A workshop in ecology and behaviour seminar hosted by the School of Biological Sciences
Some of the brightest and most striking colours found in nature are produced not by pigments but through coherent scattering of light by nanostructures. Despite the importance of these colours for animal and plant signalling and communication, and their application in man-made products, very little is known about their developmental control in natural systems. We are using genetically controlled within-species variation in iridescent blue structural colour in the Heliconius butterflies in order to study the genetic and developmental basis of these colours. Populations of the co-mimetic butterflies H. erato and H. melpomene on the Western slope of the Andes in Ecuador and Colombia have an iridescent blue colour that is absent from all other populations of these species. Using a combination of genetic mapping, differential gene expression analyses and fluorescence imaging through development, we are beginning to understand the genetic mechanisms controlling structural colour formation.
- Zoom details: https://bristol-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98056676832?pwd=dEtxNkVkTHI4RVFweHliY25YckdUQT09
- Meeting ID: 980 5667 6832
- Passcode: 770305