Misha Vorobyev: in living colour

What role does the colour of flowers play in attracting bees?

How does an octopus, which is colour blind, so skilfully change its colour to camouflage with its environment? What do the fish of the Great Barrier Reef communicate to others through their vibrant colours?

These are some of the questions Dr Misha Vorobyev has posed through his research over the decades into animal vision, particularly how animals see colour.
The research has taken him from Germany to the US, Australia and now New Zealand, where current research projects include deciphering the emotional code of colours in the human brain, and reducing bycatch in the fishing industry by illuminating and changing the colour of fishing nets.

The senior lecturer in Optometry and Vision Science traces his fascination with the colourful natural world back to his childhood in Russia, where he would accompany his father, a molecular biologist, on field trips.

“I loved seeing different animals and beautiful flowers, and I wanted to become a biologist myself. But I was told that to be a biologist in the modern world, it was better to first study either physics or chemistry, which I did.”

He completed a PhD in physics and maths, but his fascination with the beauty of the natural world persisted. He put together a research proposal, which harnessed his skills in calculation, to study the relationship between the colours of flowers and the colour vision of bees.

That research, undertaken in Germany on a Humboldt Research Fellowship, explored whether colour vision in bees had specifically evolved to seek out flowers. The answer, he says, was no. Instead, the research found that flowers adapted their colours to maximise their attractiveness to bees’ pre-existing colour vision.

Misha says probably his best-known contribution to the field of colour vision relates to findings on primates, made while also living in Germany. The research he explains, set out to understand why humans and other closely related primates have three types of photoreceptors – different channels for conveying colour information – while most other mammals only have two.

This third photoreceptor, he explains, appeared due to a gene mutation but it was unclear why the mutation was retained. Misha and his research colleagues theorised, and ultimately showed, that this third photoreceptor was the best at detecting fruit, an important primate food source, against foliage.

Colour and how it’s perceived in the animal world serves a broad range of functions, explains Misha. For example, while in the US, one of his research projects looked at the role of the colour of the beautiful but deadly poison dart frog, which in the wild can contain enough poison to kill dozens of people. The frogs’ stunning colours serve as a warning sign to birds, signalling that they should not be eaten due to their poison; on the other hand, the colours compel fellow frogs, signalling their attractiveness to potential mates.

Research on Great Barrier Reef fish while in Australia similarly showed their bright colours served to camouflage them from predators and attract mates.

He made the move across the Tasman to New Zealand in 2007, joining the School of Optometry and Vision Science. He admits he misses some of the wildlife of Australia, however he’s still found opportunities to get involved in some fascinating research.

This includes investigating the mechanisms by which an octopus so skillfully changes its colour to camouflage in its environment when it is actually colour blind. Investigations have shown that the creature’s ability to detect the polarisation of light, which humans can’t, may be at play, he explains.

He’s also exploring research into how adjusting the illumination of fishing gear using AI may reduce fishing industry bycatch. Different coloured lights can attract some species while repelling others, as can adjusting the brightness and strobing of lights, he says.

Research into which combinations can both attract target species while repelling bycatch and reducing injury to marine mammals and penguins could benefit the fishing industry and create better environmental outcomes, he adds.

Ultimately, he says, the appreciation of the natural world that first compelled him into the field is still a driver: “I love animals, I love the beautiful things around us,” he says.

“There’s so much beauty and mystery in the natural world."

– Caitlin Sykes