ReviewProceedings. Biological sciences2017
Shape matters: animal colour patterns as signals of individual quality.
Review in Proceedings. Biological sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed.
- A lot of variation and asymmetry in the white patches of male capercaillie tails, but no association with mate choice.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- White eye-rings coevolved with diurnal behaviors as a trait enhancing visual appeal in rodents.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Cryptic Ontogenetic Changes in the Ventral Coloration of a Color Polymorphic Wall Lizard (Podarcis muralis).Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology · 2026Article
- Convergent iridescence and divergent chemical signals in sympatric sister-species of Amazonian butterflies.eLife · 2025Article
- Nature's headlamps: A unique light-focusing structure in Parasesarma de Man, 1895 mangrove crabs.Ecology · 2025Article
- Article
- Scorpionfish adjust skin pattern contrast on different backgrounds.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Substrate thermal properties influence ventral brightness evolution in ectotherms.Communications biology · 2021Article
- A comparison of animal color measurements using a commercially available digital color sensor and photograph analysis.Current zoology · 2020Article
- Shifts in the developmental rate of spadefoot toad larvae cause decreased complexity of post-metamorphic pigmentation patterns.Scientific reports · 2020Article
- Benefits of insect colours: a review from social insect studies.Oecologia · 2020Review
- Artificial intelligence reveals environmental constraints on colour diversity in insects.Nature communications · 2019Article
- Plumage iridescence is associated with distinct feather microbiota in a tropical passerine.Scientific reports · 2019Article
- Processing bias: extending sensory drive to include efficacy and efficiency in information processing.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Review
- Higher-level pattern features provide additional information to birds when recognizing and rejecting parasitic eggs.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2019Article
- Phenotypic and genetic diversity in aposematic Malagasy poison frogs (genusEcology and evolution · 2019Article
- The fractal dimension of a conspicuous ornament varies with mating status and shows assortative mating in wild red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa).Die Naturwissenschaften · 2018Article
- 'Love at first sight': The effect of personality and colouration patterns in the reproductive success of zebrafish (Danio rerio).PloS one · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Colour patterns (e.g. irregular, spotted or barred forms) are widespread in the animal kingdom, yet their potential role as signals of quality has been mostly neglected. However, a review of the published literature reveals that pattern itself (irrespective of its size or colour intensity) is a promising signal of individual quality across species of many different taxa. We propose at least four main pathways whereby patterns may reliably reflect individual quality: (i) as conventional signals of status, (ii) as indices of developmental homeostasis, (iii) by amplifying cues of somatic integrity and (iv) by amplifying individual investment in maintenance activities. Methodological constraints have traditionally hampered research on the signalling potential of colour patterns. To overcome this, we report a series of tools (e.g. colour adjacency and pattern regularity analyses, Fourier and granularity approaches, fractal geometry, geometric morphometrics) that allow objective quantification of pattern variability. We discuss how information provided by these methods should consider the visual system of the model species and behavioural responses to pattern metrics, in order to allow biologically meaningful conclusions. Finally, we propose future challenges in this research area that will require a multidisciplinary approach, bringing together inputs from genetics, physiology, behavioural ecology and evolutionary-developmental biology.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.