Don't dig me! The shuttle shellfish evolved to disguise colors to avoid human indiscriminate harvesting

human activities often unanninedly alter nature and even have potential evolutionary effects on wild plants. Recently, the Kunming Plant Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as Kunming Plant Institute) alpine plant diversity research group and the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom researchers found that, as an important source of traditional medicinal plants in China, the mother will evolve a new color camouflage themselves, thus avoiding human mining activities. The findings were published online in Current Biology.
Niu Yang, the first author of the paper and an associate researcher at Kunming Plant Institute, told the China Science Journal that they found significant differences in body color between different groups of sosho shellfish in their previous studies. "In some groups, the shuttle shellfish appear more normal green; in others, they blend in with the background and are very hidden."
, the researchers speculated that the camouflage might have been a defensive strategy by the mother of the shuttle sands against herbivores. But after a long period of observation, they found no obvious traces of the animals eating shuttle sands. In addition, because the body is rich in alkaloids, shellfish plants have a strong chemical defense, to a certain extent, can resist animal food.
so what exactly causes the shuttle shellfish to appear in different colors? Niu Yang said: "We realize that, as an important source of traditional medicinal plants in our country, the underground stems of the so-sand shellfish have been extensively excavated for a long time, and this mining behavior itself may produce strong pressure of choice." After
new research ideas were identified, the researchers first obtained the reflection spectral data of each group of shuttle sand shellfish. Subsequently, based on the CIELAB chromo-perception model designed specifically for human chromo-perception, they found significant differences in body color between groups. Using the model, the researchers also calculated the degree to which the mother matched the rock background as a measure of camouflage.
addition, the team found local drug dealers, from which they obtained the amount of sossal shellfish harvested over the past six years, and estimated the dry weight of single-grain shellfish bulbs in each group. They found that for every kilogram of dry bulbs obtained, it meant that more than 3,000 shellfish were dug, which was quite a stress of choice. The calculation shows that the greater the acquisition intensity, the better the mother's camouflage.
"We also assessed the relationship between camouflage and the difficulty of digging, taking into account that mining pressures may vary over a longer period of time." The difficulty of mining is related to the size and structure of the local rocky beach substite, and the group with deep stem burial is difficult and time-consuming, so the mining pressure is less. The results show that the easier the group to collect, the better the camouflage. Niu Yang said.
to assess the camouflage effect of the mother and examine the process of visual selection, the researchers also wrote an online game called "Finding the mother." Over a period of more than a year, more than 500 players from around the world participated in the experiment. The results showed that better-disguised beets were indeed more difficult to find, and that humans with tricolor vision searched for targets faster than animals with two-color visions.
the results suggest that human excavation activities may have driven the evolution of the sodka, and that the search and excavation process by the diggers influenced the color evolution of plants.
", although the shuttle shellfish is smart enough, but no clever disguise can hide from the high-intensity human search. Today, it is increasingly rare for many groups to have shellfish. We hereby call for a reduction in over-harvesting of wildlife resources. Niu Yang said.
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