Analysis scripts used to process and analyse the butterfly scale development data on Heliconius sara and Parides arcas

Analysis scripts written in R to process and return quantitative information on a number of structural and optical parameters.

1.) Curvature analysis was used to interrogate the scanning electron microscopy data and determine the degree of curvature. This was to examine a series of butterfly scale ridge nanostructures. Planarity is linked with the degree of reflectivity to some extent.

CURVATURE_ANALYSIS_CYTO_D_LLOYD_2024.r

This was used to generate the analysis plotted in figure 8 in The actin cytoskeleton plays multiple roles in structural colour formation in butterfly wing scales . This figure is included here for clarity.

2.) SEM_ANALYSIS_DEMOPHOON_LLOYD_2024

AFM_ANALYSIS_CYTO_D_LLOYD_2024

SEM_ANALYSIS_LLOYD_2024

RIDGE_NUMBER_CYTO_D_LLOYD_2024

These four scripts were used to analyse structural parameters of the scales, ridge spacing.

3.) SPECTROMETRY_ANALYSIS_CYTO_D_LLOYD_2024

Data was analysed in R, using the package PAVO (v. 2.4.0). Spectra were smoothed using the ‘Procspec’ function and peaks extracted using the ‘Peakshape’ function. Average spectra for control and treated individuals were plotted using the ‘Aggplot’ function.