Mimickry Research Online

1. CHEMICAL MIMICRY IN PLANTS [LINK]

   In a system of chemical mimicry, a single compound or a mixture of compounds is produced by an organism to elicit a specific behavioral response by an organism of a different species.

   Chemical mimicry, which is used by vertebrates, invertebrates, plants and fungi, can be divided into unique categories based on the outcome of the relationship. These different classes include aggressive mimicry, reproductive mimicry, dispersal mimicry, group mimicry, and predator mimicry (Wiens 1978). One of the most intriguing systems is the use of chemical mimicry by plants in order to attract insect pollinators.

   The plant, which is the sole benefactor, lures the insect to its flower by producing specific scents. These odors may mimic insect pheromones, food sources, broodsites or prey odors. In addition to the chemical attractants, many of the orchid species use visual and tactile cues to dupe their pollinators. The combination of visual, tactile and olfactory cues may mimic a female insect so well that the male is not able to distinguish the difference.

2. Mimicry: An Example of Adaptation [LINK]

   Mimicry is one of several anti-predatory devices found in nature. Specifically it is a situation in which one species called the mimic resembles in color, form, and/or behavior another species called the model. In so doing, the mimic acquires some survival advantage.

   There are 2 basic forms of mimicry:
   1. Batesian - the mimic (palatable) resembles the model (unpalatable) and only the mimic benefits.
   2. Mullerian - both the mimic and the model are unpalatable and both benefit.
   
   Batesian mimicry is most effective when the mimic is rare and its emergence follows that of the model. In Mullerian mimicry as density increases so does the adaptive value. Since mimicry provides potential survival value, the mimic with an adaptation that increases the likelihood of surviving is selected. Natural selection of these favorable variations has led to the coevolution of many species. The distinction among camouflage (cryptic coloration), warning coloration, and mimicry is not always clear. Mimicry, as opposed to camouflage and warning coloration, is specifically the resemblance between two organisms. The same techniques of deception are sometimes utilized in all three anti-predatory devices. These include variations in color, pattern, and structure.

3. Repeat after me: imitation is the sincerest form of perception [LINK]

   Theodore Lipps
   Lipps theorized that the perception of another individual's emotional expression or gesture automatically activates the same emotion in the perceiver. Current research efforts focus on imitation--an individual's recreation of another's actions--as the backbone of empathy, the capacity to infer whet others are feeling or thinking. This line of research, traces its origins to surprising reports in the 1970s that even some newborn babies can mimic various facial movements. Investigators received another jolt in 1996, with the discovery of so-called mirror neurons in the brains of macaque monkeys. These cells emit comparable electrical signals when monkeys perform an action and when they observe another animal execute the same action.