Trends in Ecology & Evolution
ReviewInterspecific information transfer influences animal community structure
Section snippets
The role of interspecific information in mixed-species groups
Interspecific information can have varying effects on community structure. Interspecific information can have no effect whatsoever, be a driving factor in temporary associations, or form the basis of associations between species that live together for most of their lives (Figure 1).
Differences among species in information provided to heterospecifics
Although mixed-species associations can occur among species that have the same information-generating capacities (Box 2), many groups also occur between species producing information and species seeking that information (for example, where non-vigilant animals follow vigilant ones). Here we consider what morphological, ecological or behavioral factors can underlie differences among species in the information available to heterospecifics.
The provision of useful information to another species
Testable hypotheses related to interspecific information transfer
The differences among species in information gathering, production and transmission suggest some simple, testable hypotheses. For example, in Box 3 we argue that the conspecific audience of an information-producing species affects the production stage of interspecific information transfer, that its conspicuousness affects the transmission stage, and that the overlap between the niches of the information producer and the heterospecific receiver affects the value of information for the receiver.
Conclusions
Information flow between species can influence the position in space and time of different species, whether it be temporary groups around a predator or resource or stable associations between species in mixed-species groups or between species with shared territorial locations. Although animals can associate in groups of species that share information equally, information transfer in groups is often asymmetrical, flowing from information sources to information seekers. The differences among
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Jack W. Bradbury, Grant E. Brown and Tim Caro for their discussion of these issues, and Bruce E. Byers, Uromi M. Goodale and three anonymous reviewers for improvement of the manuscript. EG is grateful for the assistance of the Jeffrey Podos lab at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF USA; IFRP 0601909). RDM's work on interspecific communication is supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery grant. JCN
Glossary
- Community
- The set of organisms that exist in a spatially and temporally defined area.
- Cue
- The presence or behavior of an animal that can provide information to another animal, but has not evolved specifically to provide information to that animal (see contrast to ‘signal’, below).
- Eavesdropping
- The use of a signal by an animal that was not the intended receiver.
- Information
- Data that, when acquired, reduces an animal's uncertainty about environmental or social conditions, and that can be used by the
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