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 reflec...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17148195 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617153/ |
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ftpubmed:17148195 2024-05-12T07:56:54+00:00 Ultraviolet reflecting photonic microstructures in the King Penguin beak. Dresp, Birgitta Jouventin, Pierre Langley, Keith 2005 Sep 22 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17148195 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617153/ eng eng Atypon https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17148195 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617153/ Biol Lett ISSN:1744-9561 Volume:1 Issue:3 Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2005 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 2024-04-13T16:02:00Z 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 PubMed Central (PMC) The Beak ENVELOPE(-130.771,-130.771,56.466,56.466) Biology Letters 1 3 310 313 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
PubMed Central (PMC) |
op_collection_id |
ftpubmed |
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 |
Atypon |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17148195 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617153/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-130.771,-130.771,56.466,56.466) |
geographic |
The Beak |
geographic_facet |
The Beak |
genre |
Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
genre_facet |
Aptenodytes forsteri Emperor penguins |
op_source |
Biol Lett ISSN:1744-9561 Volume:1 Issue:3 |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2005.0322 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17148195 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617153/ |
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_ |
1798837290491969536 |