Misha Vorobyev

University of Auckalnd · Optometry

Animal use color vision in a range of behaviours. Visual performance is limited by thresholds, which are set by noise in photoreceptors and subsequent neural processing. The receptor noise limited (RNL) model of color discrimination is widely used for modelling color vision and accounts well for experimental data from many species. In one of the mo...

Cephalopod photoreceptors are polarisation-sensitive, giving them an ability to discriminate between lights of different angle and degree of polarisation. While colour vision is achieved by comparison of signals of photoreceptors tuned to different parts of light spectra, polarisation vision is achieved by comparison of signals of photoreceptors tu...

Gaze direction is closely coupled with body movement in insects and other animals. If movement patterns interfere with the acquisition of visual information, insects can actively adjust them to seek relevant cues. Alternatively, where multiple visual cues are available, an insect’s movements may influence how it perceives a scene. We show that the...

While color vision is achieved by comparison of signals of photoreceptors tuned to different parts of light spectra, polarization vision is achieved by comparison of signals of photoreceptors tuned to different orientations of the electric field component of visible light. Therefore, it has been suggested that polarization vision is similar to colo...

Behavioural contrast sensitivity in Octopus tetricus was measured in the range of 0.05-12 cycles per degree (cpd) using a fixation reflex. We show that the contrast sensitivity reaches its maximum (between 1 and 4%) at 0.3 cpd, and decreases to approximately half of the maximum value at the lowest spatial frequency. Reduction of sensitivity at low...

Colour vision mediates ecologically relevant tasks for many animals, such as mate choice, foraging and predator avoidance. However, our understanding of animal colour perception is largely derived from human psychophysics, and behavioural tests of non-human animals are required to understand how colour signals are perceived. Here, we introduce a no...

Gaze direction is closely coupled with body movement in insects and other animals. If movement patterns interfere with the acquisition of visual information, insects can actively adjust them to seek relevant cues. Alternatively, where multiple visual cues are available, an insects movements may influence how it perceives a scene. We show that the w...

Colour vision mediates ecologically relevant tasks for many animals, such as mate choice, foraging and predator avoidance. However, our understanding of animal colour perception is largely derived from human psychophysics, even though animal visual systems differ from our own. Behavioural tests of non-human animals are required to understand how co...

Humans group components of visual patterns according to their colour, and perceive colours separately from shape. This property of human visual perception is the basis behind the Ishihara test for colour deficiency,where an observer is asked to detect a pattern made up of dots of similar colour with variable lightness against a background of dots m...

Colour patterns displayed by animals frequently comprise multiple elements, including hue, pattern, luminance and texture. Predators' perception of and learning about visual stimuli has important implications for the evolution of animal coloration, including aposematism and mimicry. This study investigated how a coral reef fish, the triggerfish Rhi...

Coral reef fishes are among the most colourful animals in the world. Given the diversity of lifestyles and habitats on the reef, it is probable that in many instances coloration is a compromise between crypsis and communication. However, human observation of this coloration is biased by our primate visual system. Most animals have visual systems th...

The PCR primers used in studies of enzyme function and expression. (a) PCR primers used to clone in situ hybridization templates. (b) Primers used for qPCR quantification of apocarotenoid-metabolizing enzyme transcript expression in developing chicken retinas. (c) PCR primers used to clone full-length transcripts of apocarotenoid-metabolizing enzym...

The number of discriminable colors predicted using the receptor noise-limited model with species-specific ocular media transmittance, spectral sensitivity measures, and varying positions of the C-type oil droplet filtering cutoff.The increment spectral sensitivity values calculated for the 11 UVS and 7 VS species with matched and mismatched C-type...

The species included in our phylogenetic comparison of retina apocarotenoid composition. The tuning of the SWS1 opsin is inferred from the amino acid at position 90 of the second transmembrane helix (Ödeen and Håstad, 2013; 2009). The amino acid sequence was either derived from previously published studies or was determined by sequencing of genomic...

