Polarization vision--a uniform sensory capacity?

In this concept paper, three scenarios are described in which animals make use of polarized light: the underwater world, the water surface and the terrestrial habitat vaulted by the pattern of polarized light in the sky. Within these various visual environments, polarized light is used in a number of ways that make quite different demands on the neural circuitries mediating these different types of behaviour. Apart from some common receptor and pre-processing mechanisms, the underlying neural mechanisms may differ accordingly. Often, information about chi (the angle of polarization), d (the degree of polarization) and lambda (the spectral content) might not --and need not--be disentangled. Hence, the hypothesis entertained in this account is that polarization vision comes in various guises, and that the answer to the question posed in the title is most probably no.

[1]  Karl von Frisch,et al.  Tanzsprache und Orientierung der Bienen , 1965 .

[2]  E. Eguchi Rhabdom structure and receptor potentials in single crayfish retinular cells. , 1965, Journal of cellular physiology.

[3]  J. Lythgoe,et al.  Polarized Light and Underwater Vision , 1967, Nature.

[4]  Problems of Menotactic Orientation According to the Polarized Light of the Sky , 1975 .

[5]  G. D. Bernard,et al.  Functional similarities between polarization vision and color vision , 1977, Vision Research.

[6]  J. L. Gould,et al.  Skylight Polarization patterns and Animal Orientation , 1982 .

[7]  R. Wehner Himmelsnavigation bei Insekten : Neurophysiologie und Verhalten , 1982 .

[8]  Rüdiger Wehner,et al.  The POL area of the honey bee's eye: behavioural evidence , 1985 .

[9]  N. Justin Marshall,et al.  A unique colour and polarization vision system in mantis shrimps , 1988, Nature.

[10]  M. Land,et al.  The Compound Eyes of Mantis Shrimps (Crustacea, Hoplocarida, Stomatopoda). I. Compound Eye Structure: The Detection of Polarized Light , 1991 .

[11]  G. D. Bernard,et al.  Photoreceptor twist: a solution to the false-color problem. , 1993, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[12]  E N Pugh,et al.  Graded-index model of a fish double cone exhibits differential polarization sensitivity. , 1994, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[13]  R. Wehner,et al.  The polarization-vision project: championing organismic biology , 1994 .

[14]  T. Cronin,et al.  Polarization vision in cuttlefish in a concealed communication channel? , 1996, The Journal of experimental biology.

[15]  Hiroshi Kobayashi,et al.  An Autonomous Agent Navigating with a Polarized Light Compass , 1997, Adapt. Behav..

[16]  R. Wehner The ant’s celestial compass system: spectral and polarization channels , 1997 .

[17]  C. Hawryshyn,et al.  Double-cone internal reflection as a basis for polarization detection in fish. , 1998, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[18]  G. Horváth,et al.  Why do mayflies lay their eggs en masse on dry asphalt roads? Water-imitating polarized light reflected from asphalt attracts Ephemeroptera. , 1998, The Journal of experimental biology.

[19]  Labhart,et al.  How polarization-sensitive interneurones of crickets see the polarization pattern of the sky: a field study with an opto-electronic model neurone , 1999, The Journal of experimental biology.

[20]  E. Warrant,et al.  Visual discrimination: Seeing the third quality of light , 1999, Current Biology.

[21]  Almut Kelber,et al.  Why ‘false’ colours are seen by butterflies , 1999, Nature.

[22]  T. Labhart,et al.  Detectors for polarized skylight in insects: a survey of ommatidial specializations in the dorsal rim area of the compound eye , 1999, Microscopy research and technique.

[23]  Thomas W. Cronin,et al.  Behavioural evidence for polarisation vision in stomatopods reveals a potential channel for communication , 1999, Current Biology.

[24]  R. Wehner,et al.  Skylight polarization as perceived by desert ants and measured by video polarimetry , 1999, Journal of Comparative Physiology A.

[25]  Schwind Daphnia pulex swims towards the most strongly polarized light - a response that leads to 'shore flight' , 1999, The Journal of experimental biology.

[26]  M. F. Land,et al.  Built-in polarizers form part of a compass organ in spiders , 1999, Nature.

[27]  G. Horváth,et al.  How the clear-sky angle of polarization pattern continues underneath clouds: full-sky measurements and implications for animal orientation. , 2001, The Journal of experimental biology.

[28]  A. Kelber,et al.  Polarisation-dependent colour vision in Papilio butterflies. , 2001, The Journal of experimental biology.

[29]  T Labhart,et al.  Spatial integration in polarization-sensitive interneurones of crickets: a survey of evidence, mechanisms and benefits. , 2001, The Journal of experimental biology.