ArticleScientific reports2019
Background matching and disruptive coloration as habitat-specific strategies for camouflage.
Article in Scientific reports, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed.
- Immediate Background Color Choice in Male and FemaleAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Article
- Canal Construction Disrupts Camouflage in Two Sympatric Estuarine Crab Species.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
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- From biological surfaces to engineered systems: how synthetic and systems biology enable biomimetic design.Frontiers in systems biology · 2026Review
- Efficiency Analysis of Disruptive Color in Military Camouflage Patterns Based on Eye Movement Data.Journal of eye movement research · 2025Article
- Camouflage Using Surface Disruption: The Importance of Corners Versus Edges.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Factors Driving Background Choice in Scorpionfish.Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- A macroevolutionary perspective of cryptic coloration in sexually dichromatic grasshoppers of the genus Sphenarium (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae).Oecologia · 2025Article
- Article
- Multi-color dual wavelength vat photopolymerization 3D printing via spatially controlled acidity.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Genetic Basis and Evolutionary Forces of Sexually Dimorphic Color Variation in a Toad-Headed Agamid Lizard.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Scorpionfish adjust skin pattern contrast on different backgrounds.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Crypsis by background matching and disruptive coloration as drivers of substrate occupation in sympatric Amazonian bark praying mantises.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Enclosure Background Preferences Differ between Sexes and Color Morphs in the Gouldian Finch.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2023Article
- Camouflage in lichen moths: Field predation experiments and avian vision modelling demonstrate the importance of wing pattern elements and background for survival.The Journal of animal ecology · 2022Article
- Ecological basis and genetic architecture of crypsis polymorphism in the desert clicker grasshopper (Ligurotettix coquilletti).Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2021Article
- Biomimetic chameleon soft robot with artificial crypsis and disruptive coloration skin.Nature communications · 2021Article
- Variable crab camouflage patterns defeat search image formation.Communications biology · 2021Article
- Evolutionary fine-tuning of background-matching camouflage among geographical populations in the sandy beach tiger beetle.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Camouflage is a key defence across taxa and frequently critical to survival. A common strategy is background matching, resembling the colour and pattern of the environment. This approach, however, may be ineffective in complex habitats where matching one patch may lead to increased visibility in other patches. In contrast, disruptive coloration, which disguises body outlines, may be effective against complex backgrounds. These ideas have rarely been tested and previous work focuses on artificial systems. Here, we test the camouflage strategies of the shore crab (Carcinus maenas) in two habitats, being a species that is highly variable, capable of plastic changes in appearance, and lives in multiple environments. Using predator (bird and fish) vision modelling and image analysis, we quantified background matching and disruption in crabs from rock pools and mudflats, predicting that disruption would dominate in visually complex rock pools but background matching in more uniform mudflats. As expected, rock pool individuals had significantly higher edge disruption than mudflat crabs, whereas mudflat crabs more closely matched the substrate than rock pool crabs for colour, luminance, and pattern. Our study demonstrates facultative expression of camouflage strategies dependent on the visual environment, with implications for the evolution and interrelatedness of defensive strategies.
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