The measured oil droplet spectra, pure carotenoid spectra, and model fit parameters for each measured C-type droplet.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15675.011

The species and visual system parameters used to model avian color discrimination. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15675.021

Apocarotenoid concentration and transcript expression levels for each biological and technical replicate.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.15675.016

Flower patterns are thought to influence foraging decisions of insect pollinators. However, the resolution of insect compound eyes is poor. Insects perceive flower patterns only from short distances when they initiate landing or search for reward on the flower. From further away flower displays jointly form larger-sized patterns within the visual s...

Photoreceptor adaptation ensures appropriate visual responses during changing light conditions and contributes to colour constancy. We used behavioural tests to compare UV-sensitivity of budgerigars after adaptation to UV-rich and UV-poor backgrounds. In the latter case, we found lower UV-sensitivity than expected, which could be the result of phot...

Luminance vision has high spatial resolution and is used for form vision and texture discrimination. In humans, birds and bees luminance channel is spectrally selective-it depends on the signals of the long-wavelength sensitive photoreceptors (bees) or on the sum of long- and middle-wavelength sensitive cones (humans), but not on the signal of the...

Research in the honeybee has laid the foundations for our understanding of insect colour vision. The trichromatic colour vision of honeybees shares fundamental properties with primate and human colour perception, such as colour constancy, colour opponency, segregation of colour and brightness coding. Laborious efforts to reconstruct the colour visi...

In the present study, we investigated color generalization in the honeybee Apis mellifera after differential conditioning. In particular, we evaluated the effect of varying the position of a novel color along a perceptual continuum relative to familiar colors on response biases. Honeybee foragers were differentially trained to discriminate between...

Coral reef fish present the human observer with an array of bold and contrasting patterns; however, the ability of such fish to perceive these patterns is largely unexamined. To understand this, the visual acuity of these animals - the degree to which they can resolve fine detail - must be ascertained. Behavioural studies are few in number and anat...

In mammals, memory formation and stabilization requires polymerization of actin. Here, we show that, in the honeybee, inhibition of actin polymerization within the brain centres involved in memory formation, the mushroom bodies (MBs), enhances associative olfactory memory. Local application of inhibitors of actin polymerization (Cytochalasin D or L...

A very well-documented case of flower-beetle interaction is the association in the Mediterranean region between red bowl-shaped flowers and beetles of the family Glaphyridae. The present study examines the visual mechanisms by which Pygopleurus israelitus (Glaphyridae: Scarabaeoidea: Coleoptera) would perceive the colors of flowers they visit by ch...

Bees form an important and representative group of insect pollinators. Because vision of the honey bee, Apis mellifera, has been studied in detail and its compound eyes are similar to those of other bees, the honey bee is a useful model for studying the evolutionarily relationship between flower displays and vision of bees. Three streams of researc...

The visual system of the Australian lungfish N. forsteri has more in common with terrestrial vertebrates such as reptiles and birds, than with both sharks and bony fish. Features such as coloured oil droplets and multiple visual pigments indicate their phylogenetic allegiance with tetrapods, and suggest that the terrestrial trend for colour vision...

Double cones (DCs) are the most common cone types in fish, reptiles and birds. It has been suggested that DCs are used for achromatic tasks such as luminance, motion and polarization vision. Here we show that a reef fish Rhinecanthus aculeatus can discriminate colours on the basis of the difference between the signals of individual members of DCs....

To model the light-guiding properties of a hexagonal array of dielectric cylinders, we have numerically solved Maxwell's equations with the finite-difference time-domain technique. The sizes and refractive indices of the cylinders are representative of those of the outer segments of the cone photoreceptors in the human central retina. In the array,...

Diversity in the colour and appearance of avian eggshells has been proposed to serve a variety of visual functions, including crypsis from predation, mimicry and discrimination in facultative and obligate brood parasitism, and sexually selected intraspecific signalling of the extent of maternal investment in the egg. Here, we apply a photoreceptor...

Geckos are the most vocalizing animals among Squamata. Previously we discovered a contractile segment (the NAL, noncartilaginous abneural limbus), within the rigid periotic cochlear frame of the gecko Teratoscincus scincus [Ganeshina and Vorobyev, 2003]. Because this unusual cochlear specialization has not previously been described in the vertebrat...

