Red fruits exhibit lower color diversity than red flowers for birds: study

BEIJING -- A new study has disclosed that, although both are red, red fruits exhibit lower color diversity than red flowers when viewed by birds, according to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Color is crucial in the interactions between animals and plants. Red is an eye-catching color signal for birds, making it suitable for exploring plant-animal interactions, and the differences between flowers' pollination and fruits' seed dispersal.

Researchers at the Kunming Institute of Botany under the CAS and institutions in Germany and the United States jointly conducted the study.

The researchers conducted comparisons of coloration between 94 red flowers pollinated by birds and 99 red fruits dispersed by birds. They compared the color diversity in both the spectral space and avian color vision spaces.

The study results showed that there are significant differences between flowers and fruits in terms of color diversity, spectral properties and color perceptions. Red fruits had lower color diversity than red flowers, with redder hues and fewer secondary reflectance peaks.

Avian color vision models illustrated that fruits were more conspicuous than flowers achromatically, but not chromatically, showed the study.

The study has been published in the journal Functional Ecology.