{"id":5103,"date":"2019-12-16T15:52:50","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T15:52:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/?post_type=project&p=5103"},"modified":"2019-12-16T21:52:40","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T21:52:40","slug":"5103","status":"publish","type":"project","link":"https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/project\/5103\/","title":{"rendered":"Out of the blue: The power of nature’s most unique colour"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Section” _builder_version=”4.0.6″][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”Out of the blue” subhead=”The power of nature’s most unique colour” text_orientation=”center” header_fullscreen=”on” content_orientation=”bottom” admin_label=”Fullwidth Header” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ title_level=”h5″ title_font=”|600|||||||” title_text_color=”#007fe0″ title_font_size=”75px” title_line_height=”1.8em” subhead_font=”||||||||” subhead_text_color=”#ffffff” subhead_font_size=”37px” subhead_line_height=”1.4em” background_image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/IMG_2423.jpg” background_layout=”light” custom_margin=”0px||0px||false|false” text_shadow_style=”preset1″ text_shadow_color=”#333333″]<\/p>\n

By Erica Endemann and Menaka Raman-Wilms<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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[Photo \u00a9 Menaka Raman-Wilms]<\/em><\/p>\n

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Whether it be attracting a mate or finding safety, blue resonates with insects, birds and humans<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

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The term “feeling blue” may denote sadness, but the colour is widely favoured by cultures around the world: people seem to find the hue universally appealing<\/a>.
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\u201cColours and emotions are really tightly linked,\u201d said Nafissa Ismail, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Ottawa. She studies how humans connect colours with feelings and objects. \u201cIn any individual, colours can elicit certain emotions.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

But blue has a certain cache with humans, and we aren\u2019t the only creatures with a strong reaction to the shade.<\/span><\/p>\n

Biologists long thought that fruit flies were drawn to the colour blue, until a new study revealed that they actually work hard to avoid it. The colour also elicits intense responses in birds, leading scientists to believe that such reactions might be tied to the evolutionary essentials of sex and safety.<\/span><\/p>\n

When researchers at the University of Miami recently set out to study fruit fly colour preference, they put a number of flies in a series of connected tubes where they could fly into segments lit by red, green and blue light. The researchers then watched and recorded the flies\u2019 behaviour over a number of days.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The team found that the fruit flies clearly avoided the blue areas. Instead, they moved<\/span> into the green and red areas<\/span><\/a> depending on the time of day. Lead researcher Stanislav Lazopulo said that those results were unexpected.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cThat was definitely very exciting,\u201d Lazopulo said. \u201cIt was very interesting to us, and we immediately started thinking about what could be the reason for this.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Previous studies had indicated that fruit flies like blue. Those results may have been because the flies in those studies were given shorter amounts of time to make a decision, and so the selection may have been based more on stress than preference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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[Photo \u00a9 Erica Endemann]<\/em><\/p>\n

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Lazopulo said that there has to be a biological explanation for the avoidance.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is definitely always a reason for something to evolve in the animals,\u201d Lazopulo said. \u201cWe can always try to explain how the animals benefit from this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lazopulo believes the colour likely represents something unappealing or dangerous for them, and that the insect has adapted its behaviour to represent that preference.<\/span><\/p>\n

One reason, he posits, could be that fruit flies associate blue light with sky and open air, places where they\u2019re more exposed and therefore more vulnerable to predators.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not much in nature that has blue colour in it,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Lazopulo also mentioned that blue light has a shorter wavelength that is more similar to UV light, which can be harmful to the flies. He said this is another possibility for their avoidance of blue.<\/span><\/p>\n

In terms of the flies\u2019 preference for red and green, Lazopulo said that those colours represent darker areas that the insects would find safer and more appealing. Green, in particular, represents areas beneath leaves or around plants where fruit flies search for food.<\/span><\/p>\n

The flies moved into the green areas during the beginning and end of each day, when they were most active and looking for sustenance. They were drawn to red in the middle of the day, which may remind them of quieter spaces to rest.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Roslyn Dakin, a biologist at Carleton University who studies animal behaviour and was not involved in the study, said that blue could very well represent danger for the fruit fly.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Avoidance of blue] would all depend on the fly\u2019s life history,\u201d she said, \u201chow they live in their natural habitat, how they find food and find mates and avoid danger.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Researchers Stanislav Lazopulo (left) and Sheyem Syed retrieve fruit flies from an incubator. [Photo \u00a9 TJ Lievonen, university of Miami]<\/em><\/p>\n

