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Colorful wings send messages: Why are butterfly wings colorful?

Author(s): Melissa Kjelvik1, Adriana D. Briscoe2

1. Michigan State University 2. University of California, Irvine

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Summary:
Red postman butterflies live in tropical rainforests and have a mix of red, yellow, and black on their wings. These bright colors may warn predators or attract mates. Explore whether color alone or color pattern together deter predators or attract…

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Red postman butterflies live in tropical rainforests and have a mix of red, yellow, and black on their wings. These bright colors may warn predators or attract mates. Explore whether color alone or color pattern together deter predators or attract mates

Licensed under CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International according to these terms

Version 1.0 - published on 15 Apr 2024 doi:10.25334/RHPP-YW28 - cite this

Keywords

  1. Quantitative reasoning
  2. adaptation
  3. predation
  4. field work
  5. Evolution by natural selection and mutation

Alignments

  1. Resource Type
  2. Courses
  3. Course Level
  4. Bloom's Cognitive Level
  5. Vision and Change Core Competencies
  6. Vision and Change Core Concepts
  7. Four Dimensional Ecology Education (4DEE) Framework
  8. Lesson Length
  9. Key Scientific Process Skills
  10. Pedagogical Approaches
Contents:
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Description

Overview of Module:

Two hypotheses are proposed and examined to evaluate how the presence of wing color and patterns in a tropical butterfly species affects interactions with conspecifics and avian predators. Students engage with an authentic research study, including design, motivation, and a curated dataset as a model of tropical fieldwork and the scientific process, more broadly. Additionally, a scientist profile is presented to explore humanizing information about research professionals and their career pathways.

 

Translations available:

The original Data Nugget for this activity has been translated into Spanish. You can find those files here: https://datanuggets.org/2017/06/butterfly-wings/

 

Learning Objectives:

   Students will be able to:

  • Describe the ecological importance of wing pattern and coloration for tropical butterflies. Explain how these signals may influence interactions within and across species.
  • Identify the hypothesis(es) proposed for the importance of wing coloration and pattern and evaluate whether the study supports the hypothesis.
  • Assess the benefits and downfalls of the scientific methods of the study.
  • Analyze and interpret a dataset to examine whether wing pattern and coloration are signals to predators and potential mates.
  • Construct an explanation that answers the proposed scientific question. Provide specific data that support the claim and sound reasoning that ties in ecological concepts.
  • Propose potential future directions and scientific questions for the current study and identify potential data that could be collected to answer these new questions.         

 

Support was provided by: Grants from the United States National Science Foundation (DBI-RCN-UBE 2120141, DUE-IUSE 2012014 and 2011995).

 

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