ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2017
Fluorescence as a means of colour signal enhancement.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed.
- Multimodal Plant-Animal Communication: Signaling Mechanisms, Coevolution, and Environmental Disruption.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Evaluation of magnification- and fluorescence-guided techniques for composite restoration removal during endodontic retreatment among undergraduate and postgraduate dental students.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Navigating the Fluorophore Chemical Cosmos: Integrative Similarity Topology, SYBA-Guided Synthesizability, and BRICS-Driven Molecular Reassembly.Journal of fluorescence · 2026Article
- UV-Induced Fluorescence in the Balance: Mate Choice and Predation Risk in the Female Ornamented Jumping Spiders.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Ultraviolet light illuminates species-specific biofluorescent casque patterns in cassowaries (Casuarius).Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Evidence for fluorescence-supported species recognition in syntopic harvestmen.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- A functional betalain-producing dioxygenase inIMA fungus · 2026Article
- White-tailed Deer Signpost Photoluminescence.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Anisotropic fluorescence emission by diatoms modifies the underwater oceanic light field.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Advances in biosensors for diagnosis and monitoring of inflammatory bowel disease: A review.Bioengineering & translational medicine · 2025Review
- Amino Acid Betaxanthins: Absorption, Fluorescence, And Stability.Journal of natural products · 2025Article
- Bees, flowers and UV.Plant biology (Stuttgart, Germany) · 2025Review
- Glowing Green: A Quantitative Analysis of Photoluminescence in Six North American Bat Species.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Applications of Fluorescence Technology for Rapid Identification of Marine Plastic Pollution.Polymers · 2025Review
- Repeated and widespread evolution of biofluorescence in marine fishes.Nature communications · 2025Article
- A Potential Pitfall in the Interpretation of Microscope-Integrated Fluorescence Angiography: The Center-Periphery Effect.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Integrative phylogenomics sheds light on the diversity and evolution of fluorescence in coral-dwelling gall crabs.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Does biofluorescence enhance visual signals in birds-of-paradise?Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- Article
- Autophagy Analysis: A Step-by-Step Simple Practical Guide for Immunofluorescence and Western Blotting.Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Fluorescence is a physico-chemical energy exchange where shorter-wavelength photons are absorbed by a molecule and are re-emitted as longer-wavelength photons. It has been suggested a means of communication in several taxa including flowers, pitcher plants, corals, algae, worms, squid, spiders, stomatopods, fish, reptiles, parrots and humans. The surface or object that the pigment molecule is part of appears to glow due to its setting rather than an actual production of light, and this may enhance both signals and, in some cases, camouflage. This review examines some known uses of fluorescence, mainly in the context of visual communication in animals, the challenge being to distinguish when fluorescence is a functional feature of biological coloration or when it is a by-product of a pigment or other molecule. In general, we conclude that most observations of fluorescence lack enough evidence to suggest they are used in visually driven behaviours.This article is part of the themed issue 'Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application'.
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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.