Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Contrasting stripes are a widespread feature of group living in birds, mammals and fishes

2020; Royal Society; Volume: 287; Issue: 1936 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1098/rspb.2020.2021

1471-2954

Juan J. Negro, Jorge Doña, M. Carmen Blázquez, Airam Rodríguez, James E. Herbert‐Read, M. de L. Brooke,

Plant and animal studies

Grouping is a widespread form of predator defence, with individuals in groups often performing evasive collective movements in response to attack by predators. Individuals in these groups use behavioural rules to coordinate their movements, with visual cues about neighbours' positions and orientations often informing movement decisions. Although the exact visual cues individuals use to coordinate their movements with neighbours have not yet been decoded, some studies have suggested that stripes, lines, or other body patterns may act as conspicuous conveyors of movement information that could promote coordinated group movement, or promote dazzle camouflage, thereby confusing predators. We used phylogenetic logistic regressions to test whether the contrasting achromatic stripes present in four different taxa vulnerable to predation, including species within two orders of birds (Anseriformes and Charadriiformes), a suborder of Artiodactyla (the ruminants), and several orders of marine fishes (predominantly Perciformes) were associated with group living. Contrasting patterns were significantly more prevalent in social species, and tended to be absent in solitary species or species less vulnerable to predation. We suggest that stripes taking the form of light-coloured lines on dark backgrounds, or