Plants use many of the same methods as animals to camouflage themselves, a new study shows.
Research on plant camouflage is limited compared to the wealth of knowledge about how animals conceal themselves.
Plants use many of the same methods as animals to camouflage themselves, a new study shows.
Research on plant camouflage is limited compared to the wealth of knowledge about how animals conceal themselves.
But a review by scientists from the University of Exeter and the Kunming Institute of Botany (Chinese Academy of Sciences) found plants use a host of techniques long known to be used by animals.
These include blending with the background, “disruptive colouration” (using high-contrast markings to break up the perceived shape of an object) and “masquerade” (looking like an unimportant object predators might ignore, such as a stone).
“It is clear that plants do more than entice pollinators and photosynthesise with their colours – they hide in plain sight from enemies too,” said Professor Martin Stevens, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall.
Read more at University of Exeter
Image: This is Corydalis hemidicentra in south-west China. (Credit: Yang Niu)
