Jair E. Garcia

Linearisation of RGB camera responses for quantitative image analysis of visible and UV photography: a comparison of two techniques.

Linear camera responses are required for recovering the total amount of incident irradiance, quantitative image analysis, spectral reconstruction from camera responses and characterisation of spectral sensitivity curves. Two commercially-available digital cameras equipped with Bayer filter arrays and sensitive to visible and near-UV radiation were characterised using biexponential and Bézier curves. Both methods successfully fitted the entire characteristic curve of the tested devices, allowing for an accurate recovery of linear camera responses, particularly those corresponding to the middle of the exposure range. Nevertheless the two methods differ in the nature of the required input parameters and the uncertainty associated with the recovered linear camera responses obtained at the extreme ends of the exposure range. Here we demonstrate the use of both methods for retrieving information about scene irradiance, describing and quantifying the uncertainty involved in the estimation of linear camera responses.

Flower Colours through the Lens: Quantitative Measurement with Visible and Ultraviolet Digital Photography

Background The study of the signal-receiver relationship between flowering plants and pollinators requires a capacity to accurately map both the spectral and spatial components of a signal in relation to the perceptual abilities of potential pollinators. Spectrophotometers can typically recover high resolution spectral data, but the spatial component is difficult to record simultaneously. A technique allowing for an accurate measurement of the spatial component in addition to the spectral factor of the signal is highly desirable. Methodology/Principal findings Consumer-level digital cameras potentially provide access to both colour and spatial information, but they are constrained by their non-linear response. We present a robust methodology for recovering linear values from two different camera models: one sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) radiation and another to visible wavelengths. We test responses by imaging eight different plant species varying in shape, size and in the amount of energy reflected across the UV and visible regions of the spectrum, and compare the recovery of spectral data to spectrophotometer measurements. There is often a good agreement of spectral data, although when the pattern on a flower surface is complex a spectrophotometer may underestimate the variability of the signal as would be viewed by an animal visual system. Conclusion Digital imaging presents a significant new opportunity to reliably map flower colours to understand the complexity of these signals as perceived by potential pollinators. Compared to spectrophotometer measurements, digital images can better represent the spatio-chromatic signal variability that would likely be perceived by the visual system of an animal, and should expand the possibilities for data collection in complex, natural conditions. However, and in spite of its advantages, the accuracy of the spectral information recovered from camera responses is subject to variations in the uncertainty levels, with larger uncertainties associated with low radiance levels.

Trade-off between camouflage and sexual dimorphism revealed by UV digital imaging: the case of Australian Mallee dragons (Ctenophorus fordi)

SUMMARY Colour patterns displayed by animals may result from the balance of the opposing requirements of sexual selection through display and natural selection through camouflage. Currently, little is known about the possibility of the dual purpose of an animal colour pattern in the UV region of the spectrum, which is potentially perceivable by both predators and conspecifics for detection or communication purposes. Here, we implemented linearised digital UV photography to characterise and quantify the colour pattern of an endemic Australian Agamid lizard classically regarded as monomorphic when considering data from the visible region of the spectrum. Our results indicate a widespread presence of UV elements across the entire body of the lizards and these patterns vary significantly in intensity, size and frequency between sexes. These results were modelled considering either lizard or avian visual characteristics, revealing that UV reflectance represents a trade-off between the requirements of sexual displaying to conspecifics and concealment from avian predators.

Innate colour preferences of the Australian native stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria Sm.

Innate preferences promote the capacity of pollinators to find flowers. Honeybees and bumblebees have strong preferences for ‘blue’ stimuli, and flowers of this colour typically present higher nectar rewards. Interestingly, flowers from multiple different locations around the world independently have the same distribution in bee colour space. Currently, however, there is a paucity of data on the innate colour preferences of stingless bees that are often implicated as being key pollinators in many parts of the world. In Australia, the endemic stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria is widely distributed and known to be an efficient pollinator of both native plants and agricultural crops. In controlled laboratory conditions, we tested the innate colour responses of naïve bees using standard broadband reflectance stimuli representative of common flower colours. Colorimetric analyses considering hymenopteran vision and a hexagon colour space revealed a difference between test colonies, and a significant effect of green contrast and an interaction effect of green contrast with spectral purity on bee choices. We also observed colour preferences for stimuli from the blue and blue–green categorical regions of colour space. Our results are discussed in relation to the similar distribution of flower colours observed from bee pollination around the world.

Differentiating Biological Colours with Few and Many Sensors: Spectral Reconstruction with RGB and Hyperspectral Cameras.

Background The ability to discriminate between two similar or progressively dissimilar colours is important for many animals as it allows for accurately interpreting visual signals produced by key target stimuli or distractor information. Spectrophotometry objectively measures the spectral characteristics of these signals, but is often limited to point samples that could underestimate spectral variability within a single sample. Algorithms for RGB images and digital imaging devices with many more than three channels, hyperspectral cameras, have been recently developed to produce image spectrophotometers to recover reflectance spectra at individual pixel locations. We compare a linearised RGB and a hyperspectral camera in terms of their individual capacities to discriminate between colour targets of varying perceptual similarity for a human observer. Main Findings (1) The colour discrimination power of the RGB device is dependent on colour similarity between the samples whilst the hyperspectral device enables the reconstruction of a unique spectrum for each sampled pixel location independently from their chromatic appearance. (2) Uncertainty associated with spectral reconstruction from RGB responses results from the joint effect of metamerism and spectral variability within a single sample. Conclusion (1) RGB devices give a valuable insight into the limitations of colour discrimination with a low number of photoreceptors, as the principles involved in the interpretation of photoreceptor signals in trichromatic animals also apply to RGB camera responses. (2) The hyperspectral camera architecture provides means to explore other important aspects of colour vision like the perception of certain types of camouflage and colour constancy where multiple, narrow-band sensors increase resolution.

