Communication Theories - Soundscape Ecology: Principles, Patterns, Methods and Applications - page 61

Chapter 4
Communication Theories
A communication theory represents a general framework used to describe the
plethora of observations, rules, and exceptions described in the variegated context
of animal communication.
A central principle in the communication theory states that biological signals are
honest, which means for an acoustic signal such as a song that the complexity of the
repertoire and all the secondary characters associated are expressions of natural
selection.
In communication there is a sender and a receiver connected by an informative
signal. A third subject is the eavesdropper or the involuntary receiver that utilizes
the information which circulates between the two. Eavesdropping represents an
important evolutionary phenomenon. Communication is costly in term of energy
budget allocated by vocal individuals, and a well-designed communicative frame-
work should be the result of selective pressure.
Communication is an important component of animal life, contributing to
reproduction and to survival life traits. Acoustic signals are used in several groups
of species, humans included, to find resources, to avoid predators, and to find or
adapt locations for reproduction.
To improve the efficacy of a signal it is important to reduce the loss of energy on
one hand and on the other to optimize the information contained in the signal. The
efficiency of a signal largely depends on the internal design and on the capacity of
an emitter to separate the signal from background noise.
Analysis of the complexity of the acoustic communication codes and specifically
the acoustic codes represents an interesting perspective. Every acoustic message is
the result of a sequence of elementary parts whose syntax represents a message.
Acoustic codes operate at intraspecific level but also at interspecific level, improv-
ing the efficiency of the communicative behavior.