Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak
King and emperor penguins ( Aptenodytes patagonicus and Aptenodytes forsteri ) are the only species of marine birds so far known to reflect ultraviolet (UV) light from their beaks. Unlike humans, most birds perceive UV light and several species communicate using the near UV spectrum. Indeed, UV refl...
Published in: | Biology Letters |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
The Royal Society
2005
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 |
id |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 2024-09-15T17:49:27+00:00 Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak Dresp, Birgitta Jouventin, Pierre Langley, Keith 2005 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Biology Letters volume 1, issue 3, page 310-313 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X journal-article 2005 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 2024-08-12T04:27:47Z King and emperor penguins ( Aptenodytes patagonicus and Aptenodytes forsteri ) are the only species of marine birds so far known to reflect ultraviolet (UV) light from their beaks. Unlike humans, most birds perceive UV light and several species communicate using the near UV spectrum. Indeed, UV reflectance in addition to the colour of songbird feathers has been recognized as an important signal when choosing a mate. The king penguin is endowed with several highly coloured ornaments, notably its beak horn and breast and auricular plumage, but only its beak reflects UV, a property considered to influence its sexual attraction. Because no avian UV-reflecting pigments have yet been identified, the origin of such reflections is probably structural. In an attempt to identify the structures that give rise to UV reflectance, we combined reflectance spectrophotometry and morphological analysis by both light and electron microscopy, after experimental removal of surface layers of the beak horn. Here, we characterize for the first time a multilayer reflector photonic microstructure that produces the UV reflections in the king penguin beak. Article in Journal/Newspaper Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins The Royal Society Biology Letters 1 3 310 313 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
op_collection_id |
crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
King and emperor penguins ( Aptenodytes patagonicus and Aptenodytes forsteri ) are the only species of marine birds so far known to reflect ultraviolet (UV) light from their beaks. Unlike humans, most birds perceive UV light and several species communicate using the near UV spectrum. Indeed, UV reflectance in addition to the colour of songbird feathers has been recognized as an important signal when choosing a mate. The king penguin is endowed with several highly coloured ornaments, notably its beak horn and breast and auricular plumage, but only its beak reflects UV, a property considered to influence its sexual attraction. Because no avian UV-reflecting pigments have yet been identified, the origin of such reflections is probably structural. In an attempt to identify the structures that give rise to UV reflectance, we combined reflectance spectrophotometry and morphological analysis by both light and electron microscopy, after experimental removal of surface layers of the beak horn. Here, we characterize for the first time a multilayer reflector photonic microstructure that produces the UV reflections in the king penguin beak. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Dresp, Birgitta Jouventin, Pierre Langley, Keith |
spellingShingle |
Dresp, Birgitta Jouventin, Pierre Langley, Keith Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak |
author_facet |
Dresp, Birgitta Jouventin, Pierre Langley, Keith |
author_sort |
Dresp, Birgitta |
title |
Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak |
title_short |
Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak |
title_full |
Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak |
title_fullStr |
Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak |
title_sort |
ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the king penguin beak |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 |
genre |
Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
genre_facet |
Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
op_source |
Biology Letters volume 1, issue 3, page 310-313 ISSN 1744-9561 1744-957X |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 |
container_title |
Biology Letters |
container_volume |
1 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
310 |
op_container_end_page |
313 |
_version_ |
1810291200042729472 |