It is not well understood how primates combine olfactory and visual cues in their natural behaviour, especially during feeding. In this study we conducted field observations of a group of wild, frugivorous black-handed spider monkeys, Ateles geoffroyi (Platyrrhini), consisting of both dichromats (N = 11) and trichromats (N = 9) in Santa Rosa Nation...

We have demonstrated previously that honeybees use brightness vision mediated by green (or L-) receptor to detect targets from a long distance. They detect circular targets having a dim, for the L-receptor, centre and bright surround from a longer distance than targets having bright centre and dim surround. Here we show that a majority of bee-polli...

The transition from water to land was a key event in the evolution of vertebrates that occurred over a period of 15-20 million years towards the end of the Devonian. Tetrapods, including all land-living vertebrates, are thought to have evolved from lobe-finned (sarcopterygian) fish that developed adaptations for an amphibious existence. However, wh...

Eye design in invertebrates is diverse and gives rise to a variety of color-vision systems. The most sophisticated color vision has been found in marine crustaceans - mantis shrimps. These shrimps use for color vision 12 spectrally different photoreceptors, while many other crustaceans have only two types of spectrally selective photoreceptors. Art...

The 33 fruit species consumed by spider monkeys at the study site during the observation period. (0.11 MB PDF)

The visual displays of animals and plants are often colourful, and colour vision allows animals to respond to these signals as they forage for food, choose mates and so-forth. This article discusses the evolutionary relationship between photoreceptor spectral sensitivities of four groups of land animals--birds, butterflies, primates and hymenoptera...

The striking diversity of avian eggshell colour has long fascinated biologists. Recently, it has been proposed that the blue-green colour of some eggs may function as a post-mating sexually selected signal of female phenotypic quality to their mates to induce higher allocation of paternal care. It has been suggested that maternally deposited yolk c...

To find out how grouping of flowers into patches improves their detectability by hymenopteran pollinators, we trained honeybees and bumblebees to detect groups of three spatially separated disks and compared results with the detection limit for single disks. When the discs presented contrast to the long-wavelength-sensitive (L) receptor, grouping o...

This paper presents the first evidence of tetrachromacy among invertebrates. The Japanese yellow swallowtail butterfly, Papilio xuthus, uses colour vision when foraging. The retina of Papilio is furnished with eight varieties of spectral receptors of six classes that are the ultraviolet (UV), violet, blue (narrow-band and wide-band), green (single-...

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 rem...

Previously, we discovered a contractile segment within the cartilaginous abneural limbus of the gecko cochlea, the noncartilaginous abneural limbus (NAL, Ganeshina and Vorobyev, J Comp Neurol 461:539-547, 2003). Here, we demonstrate, by means of SDS-PAGE electrophoresis, the nanoLC-ESI-MSMS technique, immunoblotting, and immunocytochemistry, that t...

Reproduction in plants often requires animal vectors. Fruit and flower colors are traditionally viewed as an adaptation to facilitate detection for pollinators and seed dispersers. This longstanding hypothesis predicts that fruits are easier to detect against their own leaves compared with those of different species. We tested this hypothesis by an...

Reproduction in plants often requires animal vectors. Fruit and flower colors are traditionally viewed as an adaptation to facilitate detection for pollinators and seed dispersers. This longstanding hypothesis predicts that fruits are easier to detect against their own leaves compared with those of different species. We tested this hypothesis by an...

Colour changes in fiddler crabs have long been noted, but a functional interpretation is still lacking. Here we report that neighbouring populations of Uca vomeris in Australia exhibit different degrees of carapace colours, which range from dull mottled to brilliant blue and white. We determined the spectral characteristics of the mud substratum an...

The goals of this study are to determine relationships between synaptogenesis and morphogenesis within the mushroom body calyx of the honeybee Apis mellifera and to find out how the microglomerular structure characteristic for the mature calyx is established during metamorphosis. We show that synaptogenesis in the mushroom body calycal neuropile st...