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Dakin explained that fruit flies usually feed off decaying fruit, so they like to be under trees and in dim places. This is similar to how Lazopulo explained the preference for green. \u201cIt makes complete sense that they would be repelled by the kind of blue visual signals that would indicate an open habitat that\u2019s not going to have those food sources,\u201d Dakin said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There are other instances in nature, however, when the colour blue is extremely alluring.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBlue is actually a pretty rare colour to have evolved on animals,\u201d Dakin said, \u201cand the times when it has evolved, it\u2019s very often used in courtship displays.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

She points to male peacocks, blue jays and even some hummingbirds, all of which use blue feather displays to attract mates. Females are attracted to the rare colour, and so males have evolved to display blue.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another bird called the bowerbird doesn\u2019t have blue on their body, but Dakin explained that the males will court females by collecting blue objects from their surroundings and creating an artistic display. Since blue objects are rare to find in their environment, Dakin said that this may be a way for the males to show their potential partners how clever they are.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBowerbirds will build these nest-like structures, but it\u2019s not a nest, it\u2019s just an arena where they display their treasures that they\u2019ve collected,\u201d Dakin said. \u201cFemales come and evaluate them and decide whether or not they\u2019re going to mate.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_slider use_bg_overlay=”on” use_text_overlay=”on” text_border_radius=”0px” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ body_font_size=”13px” background_color=”#757575″][et_pb_slide heading=”The blue-footed booby” image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Pair_of_blue_footed_boobies.jpg” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ body_font_size=”13px” background_color=”#00457a” background_enable_color=”on”]<\/p>\n

Living off the western coasts of Central and South America, this sea-bird is aptly named. Their large, bright blue feet are shown off to potential mates by a high-stepping strut. The bluer their feet, the more attractive the mate, as the bright blue suggests health. These birds also tend to mate for life.<\/p>\n

[Information on the blue-footed booby was obtained through the Galapagos Conservation Trust<\/a>. Content is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 <\/a>license.]<\/em><\/p>\n

[Photo by putneymark\/Flickr. File licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.0 Generic<\/a> license.]<\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_slide][et_pb_slide heading=”The peacock” image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/Peacock_Wooing_Peahen-3.jpg” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#00457a” background_enable_color=”on”]<\/p>\n

During the mating season, peacocks form small territories close to each other. The males display their brilliant green and blue feathers, spreading their tail in a fan shape and shaking it to make a rattling noise. Peahens will walk through several territories of different males to assess their physical and sexual fitness.<\/p>\n

[\u201cThrough their eyes: selective attention in peahens during courtship,\u201d by Jessica L. Yorziski et. al, Journal of Experimental Biology, November 15, 2013 doi: 10.1242\/jeb.087338.<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

[Photo by ToastyKen\/Wikimedia Commons. File licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported<\/a> license.]<\/em><\/p>\n

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The 20 different species of this bird varies greatly in appearance, but they all create elaborately decorated bowers to attract a mate. Found in Australia and New Guinea, the birds spend anywhere from two weeks to a month getting their bower ready with seeds, shells, petals or items discarded by humans. Different species prefer different colours for their displays.<\/p>\n

[\u201cMultiple sexual ornaments in satin bowerbirds: ultraviolet plumage and bowers signal different aspects of male quality,\u201d by St\u00e9phanie M. Doucet and Robert Montgomerie, Behaviour Ecology, July 2003, doi: https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/beheco\/article\/14\/4\/503\/211414<\/a>]<\/em><\/p>\n

[Photo by Joseph C. Boone\/Wikimedia Commons. File licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International <\/a>license.]<\/em><\/p>\n

[\/et_pb_slide][et_pb_slide heading=”The blue jay” image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/catalyst\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/4182330198_f3188cd6fa_c.jpg” _builder_version=”4.0.6″ background_color=”#00457a” background_enable_color=”on”]<\/p>\n

This intelligent, vibrant bird is actually brown. The blue colour is caused by a scattering of light through modified cells on the surface of the feathers. Their distinctive colour and black bridles across their face, nape and throat, helps them to recognize each other.<\/p>\n

[Information on the blue jay was obtained through the website \u201cAll About Birds, https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/guide\/Blue_Jay\/overview#<\/a>, \u00a9 Cornell Lab of Ornithology.\u201d]<\/em><\/p>\n

[Photo by Jacqui Trump\/Flickr. File licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic<\/a> license.]<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201cThe visual responses to blue are often special for different reasons in different kinds of animals,\u201d said Dakin. \u201cSo I find it really plausible that fruit flies, that find their food and find their mates in these dark habitats, would have responses to avoid these big open areas that would have a lot of danger, like birds and other predatory insects that eat fruit flies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Just as the male bowerbird evolved to seek out rare blue objects that would display their cleverness, Dakin said it could be possible that fruit flies evolved to avoid these open spaces filled with blue light.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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