The list is intended to be inclusive in that it'll contain reviews, and empirical papers that offer extensions, novel applications, or tests of assumptions. It may be missing a chunk of human-focused (CIE) work, because that literature is vast. Suggestions welcome via twitter (@tomedwhite, #colsci), email, pull request, etc. If you can't get hold of something, I can probably pass it along.
Akkaynak 2014, Use of spectroscopy for assessment of color discrimination in animal vision
Akkaynak et al. 2014, Use of commercial off-the-shelf digital cameras for scientific data acquisition and scene-specific color calibration
Allen & Higham 2013, Analysing visual signals as visual scenes
Allen & Higham 2015, Assessing the potential information content of multicomponent visual signals: a machine learning approach
Armenta et al. 2008, Quantifying avian sexual dichromatism: a comparison of methods
Backhaus 1991, Color opponent coding in the visual system of the honeybee
Backhaus & Menzel 1987, Color distance derived from a receptor model of color vision in the honeybee
Barnard & Funt 2002, Camera characterization for color research
Bennett et al. 1994, Sexual selection and the mismeasure of color
Brandt & Vorobyev 1997, Metric analysis of threshold spectral sensitivity in the honeybee
Burnham et al. 1957, Prediction of color appearance with different adaptation illuminations
Cassey et al. 2012, Sources of variation in reflectance spectrophotometric data: a quantitative analysis using avian eggshell colours
Cardoso & Gomes 2015 Using reflectance ratios to study animal coloration
Chiao et al. 2009, Visualization of the spatial and spectral signals of orb-weaving spiders, Nephila pilipes, through the eyes of a honeybee
Chittka et al. 1992, Opponent color coding is a universal strategy to evaluate the photoreceptor inputs in Hymenoptera
Cole, et al. 1993, Detection mechanisms in L-, M-, and S-cone contrast space
Cuthill et al. 1999, Plumage reflectance and the objective assessment of avian sexual dichromatism
Dalrymple et al. 2014, Roses are red, violets are blue – so how much replication should you do? An assessment of variation in the colour of flowers and birds
Dartnall 1953, The interpretation of spectral sensitivity curves
De Valois & De Valois 1993, A multi-stage color model
Delhey et al. 2014, A practical framework to analyze variation in animal colors using visual models
Endler 1989, On the measurement and classification of colour in studies of animal colour patterns
Endler 2012, A framework for analysing colour pattern geometry: adjacent colours
Endler & Mielke 2005, Comparing entire colour patterns as birds see them
Evans et al. 2010, Age, sex and beauty: methodological dependence of age- and sex-dichromatism in the great tit Parus major
Evans & Sheldon 2015, A spectral perspective on the quantitative genetics of carotenoid colouration
Fleishman et al. 2016, Perceptual distance between colored stimuli in the lizard Anolis sagrei: comparing visual system models to empirical results
Garcia et al. 2014, Flower colours through the lens: quantitative measurement with visible and ultraviolet digital photography
Garcia et al. 2015, Differentiating biological colours with few and many sensors: spectral reconstruction with RGB and hyperspectral cameras
Gerald et al. 2001, Formal method for objective assessment of primate color
Goldsmith 1990, Optimization, constraint, and history in the evolution of eyes
Govardovskii et al. 2000, In search of the visual pigment template
Grill & Rush 2000, Analysing spectral data: comparison and application of two techniques
Hart & Vorobyev 2005, Modelling oil droplet absorption spectra and spectral sensitivities of bird cone photoreceptors
Hastad & Odeen 2008, Different ranking of avian colors predicted by modeling of retinal function in humans and birds
Higham et al 2010, Color signal information content and the eye of the beholder: a case study in the rhesus macaque
Hong et al. 2000, A study of digital camera colorimetric characterization based on polynomial modeling
Hurvich & Jameson 1955, Some quantitative aspects of an opponent-colors theory. II. Brightness, saturation, and hue in normal and dichromatic vision
Hurvich & Jameson 1956, Some quantitative aspects of an opponent-colors theory. IV. A psychological color specification system
Igic et al. 2015, Using 3D printed eggs to examine the egg-rejection behaviour of wild birds
Jameson & Hurvich 1955, Some quantitative aspects of an opponent-colors theory. I. Chromatic responses and spectral saturation
Jameson & Hurvich 1956, Some quantitative aspects of an opponent-colors theory. III. Changes in brightness, saturation, and hue with chromatic adaptation
Jameson & Hurvich 1964, Theory of brightness and color contrast in human vision
Johnsen 2016, How to measure color using spectrometers and calibrated photograph
Judd 1935, A maxwell triangle yielding uniform chromaticity scales
Kelber 1999, Ovipositing butterflies use a red receptor to see green
Kelber 2001, Receptor based models for spontaneous colour choices in flies and butterflies
Kelber et al. 2003, Animal colour vision: behavioural tests and physiological concepts
Kelber & Osorio 2009, From spectral information to animal colour vision: experiments and concepts
