Summary
Polarisation information is only accessible to a part of the animal kingdom. Available on land and underwater, it is used in a wide range of behaviours such as navigation, object recognition, foraging, or communication. Polarised information can derive either from the environment or from plant or animal reflective features and, in the latter case, it may be subject to selective pressure. However, the information conveyed by polarisation signals in any species is poorly understood. Among marine animals, cuttlefish are likely to possess the most acute resolution to discriminate angular differences in polarised light (e-vector). Not only do they excel at extracting polarised information but they also possess high-reflectance iridophores stripes on their arms that reflect polarised light. Yet, their functional significance remains uncertain, and the polarisation signals' neural processing is still unidentified. Furthermore, cuttlefish inhabit a wide range of ecological niches significantly varying in turbidity. While early exposure to turbidity affects individuals’ polarisation sensitivity, the role of turbidity in mature adult polarised communication and its impact are still unknown. Nonetheless, the consequences could be severe as turbid oceanic areas are currently expanding along with anthropogenic activity. To reveal the use of light that we cannot see this project will use cutting-edge technology and unfold along three axes. The first axis will use behavioural paradigms to investigate the use and the information content in cuttlefish polarisation reflective patterns. The second axis will evaluate the impact of visual sensory pollution on polarized communication by applying incremental turbidity to the cuttlefish environment. Finally, the third axis will build upon the latest advances in neurobiological technologies to explore the neural processing of polarisation signals.
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| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101151077 |
| Start date: | 20-01-2025 |
| End date: | 19-01-2027 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | - 211 754,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
Polarisation information is only accessible to a part of the animal kingdom. Available on land and underwater, it is used in a wide range of behaviours such as navigation, object recognition, foraging, or communication. Polarised information can derive either from the environment or from plant or animal reflective features and, in the latter case, it may be subject to selective pressure. However, the information conveyed by polarisation signals in any species is poorly understood. Among marine animals, cuttlefish are likely to possess the most acute resolution to discriminate angular differences in polarised light (e-vector). Not only do they excel at extracting polarised information but they also possess high-reflectance iridophores stripes on their arms that reflect polarised light. Yet, their functional significance remains uncertain, and the polarisation signals' neural processing is still unidentified. Furthermore, cuttlefish inhabit a wide range of ecological niches significantly varying in turbidity. While early exposure to turbidity affects individuals’ polarisation sensitivity, the role of turbidity in mature adult polarised communication and its impact are still unknown. Nonetheless, the consequences could be severe as turbid oceanic areas are currently expanding along with anthropogenic activity. To reveal the use of light that we cannot see this project will use cutting-edge technology and unfold along three axes. The first axis will use behavioural paradigms to investigate the use and the information content in cuttlefish polarisation reflective patterns. The second axis will evaluate the impact of visual sensory pollution on polarized communication by applying incremental turbidity to the cuttlefish environment. Finally, the third axis will build upon the latest advances in neurobiological technologies to explore the neural processing of polarisation signals.Status
SIGNEDCall topic
HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01-01Update Date
06-10-2024
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