A rigorous numerical solution is presented for plane wave scattering by a photoreceptor cell. The calculated optical intensity distribution exhibits axial oscillations which are explained on the basis of substantial Bessel-wave type radiation mode excitation.

Introduction: sampling and retinal specializationSpatial sampling: signals, noise and image statisticsColorNocturnality and the origins of primate visionReferences

Using in situ spectrometry data and visual system modeling, we investigate whether the colors conferred to the reef-building corals by GFP-like proteins would look colorful not only to humans, but also to fish occupying different ecological niches on the reef. Some GFP-like proteins, most notably fluorescent greens and nonfluorescent chromoproteins...

This review outlines how eyes of terrestrial vertebrates and insects meet the competing requirements of coding both spatial and spectral information. There is no unique solution to this problem. Thus, mammals and honeybees use their long-wavelength receptors for both achromatic (luminance) and colour vision, whereas flies and birds probably use sep...

Birds have four spectrally distinct types of single cones that they use for colour vision. It is often desirable to be able to model the spectral sensitivities of the different cone types, which vary considerably between species. However, although there are several mathematical models available for describing the spectral absorption of visual pigme...

Primates have X chromosome genes for cone photopigments with sensitivity maxima from 535 to 562 nm. Old World monkeys and apes (catarrhines) and the New World (platyrrhine) genus Alouatta have separate genes for 535‐nm (medium wavelength; M) and 562‐nm (long wavelength; L) pigments. These pigments, together with a 425‐nm (short wavelength) pigment,...

Primates have X chromosome genes for cone photopigments with sensitivity maxima from 535 to 562 nm. Old World monkeys and apes (catarrhines) and the New World ( platyrrhine) genus Alouatta have separate genes for 535-nm ( medium wavelength; M) and 562-nm ( long wavelength; L) pigments. These pigments, together with a 425-nm ( short wavelength) pigm...

More than one hundred years ago, Grant Allen suggested that colour vision in primates, birds and insects evolved as an adaptation for foraging on colourful advertisements of plants--fruits and flowers. Recent studies have shown that well developed colour vision appeared long before fruits and flowers evolved. Thus, colour vision is generally benefi...

Poison frogs in the anuran family Dendrobatidae use bright colors on their bodies to advertise toxicity. The species Dendrobates pumilio Schmidt 1858, the strawberry poison frog, shows extreme polymorphism in color and pattern in Panama. It is known that females of D. pumilio preferentially choose mates of their own color morph. Nevertheless, poten...

It is generally accepted that the cartilaginous frame of the reptilian cochlea has only a passive supportive function. In this study, a ribbon of contractile tissue was revealed within the cartilaginous frame of the cochlea of the gecko Teratoscincus scincus. It consisted of tightly packed cells and received an extensive blood supply. The cytoplasm...

The eyes of most diurnal reptiles and birds contain coloured retinal filters-oil droplets. Although these filters are widespread, their adaptive advantage remains uncertain. To understand why coloured oil droplets appeared and were retained during evolution, I consider both the benefits and the costs of light filtering in the retina. Oil droplets d...

Over a century ago workers such as J. Lubbock and K. von Frisch developed behavioural criteria for establishing that non-human animals see colour. Many animals in most phyla have since then been shown to have colour vision. Colour is used for specific behaviours, such as phototaxis and object recognition, while other behaviours such as motion detec...

This chapter attempts three things. First, some of the possible functions of the astonishing colors of reef fishes are examined. Second, the spectral sensitivities and potential color vision capabilities of marine fishes are discussed in the light of old and new data. Finally, an integrated approach is used to model what fishes look like to fishes...

We investigated pattern discrimination by worker honeybees, Apis mellifera, focusing on the roles of spectral cues and the angular size of patterns. Free-flying bees were trained to discriminate concentric patterns in a Y-maze. The rewarded pattern could be composed of either a cyan and a yellow colour, which presented both different chromatic and...

Multispectral images of natural scenes were collected from both forests and coral reefs. We varied the wavelength position of receptors in hypothetical dichromatic visual systems and, for each receptor pair estimated the percentage of discriminable points in natural scenes. The optimal spectral tuning predicted by this model results in photorecepto...