Developmental Plasticity in Adaptive Colouration

My research explores how organisms sense and respond to environmental information, how these responses generate adaptive behaviour, and why adaptive change is often constrained by underlying costs and trade-offs. A central aim is to understand how coordinated responses emerge across biological systems, from local tissue-level processes to whole-organism behaviour.

In collaborative work on camouflage and masquerade, I investigate how prey reduce detection by predators and how predator decision-making shapes the evolution and persistence of these strategies. This work examines not only when such defences are effective, but also the ecological and behavioural costs that limit their evolution and maintenance.

A complementary strand of my research focuses on phenotypic plasticity in organisms capable of reversible colour change. Using insect systems as tractable models, I study how environmental information is translated into adaptive phenotypic responses, and how the reliability of cues, energetic costs, and physiological constraints influence when plasticity evolves and when it breaks down.

Together, this research addresses fundamental questions about how adaptive responses are generated, constrained, and maintained. By linking sensory processing, behaviour, and evolutionary dynamics, my work aims to explain not only how organisms adapt, but why adaptation is often predictable, incomplete, or costly.

Publications

Rowland, H.M., Burriss, R.P. & Skelhorn, J. The antipredator benefits of postural camouflage in peppered moth caterpillars. Sci Rep 10, 21654 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78686-4

Eacock, A., Rowland, H.M., van’t Hof, A.E. et al. Adaptive colour change and background choice behaviour in peppered moth caterpillars is mediated by extraocular photoreception. Commun Biol 2, 286 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-019-0502-7

Eacock, A., Rowland, H. M., Edmonds, N., & Saccheri, I. J. (2017). Colour change of twig-mimicking peppered moth larvae is a continuous reaction norm that increases camouflage against avian predators. PeerJ — the Journal of Life and Environmental Sciences, 5. doi:10.7717/peerj.3999

Skelhorn, J., Rowland, H. M., Speed, M. P., & Ruxton, G. D. (2010). Masquerade: camouflage without crypsis. Science, 327(5961), 51-51.