Looking at Birds in a Whole New Spectrum

Shipud writes "Historically, bird species are classified using may different indicators, including plumage colors. Also, plumage variation has figured heavily in description of similarity between species. In a recent article in PNAS, Robert Bleiweiss shows that if we look in the ultra violet spectrum, birds species which seem similar, or are even considered related based on plumage colors, appear quite different. Quite a few theories regarding supposedly sympatric (sibling) species would have to be re-checked now. And yes, birds can see in the near UV spectrum, which is invisible to humans."

Comments

Wonder what else we could find..

[BlackCobra43]

..using other parts of the spectrum? There's just so much we have left to learn about the world..

Interesting, and not at all pointless

[TripMaster Monkey]

The important thing to remember is that birds see in the near ultraviolet, so when we look at birds in that manner, we are seeing them as they see themselves and each other.

sympatric != sibling

[vitamine73]

I'm not sure this is what the poster meant, but it is implied by the text! Sympatric species (or more precisely populations...) occupy the same area at a given time. Populations that do not occupy the same area are called allopatric.

On the other hand, the notion of sibling species refers to a phylogenetic tree, they are species that who share an exclusive most recent commont ancestor. They are more often called sister species.

So, yes, this new technique could be very useful to distinguish between cryptic (that look the same in practically every way) species that live in sympatry (and allopatry for that matter), but they need not be sibling for this to matter!

I found out the cheapskates seamed my Suit wrong.

[purduephotog]

When I was married last month my suit had been 'fixed' with a cheap fabric that was not the same as the original material.

This fabric reflected IR light at a different % than the rest of the material, resulting in every photo having 1 black arm 1 grey arm.

(I'm using a modified digital Rebel that had the IR filter removed and replaced with an IR pass filter).

http://www.jasonandelizabeth.net/JasonElizabethWed /CRW_8244_19.html

Re:Added ability in humans

[shawb]

There was a student in my high school physics class who could see a bit into the IR. The teacher had a presentation and had something that we shouldn't have been able to see, but the kid could see it. Although I'm guessing that he wasn't tetrachromatic so much as just had a slight offset in the red receptor pigment. I think it would be trivial for a small mutation to change the pigment. IIRC, organic pigments are "tuned" to a particular frequency by a protein chain that hangs off the main cluster which alters the harmonic frequency, similar to how a longer guitar string will have a lower resonant harmonic frequency.