Characterization of Digital Cameras for Reflected Ultraviolet Photography; Implications for Qualitative and Quantitative Image Analysis During Forensic Examination

Reflected ultraviolet imaging techniques allow for the visualization of evidence normally outside the human visible spectrum. Specialized digital cameras possessing extended sensitivity can be used for recording reflected ultraviolet radiation. Currently, there is a lack of standardized methods for ultraviolet image recording and processing using digital cameras, potentially limiting the implementation and interpretation. A methodology is presented for processing ultraviolet images based on linear responses and the sensitivity of the respective color channels. The methodology is applied to a FujiS3 UVIR camera, and a modified Nikon D70s camera, to reconstruct their respective spectral sensitivity curves between 320 and 400 nm. This method results in images with low noise and high contrast, suitable for qualitative and/or quantitative analysis. The application of this methodology is demonstrated in the recording of latent fingerprints.

Why background colour matters to bees and flowers

Flowers are often viewed by bee pollinators against a variety of different backgrounds. On the Australian continent, backgrounds are very diverse and include surface examples of all major geological stages of the Earth’s history, which have been present during the entire evolutionary period of Angiosperms. Flower signals in Australia are also representative of typical worldwide evolutionary spectral adaptations that enable successful pollination. We measured the spectral properties of 581 natural surfaces, including rocks, sand, green leaves, and dry plant materials, sampled from tropical Cairns through to the southern tip of mainland Australia. We modelled in a hexagon colour space, how interactions between background spectra and flower-like colour stimuli affect reliable discrimination and detection in bee pollinators. We calculated the extent to which a given locus would be conflated with the loci of a different flower-colour stimulus using empirically determined colour discrimination regions for bee vision. Our results reveal that whilst colour signals are robust in homogeneous background viewing conditions, there could be significant pressure on plant flowers to evolve saliently-different colours to overcome background spectral noise. We thus show that perceptual noise has a large influence on how colour information can be used in natural conditions.

Numerical ordering of zero in honey bees

Understanding zero It has been said that the development of an understanding of zero by society initiated a major intellectual advance in humans, and we have been thought to be unique in this understanding. Although recent research has shown that some other vertebrates understand the concept of the “empty set,” Howard et al. now show that an understanding of this concept is present in untrained honey bees (see the Perspective by Nieder). This finding suggests that such an understanding has evolved independently in distantly related species that deal with complexity in their environments, and that it may be more widespread than previously appreciated. Science, this issue p. 1124; see also p. 1069 Honey bees display an understanding that zero is an empty set at the base of the number line. Some vertebrates demonstrate complex numerosity concepts—including addition, sequential ordering of numbers, or even the concept of zero—but whether an insect can develop an understanding for such concepts remains unknown. We trained individual honey bees to the numerical concepts of “greater than” or “less than” using stimuli containing one to six elemental features. Bees could subsequently extrapolate the concept of less than to order zero numerosity at the lower end of the numerical continuum. Bees demonstrated an understanding that parallels animals such as the African grey parrot, nonhuman primates, and even preschool children.

Free-flying honeybees extrapolate relational size rules to sort successively visited artificial flowers in a realistic foraging situation

Learning and applying relational concepts to solve novel tasks is considered an indicator of cognitive-like ability. It requires the abstraction of relational concepts to different objects independent to the physical nature of the individual objects. Recent research has revealed the honeybee’s ability to rapidly learn and manipulate relations between visual stimuli such as ‘same/different’, ‘above/below’, or ‘larger/smaller’ despite having a miniature-sized brain. While honeybees can solve problems using rule-based relative size comparison, it remains unresolved as to whether bees can apply size rules when stimuli are encountered successively, which requires reliance on working memory for stimuli comparison. Additionally, the potential ability of bees to extrapolate acquired information to novel sizes beyond training sets remains to be investigated. We tested whether individual free-flying honeybees could learn ‘larger/smaller’ size rules when visual stimuli were presented successively, and whether such rules could then be extrapolated to novel stimulus sizes. Honeybees were individually trained to a set of four sizes such that individual elements might be correct, or incorrect, depending upon the alternative stimulus. In a learning test, bees preferred the correct size relation for their respective learning group. Bees were also able to successfully extrapolate the learnt relation during transfer tests by maintaining the correct size relationships when considering either two smaller, or two larger, novel stimulus sizes. This performance demonstrates that an insect operating in a complex environment has sufficient cognitive capacity to learn rules that can be abstracted to novel problems. We discuss the possible learning mechanisms which allow their success.

Color Difference and Memory Recall in Free-Flying Honeybees: Forget the Hard Problem.

Free-flying honeybees acquire color information differently depending upon whether a target color is learnt in isolation (absolute conditioning), or in relation to a perceptually similar color (differential conditioning). Absolute conditioning allows for rapid learning, but color discrimination is coarse. Differential conditioning requires more learning trials, but enables fine discriminations. Currently it is unknown whether differential conditioning to similar colors in honeybees forms a long-term memory, and the stability of memory in a biologically relevant scenario considering similar or saliently different color stimuli. Individual free-flying honeybees (N = 6) were trained to similar color stimuli separated by 0.06 hexagon units for 60 trials and mean accuracy was 81.7% ± 12.2% s.d. Bees retested on subsequent days showed a reduction in the number of correct choices with increasing time from the initial training, and for four of the bees this reduction was significant from chance expectation considering binomially distributed logistic regression models. In contrast, an independent group of 6 bees trained to saliently different colors (>0.14 hexagon units) did not experience any decay in memory retention with increasing time. This suggests that whilst the bees’ visual system can permit fine discriminations, flowers producing saliently different colors are more easily remembered by foraging bees over several days.