Research article - Peer-reviewed, 2016
Ultra-Rapid Vision in Birds
Boström, Jannika E.; Dimitrova, Marina; Canton, Cindy; Håstad, Olle; Qvarnström, Anna; Ödeen, AndersAbstract
Flying animals need to accurately detect, identify and track fast-moving objects and these behavioral requirements are likely to strongly select for abilities to resolve visual detail in time. However, evidence of highly elevated temporal acuity relative to non-flying animals has so far been confined to insects while it has been missing in birds. With behavioral experiments on three wild passerine species, blue tits, collared and pied flycatchers, we demonstrate temporal acuities of vision far exceeding predictions based on the sizes and metabolic rates of these birds. This implies a history of strong natural selection on temporal resolution. These birds can resolve alternating light-dark cycles at up to 145 Hz (average: 129, 127 and 137, respectively), which is ca. 50 Hz over the highest frequency shown in any other vertebrate. We argue that rapid vision should confer a selective advantage in many bird species that are ecologically similar to the three species examined in our study. Thus, rapid vision may be a more typical avian trait than the famously sharp vision found in birds of prey.Published in
PLoS ONE2016, volume: 11, number: 3, article number: e0151099
Publisher: PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
Authors' information
Boström, Jannika E.
Uppsala University
Dimitrova, Marina
Uppsala University
Canton, Cindy
Uppsala University
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry (AFB)
Qvarnström, Anna
Uppsala University
Ödeen, Anders (Ödeen, Anders)
Uppsala University
Ödeen, Anders (Ödeen, Anders)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Biochemistry (AFB)
UKÄ Subject classification
Evolutionary Biology
Ecology
Zoology
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0151099
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/76618