[Seminar] Behavioral ecologists Dr. Jennifer Kelley and Dr. Cedric van den Berg

Animal camouflage and illusory shape by Dr. Jennifer Kelley (University of Western Australia) 

Dr. Jennifer Kelley is a behavioural ecologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia.

Her research aims to understand the functions, evolution, and mechanisms of animal colour patterns, with a particular focus on camouflage. She is passionate about interdisciplinary research and collaborates with researchers from diverse fields such as visual psychology, optical physics and computer science to better understand colour in nature.

Animals have evolved a dazzling array of colours and patterns, which serve important functions such as camouflage. While camouflaging colouration is commonly thought to work by blending animals with their background, some patterns may produce illusory effects that manipulate the viewer’s perception of shape.

Using moth wing patterns as an example, I explore how nanostructures and pigments can produce novel optical effects that generate illusory shape.

Studying the ecology and evolution of animal colouration: Of cameras, senses and behaviour by Dr. Cedric van den Berg (University of Basel)

Dr. Cedric van den Berg is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Environment Sciences at the University of Basel. Studying the ecology and evolution of animal colouration warrants comprehensive approaches that consider how animals perceive visual information and how visual information is displayed in natural environments. He will present a brief cross-section of his current work highlighting (i) novel approaches to the quantification of animal colouration through the eyes of ecologically relevant observers to investigate warning colouration in nudibranch molluscs; (ii) high-resolution data from a series of behavioural experiments and resulting insights into the function, diversity and neurophysiology of polarisation vision in marine invertebrates; (iii) A preview of ‘HASTA 3D’, a dedicated framework for stereo tracking collective animal behaviour in the field.