生物的色彩是进化研究中最引人注目的话题之一。包括伪装在内的防御性色彩的进化在动物中已经受到了广泛的关注，但人们对植物防御色彩进化的认识还非常有限。我国西南高山流石滩环境中存在着较丰富的具有伪装色彩的植物类群，其中包括几种具有显著叶色多态性的紫堇属植物。在阐明紫堇伪装色彩适应意义的基础上，我们将进一步阐明与伪装色彩进化相关的其他问题。这些问题主要包括：伪装色彩的地理分异格局和成因如何？叶色二态性的维持因素和进化格局如何？项目将结合视觉生态学、繁殖生态学、生理生态学及群体遗传等多学科方法来揭示这些格局并阐明其背后的成因。由于植物在诸多方面有别于动物，该研究不仅将开拓我们对植物防御色彩进化的认识，成为该领域研究的范例，还有可能完善前人在动物领域建立起来的关于伪装色彩进化的理解。

The color of organisms is the most interesting topic in the study of evolution. Defensive coloration, including camouflage, have been received considerable attentions in the field of animal study, but we have very limited knowledge on this topic in the plant kingdom. In the alpine screes from SW China, we found several plants that showed obvious camouflage coloration, including a few Corydalis species. In previous studies, we revealed the adaptive significance of this camouflage leaf color, based on which we will further ask two more important questions in this study. 1 Do cryptic morphs show leaf color divergence geographically and how this pattern evolved? 2 How leaf color dimorphism can be maintained in population or what is the evolutionary pattern of color morph frequency. To answer these questions, we will use the methods from field of visual ecology, reproductive ecology, physiological ecology, anatomy and population genetics. As plants are different from animals in many ways, this study will not only expand our understanding on the evolution of defensive coloration in plants, but also improve our knowledge on this topic that established on animal study.