Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates.
Trichromatic primates have a 'red-green' chromatic channel in addition to luminance and 'blue-yellow' channels. It has been argued that the red-green channel evolved in primates as an adaptation for detecting reddish or yellowish objects, such as ripe fruits, against a background...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
---|---|
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2008-10-01
|
Series: | PLoS ONE |
Online Access: | http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2559900?pdf=render |
id |
doaj-244f214d5243436881226e9f290130a1 |
---|---|
record_format |
Article |
spelling |
doaj-244f214d5243436881226e9f290130a12020-11-25T02:12:47ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032008-10-01310e335610.1371/journal.pone.0003356Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates.Chihiro HiramatsuAmanda D MelinFilippo AureliColleen M SchaffnerMisha VorobyevYoshifumi MatsumotoShoji KawamuraTrichromatic primates have a 'red-green' chromatic channel in addition to luminance and 'blue-yellow' channels. It has been argued that the red-green channel evolved in primates as an adaptation for detecting reddish or yellowish objects, such as ripe fruits, against a background of foliage. However, foraging advantages to trichromatic primates remain unverified by behavioral observation of primates in their natural habitats. New World monkeys (platyrrhines) are an excellent model for this evaluation because of the highly polymorphic nature of their color vision due to allelic variation of the L-M opsin gene on the X chromosome. In this study we carried out field observations of a group of wild, frugivorous black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi frontatus, Gray 1842, Platyrrhini), consisting of both dichromats (n = 12) and trichromats (n = 9) in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. We determined the color vision types of individuals in this group by genotyping their L-M opsin and measured foraging efficiency of each individual for fruits located at a grasping distance. Contrary to the predicted advantage for trichromats, there was no significant difference between dichromats and trichromats in foraging efficiency and we found that the luminance contrast was the main determinant of the variation of foraging efficiency among red-green, blue-yellow and luminance contrasts. Our results suggest that luminance contrast can serve as an important cue in short-range foraging attempts despite other sensory cues that could be available. Additionally, the advantage of red-green color vision in primates may not be as salient as previously thought and needs to be evaluated in further field observations.http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2559900?pdf=render |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Chihiro Hiramatsu Amanda D Melin Filippo Aureli Colleen M Schaffner Misha Vorobyev Yoshifumi Matsumoto Shoji Kawamura |
spellingShingle |
Chihiro Hiramatsu Amanda D Melin Filippo Aureli Colleen M Schaffner Misha Vorobyev Yoshifumi Matsumoto Shoji Kawamura Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. PLoS ONE |
author_facet |
Chihiro Hiramatsu Amanda D Melin Filippo Aureli Colleen M Schaffner Misha Vorobyev Yoshifumi Matsumoto Shoji Kawamura |
author_sort |
Chihiro Hiramatsu |
title |
Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. |
title_short |
Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. |
title_full |
Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. |
title_fullStr |
Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. |
title_sort |
importance of achromatic contrast in short-range fruit foraging of primates. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
series |
PLoS ONE |
issn |
1932-6203 |
publishDate |
2008-10-01 |
description |
Trichromatic primates have a 'red-green' chromatic channel in addition to luminance and 'blue-yellow' channels. It has been argued that the red-green channel evolved in primates as an adaptation for detecting reddish or yellowish objects, such as ripe fruits, against a background of foliage. However, foraging advantages to trichromatic primates remain unverified by behavioral observation of primates in their natural habitats. New World monkeys (platyrrhines) are an excellent model for this evaluation because of the highly polymorphic nature of their color vision due to allelic variation of the L-M opsin gene on the X chromosome. In this study we carried out field observations of a group of wild, frugivorous black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi frontatus, Gray 1842, Platyrrhini), consisting of both dichromats (n = 12) and trichromats (n = 9) in Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica. We determined the color vision types of individuals in this group by genotyping their L-M opsin and measured foraging efficiency of each individual for fruits located at a grasping distance. Contrary to the predicted advantage for trichromats, there was no significant difference between dichromats and trichromats in foraging efficiency and we found that the luminance contrast was the main determinant of the variation of foraging efficiency among red-green, blue-yellow and luminance contrasts. Our results suggest that luminance contrast can serve as an important cue in short-range foraging attempts despite other sensory cues that could be available. Additionally, the advantage of red-green color vision in primates may not be as salient as previously thought and needs to be evaluated in further field observations. |
url |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC2559900?pdf=render |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT chihirohiramatsu importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates AT amandadmelin importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates AT filippoaureli importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates AT colleenmschaffner importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates AT mishavorobyev importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates AT yoshifumimatsumoto importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates AT shojikawamura importanceofachromaticcontrastinshortrangefruitforagingofprimates |
_version_ |
1724908264557117440 |