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Seeing after dark
Vision and visual processing in nocturnal animals
A large proportion of the world's animal species are nocturnal. Our
recent work on night-active bees, hawkmoths and dung beetles has shown
that nocturnal animals have excellent vision. Many can see colour,
negotiate dimly illuminated obstacles during flight and navigate using
learned terrestrial landmarks or the dim pattern of polarised light
formed around the moon. Our current work focuses on how this impressive
visual performance is achieved optically, in the designs of nocturnal
eyes, and neurally, by the cellular circuits responsible for nocturnal
visual processing. These studies are integrated with behavioural and
theoretical assessments of visual performance. Some of the questions we
are currently pursuing include:
1. Do nocturnal photoreceptors have structural and physiological
adaptations that allow them to function better in dim light? How do
these adaptations affect the amount of information that nocturnal
photoreceptors can code, and at what energetic cost? Eric Warrant
2. What is the neural basis of spatial summation in insects, and what
are its benefits for vision in dim light? Eric Warrant
3. How well do nocturnal animals see colour at night, and how do animals make a compromise between spetral, spatial resolution and absolute sensitivity of vision? Olle Lind and Almut Kelber
4. How well do nocturnal insects see optic flow information at night,
and what processing strategies are employed to maximise the reliability
of visual control of flight, navigation and homing? Marie Dacke, Emily
Baird and Eric Warrant
Page Manager: Eva Landgren
Webmaster: Michael
Sellers
Publisher: Department of Biology
Last modified 21 Oct 2011
