Jolyon Troscianko's website; Visual ecology, visual modelling and light pollution research

About my research

I’m a visual ecologist, asking questions such as how an animal’s vision, cognition or appearance to other animals affects how they interact with their environment, and how this in turn affects their survival, behaviour, evolution or conservation. An Associate Professor, I’m based at the University of Exeter’s Centre for Ecology & Conservation, in beautiful Cornwall.

As a core aspect of my work, I enjoy developing new models of animal vision that allow us to glimpse the world through animal eyes, or create new insights into how human vision works. I’ve developed a range of open-source tools and resources, including the micaToolbox for animal vision modelling, BehaveAI for quantifying animal behaviour from video, and a range of light measurement hardware & software solutions. I’m a strong believer in free and open-source scientific tools, and I make the things I build accessible to all, and champion open-source software.

Light pollution is increasingly recognised as a major source of pollution that’s affecting whole ecosystems. Our lab is actively researching these impacts in a range of systems, from birds and insects to isopods and worms. Where possible we use novel field experiments across a wide range of species so that our findings can be linked to potential biodiversity issues.

 
  Exeter Visual Ecology website University of Exeter Profile

Recent posts

Butterfly motion confusion
30 September 2026

Butterfly motion confusion

Flapping wings create motion illusion effects that scramble a predator's aim - published in Nature

BehaveAI Orientation
5 September 2026

BehaveAI Orientation

BehaveAI update adds orientation measurement, making it easy to measure the angle of your animal/object

Camouflage evolves to suit lighting and 3D geometry
29 April 2026

Camouflage evolves to suit lighting and 3D geometry

Tiger stripes evolve under sunshine and tall grass

BehaveAI Published
26 February 2026

BehaveAI Published

BehaveAI: video analysis tool enables rapid detection and classification of objects and behavior from motion

Light pollution suppreses moth activity
27 January 2026

Light pollution suppreses moth activity

Exposure to low levels of artificial light at night cause severe reductions in moth activity across 23 species, even at sky-glow intensities and across all spectra tested.

Chameleon colour change
16 September 2025

Chameleon colour change

Chameleons really can change colour to match their backgrounds, but not quite the way you might think

Butterfly vision evolves to match light environment
17 July 2025

Butterfly vision evolves to match light environment

Butterflies that look alike, see alike: Research links rainforest light to butterfly vision evolution

Cuttlefish mesmerise their prey with a moving skin pattern
26 March 2025

Cuttlefish mesmerise their prey with a moving skin pattern

Cuttlefish use a dynamic skin display to sneak up on their prey without detection

Cold-white headlights dazzle moths
24 November 2024

Cold-white headlights dazzle moths

Cool white vehicle headlights cause far more harmful behavioural responses in moths

Lapwing hide in plain sight
14 September 2023

Lapwing hide in plain sight

Subtle 3D geometry protects lapwing nests from fox predation

FT Light pollution interview
29 June 2023

FT Light pollution interview

FT Rethink - can society turn down damaging levels of light pollution?

Diffuse light causes colour-change mis-match
23 June 2023

Diffuse light causes colour-change mis-match

Diffuse artificial light interferes with the backgroud colour-matching behaviour of a marine isopod

Illusions are in the eye, not the mind
15 June 2023

Illusions are in the eye, not the mind

Our new colour appearance model - built on efficient coding of natural scenes - explains a huge range of lightness and chromatic illusions

Eden project - pollinator Pathmaker
23 May 2022

Eden project - pollinator Pathmaker

Photos of flowers in UV bee vision at the Eden project's pollinator pathmaker

CamoEvo toolbox
22 March 2022

CamoEvo toolbox

Rapid camouflage evolution toolbox

Night-time lighting has complex effects on moth vision
17 November 2021

Night-time lighting has complex effects on moth vision

Artificial night-time light has changed dramatically over the past few decades, resulting in complex and…

Garden flowers in Bee vision
20 July 2020

Garden flowers in Bee vision

I’ve taken some time in lockdown to photograph the flowers in my garden in human…

‘Matador’ guppies trick predators
20 July 2020

‘Matador’ guppies trick predators

Our latest research published in Current Biology (here) shows how guppies draw attention by turning…

A new home for the micaToolbox- empiricalimaging.com
5 April 2019

A new home for the micaToolbox- empiricalimaging.com

The micaToolbox is being used by scientists across a huge range of disciplines for analysing…

Among Birds-of-Paradise, Good Looks Are Not Enough to Win a Mate
22 November 2018

Among Birds-of-Paradise, Good Looks Are Not Enough to Win a Mate

See our paper here (open access). Male birds-of-paradise are justly world famous for their wildly…

PhD Position Advertised
22 November 2018

PhD Position Advertised

I am currently advertising a funded PhD position titled: “The role of camouflage in the…

NERC Fellowship
5 January 2018

NERC Fellowship

I am delighted to have won a NERC Independent Research Fellowship. This 5-year fellowship will…

Reuters video coverage
27 June 2017

Reuters video coverage

Reuters filmed a short piece on one of our citizen science studies in which over…

Nightjar Gallery
23 May 2017

Nightjar Gallery

Here is a selection of my nightjar photos, all taken near Choma in Zambia during…