QUANTIFYING ANIMAL COLOUR PATTERNS

Abstract

Animal colour patterns are important in animal communication and can be broken down into three components: colour, polarisation properties, and pattern per se. Of these, pattern (the spatial arrangement of the two preceding components) is relatively poorly understood. There is no clear understanding of what pattern is and considerable uncertainty exists regarding how to measure it. Hence, I provide a working definition of pattern as ‘the repetitive arrangement of markings on animal surfaces’ and list 14 pattern properties that may be quantified and approaches for doing so. I developed a software, PAT-GEOM, that quantifies seven properties for which measurement approaches are underdeveloped. PAT-GEOM was applied in three case studies to establish its utility in distinguishing between cryptic species and for investigating background matching and aposematism. My thesis demonstrates how pattern may be investigated and forms a foundation for the development of more comprehensive analyses of animal colour patterns.