Synopsis Communication is a social process and usually occurs in a network of signalers and receivers. While social network analysis has received enormous recent attention from animal behaviorists, there have been relatively few attempts to apply these techniques to communication networks. Communication networks have the potential to offer novel insights into social network studies, and yet are especially challenging subjects, largely because of their unique spatiotemporal characteristics. Namely, signals propagate through the environment, often dissociating from the body of the signaler, to influence receiver behavior. The speed of signal propagation and the signal’s active space will affect the congruence of communication networks and other types of social network; in extreme cases, the signal may persist and only first be detected long after the signaler has left the area. Other signals move more rapidly and over greater distances than the signaler could possibly move to reach receivers. We discuss the spatial and temporal consequences of signaling in networks and highlight the distinction between the physical location of the signaler and the spread of influence of its signals, the effects of signal modality and receiver sensitivity on communication network properties, the potential for feedbacks between network layers, and approaches to analyzing spatial and temporal change in communication networks in conjunction with other network layers.
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How Signaling Geometry Shapes the Efficacy and Evolution of Animal Communication Systems
Synopsis Animal communication is inherently spatial. Both signal transmission and signal reception have spatial biases—involving direction, distance, and position—that interact to determine signaling efficacy. Signals, be they visual, acoustic, or chemical, are often highly directional. Likewise, receivers may only be able to detect signals if they arrive from certain directions. Alignment between these directional biases is therefore critical for effective communication, with even slight misalignments disrupting perception of signaled information. In addition, signals often degrade as they travel from signaler to receiver, and environmental conditions that impact transmission can vary over even small spatiotemporal scales. Thus, how animals position themselves during communication is likely to be under strong selection. Despite this, our knowledge regarding the spatial arrangements of signalers and receivers during communication remains surprisingly coarse for most systems. We know even less about how signaler and receiver behaviors contribute to effective signaling alignment over time, or how signals themselves may have evolved to influence and/or respond to these aspects of animal communication. Here, we first describe why researchers should adopt a more explicitly geometric view of animal signaling, including issues of location, direction, and distance. We then describe how environmental and social influences introduce further complexities to the geometry of signaling. We discuss how multimodality offers new challenges and opportunities for signalers and receivers. We conclude with recommendations and future directions made visible by attention to the geometry of signaling.
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- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10292469
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Integrative and Comparative Biology
- ISSN:
- 1540-7063
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icab090
