ArticleScientific reports2017
Pigmentation plasticity enhances crypsis in larval newts: associated metabolic cost and background choice behaviour.
Article in Scientific reports, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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23 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Rare Case of Hypermelanosis or Chromatophore Hyperplasia in Incidental Terapon jarbua (Forsskål, 1775) From a Brackish Water Aquaculture Pond.Journal of fish diseases · 2026Article
- Male-male competition affects color phenotype expression and color-dependent oxidative stress levels in a polymorphic cichlid fish.Ethology : formerly Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie · 2025Article
- Fading on the beach: pigmentation plasticity adjusts coloration to substrate type in coastal Western spadefoot toads.Current zoology · 2025Article
- Larval Pigmentation Reveals Environmental and Genetic Influences in Hybridizing Ambystoma Salamanders.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Circadian Rhythm of Body Color Change in the Juvenile Chinese Giant Salamander (Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Article
- High energetic cost of color change in octopuses.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2024Article
- Background matching through fast and reversible melanin-based pigmentation plasticity in tadpoles comes with morphological and antioxidant changes.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Artificial light at night causes conflicting behavioural and morphological defence responses in a marine isopod.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- What coloration brings: Implications of background adaptation to oxidative stress in anurans.Frontiers in zoology · 2023Article
- The Complex Bridge between Aquatic and Terrestrial Life: Skin Changes during Development of Amphibians.Journal of developmental biology · 2023Review
- Ionizing radiation and melanism in Chornobyl tree frogs.Evolutionary applications · 2022Article
- Shifts in the developmental rate of spadefoot toad larvae cause decreased complexity of post-metamorphic pigmentation patterns.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Population genomics in two cave-obligate invertebrates confirms extremely limited dispersal between caves.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Post-metamorphic carry-over effects of altered thyroid hormone level and developmental temperature: physiological plasticity and body condition at two life stages in Rana temporaria.Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2020Article
- The key role of behaviour in animal camouflage.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2019Article
- Phenotypic Switching Resulting From Developmental Plasticity: Fixed or Reversible?Frontiers in physiology · 2019Review
- Adaptive colour change and background choice behaviour in peppered moth caterpillars is mediated by extraocular photoreception.Communications biology · 2019Article
- Colour change and behavioural choice facilitate chameleon prawn camouflage against different seaweed backgrounds.Communications biology · 2019Article
- Metabolic physiology explains macroevolutionary trends in the melanic colour system across amniotes.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2018Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
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Abstract
In heterogeneous environments, the capacity for colour change can be a valuable adaptation enhancing crypsis against predators. Alternatively, organisms might achieve concealment by evolving preferences for backgrounds that match their visual traits, thus avoiding the costs of plasticity. Here we examined the degree of plasticity in pigmentation of newt larvae (Lissotriton boscai) in relation to predation risk. Furthermore, we tested for associated metabolic costs and pigmentation-dependent background choice behaviour. Newt larvae expressed substantial changes in pigmentation so that light, high-reflecting environment induced depigmentation whereas dark, low-reflecting environment induced pigmentation in just three days of exposure. Induced pigmentation was completely reversible upon switching microhabitats. Predator cues, however, did not enhance cryptic phenotypes, suggesting that environmental albedo induces changes in pigmentation improving concealment regardless of the perceived predation risk. Metabolic rate was higher in heavily pigmented individuals from dark environments, indicating a high energetic requirement of pigmentation that could impose a constraint to larval camouflage in dim habitats. Finally, we found partial evidence for larvae selecting backgrounds matching their induced phenotypes. However, in the presence of predator cues, larvae increased the time spent in light environments, which may reflect a escape response towards shallow waters rather than an attempt at increasing crypsis.
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