Coevolution in hide and seek: Camouflage and vision

Abstract

Predator-prey interactions are one of the most common coevolutionary dynamics in Nature. We consider a model of the coevolution of prey appearance and predator vision, where a successful result is visually apparent. While using a neurophysiologically-based model of vision and a rich developmental process for prey patterning, we show that predatorprey coevolution can maintain engagement. Backgrounds with large regional differences generally lead to prey that appear as mixtures of the regions. Finally, we find that engagement between predators and prey is supported by greater background complexity.