, such as the colours and patterns of plants and animals, were adapted to these visual systems. Although the hypothesis of the mutual evolution of the visible environment and visual systems is based on many observations (Lythgoe, 1979), it has not yet been tested by quantitative data. To base the speculation on quantitative grounds we must specify: 1) the objects that played the main role in the evolution of the visual system of a particular animal, and 2) the visual systems to which the coloured signals were adapted.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Autrum, H. and von Zwehl, V. (1964) Die spectrale Empfindlichkeit einzelner Sehzellen des Bienenauges. Z. Vergl Physiol 48, 357–384
Backhaus, W. (1991) Color opponent coding in the visual system of the honeybee, Vision Res. 31, 1381–1397.
Brandt, R. and Vorobyev, M. (1996) Metric analysis of threshold spectral sensitivity in the honeybee. Vision Res (in press)
Chittka, L. (1992) The color hexagon: a chromaticity diagram based on photoreceptor excitations as a generalized representation of colour opponency, J Comp Physiol A, 170, 533–543.
Chittka, L. (1996) Does bee color vision predate the evolution of flower color? Naturwissenschaften, 83, 136–138.
Chittka, L., Beier, W., Hertel, H., Steinmann, E. and Menzel, R. (1992) Opponent colour coding is a universal strategy to evaluate the photoreceptor inputs in Hymentoptera, J Comp Physiol A, 170, 545–563.
Chittka, L. and Menzel, R. (1992) The evolutionary adaptation of flower colors and the insect pollinators’ color vision systems, J. Comp Physiol A, 171, 171–181.
Chittka, L., Shmida, A., Troje, N. and Menzel, R. (1993) Ultraviolet as a component of flower reflections, and the colour perception of Hymenoptera. Vision Res. 34, 1489–1508.
Chittka, L., Vorobyev, M., Shmida, A. and Menzel, R. (1994) Bee colour vision-the optimal system for the discrimination of flower colours with three spectral photoreceptor types? In: Sensory systems of Arthropods (eds. Wiese, K., Gribakin S. G., Popov A.V. and Renninger G. ), Birkhauser, Berlin. Verlag, pp. 211–218.
Dafni, A. (1984) Mimicry and deception in pollination. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst 15, 259–278.
Dartnall, H. J. A. (1953) The interpretation of spectral sensitivity curves. Brit. Med. Bul 9, 24.
Darwin, C. (1876) Cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, Murray, London.
Daumer, K. (1956) Reizmetrische Untersuchung des Farbensehens der Bienen. Z. Vergl Physiol. 38, 413–478.
Giurfa, M., Nunez, J., Chittka, L. and Menzel, R. (1995) Colour preferences of flower-naive honeybees. J Comp. Physiol A, 177, 247–259.
Giurfa, M., Vorobyev, M., Kevan, P. and Menzel, R. (1996) Detection of coloured stimuli by honeybees: minimum visual angles and receptor specific contrasts. J Comp. Physiol A, 178, 699–709
Goldsmith, T. H. (1991) The evolution of visual pigments and colour vision. In: Vision and Visual Disfunction. vol. 6: The Perception of Colour, (ed. Gouras, P.) MacMillan, London, pp. 62–89.
Govardovskii, V. I. and Vorobyev, M. V. (1989) The role of colored oil drops of cones in the color vision. Sensory systems, 3, 150–159. (In Russian).
Govardovskii, V. I. and Vorobyev, M. V. (1992). Photoreceptor spectral sensitivity curves and discrimination of natural colours. Abstr. of 9th International Neuroethological Congress, Montreal, pp. 24–25.
Harborne, J. B. (1988) Introduction to Ecological Biochemistry, (3rd. ed.), Academic Press, London. Helmholtz, H. L. F. (1896) Hanbuch der Physiologischen Optik, ( 2nd ed. ), Voss, Humburg.
Lehrer, M. (1994) Spatial vision in the honeybee: the use of different cues in different tasks. Vision Res. 34, 2363–2385.
Lythgoe, J. N. (1979) The Ecology of Vision, Claredon Press, Oxford.
Lythgoe, J. N. Partridge, J. C. (1989) Visual pigments and the acquisition of visual information. J. Exp. Biol 146, I - 20.
Luther, R. (1927) Aus dem Gebiet der Farbreizmetrik. Z. Techn. Phys 8, 540–558.
Maximov, V. (1984) Transformation of colour under the changing illumination. (ed. Bysov, A. L.) Nauka, Moskva (in Russian).
Maximov, V. (1988). An approximation of visual absorption spectra. Sensornye Systemy, 2, 3–8.
Menzel, R. (1967) Untersuchungen zum Erlernen von Spectralfarben durch die Honigbienen (Apis mellifera). Z. Vergl. Physiol, 56, 22–62.
Menzel, R. and Blakers, M. (1976) Colour receptors in the bee eye-morphology and spectral sensitivity. J Comp. Physiol 108, 11–33.
Menzel, R. and Backhaus, W. (1991) Color vision in insects, in Vision and Visual Disfunction, vol. VII. Perception of Color, (ed. Gouras, R ), MacMillan Press, Haundsmills, pp. 262–293.
Menzel, R. and Shmida, A. (1993) The ecology of flower colours and the natural colour vision of insect pollinators: The Israeli flora as a study case. Biol Rev. 68, 81–120.
Mollon, J. (1992) Worlds of difference. Nature, 356, 410–411.
Nyberg, N. (1928) Zum Aufbau des Farbenkörpers im Raume aller Lichtempfindungen, Z. Phys 52, 406–419.
Osorio, D. and Vorobyev, M. (1996) Colour vision as an adaptation to frugivory in primates. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 263, 593–599.
Peitsch, D., Fietz, A., Hertel, H., de Souza, J., Ventura, D. F. and Menzel, R. (1992) The spectral input systems of hymenopteran insects and their receptor-based colour vision. J Comp. Physiol A, 170, 123–40.
Schrödinger, E. (1920) Grundlinien einer Theorie der Farbenmetrik im Tagessehen. Ann. Phys 63, 397–520.
Troje, N. (1993) Spectral categories in the learning behaviour of blowflies. Z. Natuiforsch 48c, 96–104.
Vorobyev, M., Chittka, L. and Menzel, R. (1993) How many colors can a bee discriminate? Are the wavelength positions of the bee color receptors optimal for this task? in Proceeding of the Göttingen Neurobiology conference 1993, p. 339.
Vorobyev, M. V. and Govardovskii, V. I. (1993) At low illuminance levels monochromats are able to distinguish more shades than dichromats, and dichromats more than trichromats. In: Proceeding of the Gottingen Neurobiology conference 1993, p. 397.
Walls, G. L. (1942) The Vertebrate Eye and Its Adaptive Radiation. Granbrook Institute of Science, MI: Bloofield Hills.
Wyszecki, G. and Stiles, W. S. (1982) Color science: Concepts and methods, quantitative data and formulae, ( 2nd ed. ), Wiley, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Vorobyev, M., Menzel, R. (1999). Flower advertisement for insects: Bees, a case study. In: Archer, S.N., Djamgoz, M.B.A., Loew, E.R., Partridge, J.C., Vallerga, S. (eds) Adaptive Mechanisms in the Ecology of Vision. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0619-3_18
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0619-3_18
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5124-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-017-0619-3
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive