Eyes have the flexibility to evolve to meet the ecological demands of their users. Relative to camera-type eyes, the fundamental limits of optical diffraction in arthropod compound eyes restrict the ability to resolve fine detail (visual acuity) to much lower degrees. We tested the capacity of several ecological factors to predict arthropod visual acuity, while simultaneously controlling for shared phylogenetic history. In this study, we have generated the most comprehensive review of compound eye visual acuity measurements to date, containing 385 species that span six of the major arthropod classes. An arthropod phylogeny, made custom to this database, was used to develop a phylogenetically-corrected generalized least squares (PGLS) linear model to evaluate four ecological factors predicted to underlie compound eye visual acuity: environmental light intensity, foraging strategy (predator vs. non-predator), horizontal structure of the visual scene, and environmental medium (air vs. water). To account for optical constraints on acuity related to animal size, body length was also included, but this did not show a significant effect in any of our models. Rather, the PGLS analysis revealed that the strongest predictors of compound eye acuity are described by a combination of environmental medium, foraging strategy, and environmental light intensity.

眼睛具有进化的灵活性，以满足用户的生态需求。相对于相机类型的眼睛，节肢动物复眼中光学衍射的基本限制将解析精细细节（视力）的能力限制在低得多的程度。我们测试了几种生态因素预测节肢动物视力的能力，同时控制共享的系统发育历史。在这项研究中，我们对迄今为止的复眼视力测量进行了最全面的审查，其中包含跨越六个主要节肢动物类别的 385 个物种。该数据库定制的节肢动物系统发育用于开发系统发育校正广义最小二乘 (PGLS) 线性模型，以评估预测为复眼视力基础的四个生态因素：环境光强度、觅食策略（捕食者与非捕食者）、视觉场景的水平结构和环境介质（空气与水）。为了说明与动物大小相关的视力的光学限制，还包括体长，但这在我们的任何模型中都没有显示出显着影响。相反，PGLS 分析显示复眼视力的最强预测因子是由环境介质、觅食策略和环境光强度的组合来描述的。