EAPSI: How Signals Can Dictate Species Interactions and Shape Communication Networks about Danger

Billings Alexis C, Missoula MT

Investigators

Abstract

Some of the most conspicuous behaviors performed by animals are related to communication. These communication signals are rarely reserved for private conversation, but are inherently social signals involving numerous senders, numerous receivers and complex species interactions. This communication network perspective to animal communication has been slow coming and the majority of studies focus on one-sender-one-receiver exchanges. This is a logistical practicality in many instances, but it has the unfortunate side effect of missing an entire realm of exciting biology. To address this gap, the project tests how mobbing signals, which are acoustic signals used both within and across bird species to communicate about predators, can dictate species interactions in different avian communities and therefore shape communication networks about danger. The project will use playbacks of different species' mobbing calls to experimentally probe how bird species respond to one another. The project is to be conducted with Dr. Toshitaka Suzuki at Kyoto University in Japan. Dr. Suzuki is an up-and-coming researcher in the field of behavioral ecology, who has contributed significantly to understanding how signals can shape complex multi-species interactions. Together, the researchers will begin to understand how species interactions scale-up to communication networks and finally how those communication networks function within different communities. Communication does not occur in private conversations between one sender and one receiver. Yet the majority of studies of animal communication hold this overly simplistic, dyadic viewpoint. Communication is an inherently social behavior and needs to be addressed as a network with many senders, many receivers and complex species interactions. The project will apply this network perspective to mobbing calls, which are acoustic signals used both within and across bird species to communicate about predators. These mixed-species mobbing events are comprised of complex species interactions that vary by the participation of other species. Therefore, they are an ideal signaling system to explore questions pertaining to how species interact using a communication network framework. The researchers will use playback experiments to test how the avian community assembly influences species interactions in a mobbing call communication network. The project will aid in the understanding of the asymmetrical participation in mobbing communication networks and understand how species interactions may dictate this asymmetry through context-dependent escalation. This award, under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program, supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.