Reuben Sparke

Research

My Masters by Research is on 'dazzle' coloration, most commonly associated with the high-contrast geometric designs painted on ships in the First World War, but also thought to explain the evolution of bold stripes in animals from lizards to fish. The original naval dazzle schemes were designed to fool U-boat captains attempting to judge speed, trajectory and range of a target prior to firing a torpedo. The same might apply to a prey animal being targeted by a predator. However, the actual effectiveness of dazzle patterns, and even the perceptual effects that were assumed to underpin them, have proved hard to evaluate, with conflicting results in different studies. I hope to identify, through systematic experimentation, the reasons for discrepancies between studies, whether methodological or through limitations of equipment, and arrive at a more solid understanding of the how and why of dazzle coloration.

Biography

I graduated with a BSc in Biology from the University of Bristol in 2024. I am currently studying for a MSc(R) supervised by Professors Innes Cuthill (School of Biological Sciences) and Nick Scott-Samuel (School of Psychological Science).

Publications

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