Distributed Vision: From Simple Sensors to Sophisticated Combination Eyes

This volume explores the diversity of distributed eyes and other unusual visual systems in nature. It compares the unique themes of optics, neural processing, and behavioral control that emerge from these visual systems with more-canonical eyes. This volume attempts to answer a number of questions about distributed visual systems. What are distributed visual systems good for, how do they function, and why have they arisen independently in so many phyla? Why are eye designs and visual system arrangements much more diverse in invertebrates? Each chapter includes an overview of the visual systems that exist in their group of animals, relates vision to ecology, and takes a comparative approach.

Elke Buschbeck is a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Cincinnati and a member of the Neuroscience Graduate program. She has focused on the function of extraordinarily organized visual systems, including those of stalk-eyed flies, twisted-wing insects and the larvae of aquatic diving beetles. Primarily motivated by a deep curiosity about optical systems, some of her work has inspired innovative camera designs. One of her central research interests is how the formation of lenses and positioning of photoreceptors is established during development. Eyes are particularly interesting organs here, because their optimization is largely driven by optical parameters that can be understood. In addition, compelling evidence is emerging that a diversity of functional animal eyes arises from deeply conserved molecular and developmental mechanisms. Elke is fascinated by how such conserved pathways can be altered to give rise to specific, functionally distinct organizations.

Michael Bok is a researcher in the Lund Vision Group at Lund University in Sweden. His work focuses on the function and evolution of unusual visual systems in a variety of marine invertebrates. These range from the rudimentary compound ocelli of fan worms to the spectacularly sophisticated eyes of mantis shrimp. His current work on fan worms aims to unravel the developmental, neurological and behavioral factors that drove the evolution of their diverse distributed visual systems, and perhaps also influenced the origins of nature’s first visual systems. Michael draws from a wide variety of approaches in his work, and his research has used molecular, anatomical, optical, neurological, physiological, and behavioral techniques in both laboratory and field settings. Michael broadens the reach of his work through photography and videography to present his research and passion for science to diverse audiences.