Potential Defense From Herbivory by Dazzle Effects and Trickery Coloration of Variegated Leaves

Abstract

Two types of defensive coloration theoretically and practically related to and even quite overlapping with masquerade are various types of military dazzle and trickery coloration. Dazzle and trickery coloration were developed and applied to defend navies when the range of artillery and torpedoes increased to several kilometers, and when aiming by visual means ruled naval warfare. The very conspicuous dazzle coloration invented for naval defense during World War I was used in pre-radar days to mislead attackers of naval units concerning vessel size, type, speed and direction. This is why I consider them to be related to or even to be a branch/type of masquerade. In spite of the large scale use of dazzle and trickery coloration during World Wars I and II (Wilkinson 1969; Stanley 1998; Williams 2001; Forbes 2009), and the apparent visual parallels of these patterns of coloration in animals and plants, very little attention has been given to these potential types of defense in biology in general, and concerning plants in particular. Defensive dazzle plant coloration received for some years only very brief and limited attention, without discussing the theoretical aspects (Lev-Yadun 2003a, 2006a, 2009a) and only recently (Lev-Yadun 2014c) the theoretical and botanical aspects were discussed in some depth. The definition of dazzle coloration in the scientific literature was also partly misleading because of the common confusion of dazzle coloration with crypsis via disruptive coloration (see Forbes 2009). In both the military and nature, the borders between these two types of defensive coloration are indeed not always clear, especially since certain color patterns may serve as camouflage when distant and for dazzling or trickery at a closer range or under different lighted conditions.