Kemp et al. 2008, Ornamental evolution in Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata): insights from sensory processing-based analyses of entire colour patterns
Kemp et al. 2015, An integrative framework for the appraisal of coloration in nature
Lamb 1995, Photoreceptor spectral sensitivities: Common shape in the long-wavelength region
Lehnert et al. 2011, A new method for quantifying color of insects
Lind & Kelber 2009, Avian colour vision: effects of variation in receptor sensitivity and noise data on model predictions as compared to behavioural results
Luo et al. 2001, The development of the CIE 2000 colour-difference formula
Maia et al. 2012, pavo: an R package for the analysis, visualization and organization of spectral data
Maloney & Wandell 1986, Color constancy: a method for recovering surface spectral reflectance
Marin-Franch & Foster 2013, Estimating information from image colors: an application to digital cameras and natural scenes
McLaren 2008, The development of the CIE 1976 (L* a* b*) uniform colour space and colour-difference formula
Meadows et al. 2011, Quantifying iridescent coloration in animals: a method for improving repeatability
Medina et al. 2015, Classification of peacock feather reflectance using principal component analysis similarity factors from multispectral imaging data
Osorio et al. 2004, Detection of fruit and the selection of primate visual pigments for color vision
Parkkinen et al. 1988, Spectral representation of color images
Perex-Rodriguez et al. 2013, Fractal geometry of a complex plumage trait reveals bird’s quality
Pike 2011, Using digital cameras to investigate animal colouration: estimating sensor sensitivity functions
Pike 2012, Preserving perceptual distances in chromaticity diagrams
Pike 2012, Generalised chromaticity diagrams for animals with n-chromatic colour vision
Pike 2015, Modelling eggshell maculation
Renoult et al. 2009, When assumptions on visual system evolution matter: nestling colouration and parental visual performance in birds
Renoult et al. 2013, A novel framework to study colour signalling to multiple species
Renoult et al. 2015, Colour spaces in ecology and evolutionary biology
Romney & Indow 2002, Estimating physical reflectance spectra from human color-matching experiments
Santos et al. 2007, Strong effects of various incidence and observation angles on spectrometric assessment of plumage colouration in birds
Smith 2014, Quantifying color variation: improved formulas for calculating hue with segment classification
Stevens 2011, Avian vision and egg colouration: concepts and measurements
Stevens et al. 2007, Using digital photography to study animal coloration
Stevens et al. 2009, Studying primate color: towards visual system-dependent methods
Stoddard & Prum 2008, Evolution of avian plumage color in a tetrahedral color space: a phylogenetic analysis of new world buntings
Stoddard & Stevens 2010, Avian vision and the evolution of egg color mimicry in the common cuckoo
Stoddard et al. 2014, Pattern recognition algorithm reveals how birds evolve individual egg pattern signatures
Stokman et al. 2000, Color measurement by imaging spectrometry
Strachan et al. 1990, Calibration of a video camera digitising system in the CIE (Luv) colour space
Taylor et al. 2013, Distance transform: a tool for the study of animal colour patterns
Thomas et al. 2015, Analysing avian eggshell pigments with Raman spectroscopy
Tkalcic et al. 2003, Colour spaces: perceptual, historical and applicational background
Troje 1993, Spectral categories in the learning behaviour of Blowflies
Troscianko & Stevens 2015, Image Calibration and Analysis Toolbox – a free software suite for objectively measuring reflectance, colour and pattern
Van Hateren 1993, Spatial, temporal and spectral pre-processing for colour vision
Van Wijk et al. 2015, A reliable technique to quantify the individual variability of iridescence in birds
Vaquero-Alba et al. 2016, A quantitative analysis of objective feather color assessment: Measurements in the laboratory do not reflect true plumage color
Villafuerte & Negro 2002, Digital imaging for colour measurement in ecological research
Vinther 2015, A guide to the field of palaeo colour
Vorobyev 2003, Coloured oil droplets enhance colour discrimination
Vorobyev et al. 1997 Flowers through insect eyes
Vorobyev & Osorio 1998, Receptor noise as a determinant of colour thresholds
Vorobyev et al. 1998, Tetrachromacy, oil droplets and bird plumage colours
Vorobyev et al., 1999, Colourful objects through animal eyes
Vorobyev et al. 2001, Colour thresholds and receptor noise: behaviour and physiology compared
Vukusic & Stavenga 2009, Physical methods for investigating structural colours in biological systems
Wachtler et al. 2004, Modeling color percepts of dichromats
Wegmann et al. 2015, An evaluation of different methods for assessing eggshell pigmentation and pigment concentration using great tit eggs
White et al. 2015, Reproducible research in the study of biological coloration
Wilkins et al. 2015, Multimodal signalling in the North American barn swallow: a phenotype network approach
Zuk & Decruyenaere 2008, Measuring individual variation in colour: a comparison of two techniques