Adaptive Mechanisms in the Ecology of Vision. Este artículo no está disponible.Adaptive Mechanisms in the Ecology of Vision

The field of the ecology of vision has grown considerably since John Lythgoe first wrote his original book on the subject in 1979. John Lythgoe was instrumental in founding the subject that has inspired vision researchers to relate the functioning of the visual system with the visual requirements demanded by the environment and behaviour of the animal in it. This book represents a timely and much needed review of the wealth of research that has been carried out in the last twenty years. It deals with theoretical and physical considerations of light and photoreception, practical examples of visual system structure and function and aspects of visual behaviour and communication. Importantly, the book emphasises one of the main themes to have emerged from studies of the ecology of vision: that the visual system is extremely adaptable when confronted with changing environmental and behavioural conditions. Finally, this updated review is a multi-author collection of leading experts currently working in the field of visual ecology, a requirement that reflects the high level of current research activity. The book approaches the visual system from many different areas of biology including neurobiology, sensory biology, cellular biology and behavioural biology. Consequently, the book will be of interest to workers both within and outside the field of vision research and also to undergraduate and graduate students interested in vision.

John Lythgoe was one of the pioneers of the 'Ecology of Vision', a subject that he ably delineated in his classic and inspirational book published some 20 years ago [1]. At heart, the original book aimed generally to identify inter-relationships between vision, animal behaviour and the environment. John Lythgoe excelled at identifying the interesting 'questions' in the ecology of an animal that fitted the 'answers' presented by an analysis of the visual system. Over the last twenty years, however, since Lythgoe's landmark publication, much progress has been made and the field has broadened considerably. In particular, our understanding of the 'adaptive mechanisms' underlying the ecology of vision has reached considerable depths, extending to the molecular dimension, partly as a result of development and application of new techniques. This complements the advances made in parallel in clinically oriented vision research [2]. The current book endeavours to review the progress made in the ecology of vision field by bringing together many of the major researchers presently active in the expanded subject area. The contents deal with theoretical and physical considerations of light and photoreception, present examples of visual system structure and function, and delve into aspects of visual behaviour and communi­ cation. Throughout the book, we have tried to emphasise one of the major themes to emerge within the ecology of vision: the high degree of adaptability that visual mechanisms are capable of undergoing in response to diverse, and dynamic, environments and behaviours.