Animal Communication: Learning Types, Mechanisms, and Examples, Slides of Biology

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Communication

Goals:

1. Learn how and why animals communicate

2. Learn types of chemical communication:

pheromones, kairomones & allomones

3. Compare methods of animal communication

to human behavior

4. Understand the purpose and mechanisms of

visual communication

• See examples of the varied uses of

coloration in insect communication

5. Understand the benefits and disadvantages of

using various methods of communication

1. Sender

2. Message

3. Receiver

4. MEDIUM

THE FOUR (4) KEY ELEMENTS

OF COMMUNICATION

Other Communication Terms:

· Signal · Noise · Mimicry ·

Uses of Communication

· Benefit one or both participants

· Provide Stimulus

· Provide Information

1. Visual
2. Acoustic
3. Chemical
4. Tactile
   5. Combination

Types of stimuli

Visual Communications

Disadvantages

· May be visible to predators

· Only works over short distances

Advantages

· Little risk of noise (misinterpretation)

· Wider range of expression than odor

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Animal Coloration

1. Concealment

3. Advertisement

Monarch

4. False Advertisement

= Mimicry

Viceroy

2. Distraction

Visual

Pupa looks like a broken twig

The tasty female swallowtail (top right) mimics the poisonous pipevine butterfly (top left) in areas where their populations overlap. Elsewhere, the adults are yellow (bottom)

The Tiger Swallowtail: Master of Disguise!

Bird-dropping = larva

Three molts later…

snake-eyes

Visual

1. Visual
2. Acoustic
3. Chemical
4. Tactile
   5. Combination

Types of stimuli

Acoustic

Advantages

· A large sound can be generated

by a small creature

· You don’t have to be seen to be heard

· Can be used over long distances

Disadvantages

· Signal is broadcast to intended and

unintended receivers

· Noise creates issues

Sound Generation

Tymbal organs: buckle inwards causing pressure changes in the abdominal cavity, from which sound is radiated

Courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology

Stridulation: rubbing rough part of body against another such as wings or legs

Vocal cords or larynx:

long, smoothly rounded bands of muscle tissue that may

be lengthened or shortened, tensed or relaxed, and

opened or closed. Opening and closing of the vocal

folds periodically interrupts the air stream to produce a

tone within the cranial cavities.

Acoustic

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Types of Sounds

Intentional Crickets, rattlesnakes, and most other animals make noise specifically to communicate a message

Incidental

The sound made by

bees, flies or

mosquitoes comes

from noise of their

wings beating

Acoustic

Audiospectrographs

A visual recording of a sound’s frequency, amplitude and time

5 species of crickets

Cricket

Bat

Humpback whale

2

3 4 5

1

Acoustic

1. Seasonal
   2. Geographic distribution
2. Habitat selection
3. The Environment

72 degrees

93 degrees

Japan^ Michigan

Borneo

Mating season

Causes of song/sound differences