Citation

Shier DM. J. Comp. Psychol. 2002; 116(2): 194-196.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, University of California, Davis, 95616, USA. dmshier@ucdavis.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, American Psychological Association)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12083616

Abstract

Communication often extends into the public domain, inviting "eavesdropping" and other forms of exploitation by other species. Conflict is frequently the result, although interspecific communication can be mutually beneficial even when interests conflict fundamentally, such as between predator and prey. However, the most complex communication systems are likely to involve species with mutual rather than with conflicting interests. When interests do conflict, exploitation of the communication systems of others may impose high costs on signalers and select for signals that are less exploitable. Other costs of communication in the public domain arise from "mistakes" (e.g., mating with the wrong species) and select for more species-specific signal structure. The articles in this section illustrate the complexity of interspecific communication and yield important insights into the dynamic nature of communication systems.

Language: en