I think you're right. A specific example would be chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is green, not because green was selected for. Instead, it's just a side effect of the biochemistry needed to absorb energy from sunlight.
It’s not impossible that the mechanism was selected for maximizing energy absorption within the sunlight’s spectral distribution, depending on which of these curves is most relevant (e.g. incidentally the green curve): https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Spectral_Distributio...
Leaves aren't even very green, if you look at the full spectrum of sunlight. They only reflect around 10% of green light, while they are more like 90% reflective in the infrared. So you could say that leaves are infrared. It's only our eyes' receptors that see them as green, since they are not sensitive to infrared. (And they are, for most plants, not a very bright green.)
I wouldn't call that a side effect, because it is most likely a must-have feature and plants were selectively pressured on that (although I know some plants or trees have red to dark red leaves).
But yes. Logically, things have a natural color. Then animals progressively acquired the ability to distinguish colors because it was advantageous - for instance to spot a naturally brown yummy insect on a naturally green leaf.
From there, one can imagine an amplification or reinforcement process induced by co-evolution: plants take advantage of the fact that animals can see colors, animals take advantage of the fact that healthy plant produce fruits of a specific color. It eventually turned into an armed race at times: TFA opens with the example of a blue belly lizard, but one cannot help but think about chameleons.
It was probably unavoidable as soon as something like a photo-sensitive cell appeared. And it is also probably the same thing with perceptions that are less obvious to us, such as odors, sounds, or vibrations (other than of air or water - although I wouldn't be surprised if hearing evolved from that point).
Why? I can imagine other chemical compounds with different colors that perform the same function just with a greatly reduced efficiency.
If there isn't any evolutionary competition then there could have been a long period of time before plants with chlorophyll started being produced and then dominating the landscape.
Animals with camouflage coloration don't need to be able to see that color themselves. They can find each other with chemical signals and sound while hiding from their predators.
"To be clear, there was color in the world before color vision. Plant leaves, for example, reflect green light even if there are no eyes to see it."
But also keep in mind that green plants are just the ones that won, there are other chemistries with colors that work nearly as well (particularly purple, which is still present on some plants).
layer8|8 months ago
Thrymr|8 months ago
xiande04|8 months ago
astrobe_|8 months ago
But yes. Logically, things have a natural color. Then animals progressively acquired the ability to distinguish colors because it was advantageous - for instance to spot a naturally brown yummy insect on a naturally green leaf.
From there, one can imagine an amplification or reinforcement process induced by co-evolution: plants take advantage of the fact that animals can see colors, animals take advantage of the fact that healthy plant produce fruits of a specific color. It eventually turned into an armed race at times: TFA opens with the example of a blue belly lizard, but one cannot help but think about chameleons.
It was probably unavoidable as soon as something like a photo-sensitive cell appeared. And it is also probably the same thing with perceptions that are less obvious to us, such as odors, sounds, or vibrations (other than of air or water - although I wouldn't be surprised if hearing evolved from that point).
timewizard|8 months ago
Why? I can imagine other chemical compounds with different colors that perform the same function just with a greatly reduced efficiency.
If there isn't any evolutionary competition then there could have been a long period of time before plants with chlorophyll started being produced and then dominating the landscape.
kevin_thibedeau|8 months ago
kibwen|8 months ago
"To be clear, there was color in the world before color vision. Plant leaves, for example, reflect green light even if there are no eyes to see it."
But also keep in mind that green plants are just the ones that won, there are other chemistries with colors that work nearly as well (particularly purple, which is still present on some plants).