Papers in the Biological Sciences
Date of this Version
2011
Abstract
The term ‘complex signaling’ reflects a recent scientific focus on the multiple elements frequently incorporated into animal signals (reviewed in Candolin, 2003; Hebets and Papaj, 2005; Partan and Marler, 2005; Bro-Jorgensen, 2010). It embodies a new appreciation that signals used in communication are regularly composed of numerous components and that each component may individually vary in a number of ways. For example, signal components may vary in their time or mechanism of production, in the efficacy of their transmission, and/or in their mechanism of reception, among others. Employing the term ‘complex signaling’ reminds us of the need to maintain a broad, inclusive view of the dynamic, interactive nature of communication when trying to understand its evolutionary history and current function.
Comments
Published in Current Zoology 57:2 (2011), pp. i-v; http://www.actazool.org/
Used by permission.