Coding Strategies in Vertebrate Acoustic Communication

Information is a core concept in animal communication: individuals routinely produce, acquire, process and store information, which provides the basis for their social life. This book focuses on how animal acoustic signals code information and how this coding can be shaped by various environmental and social constraints. Taking birds and mammals, including humans, as models, the authors explore such topics as communication strategies for “public” and “private” signaling, static and dynamic signaling, the diversity of coded information and the way information is decoded by the receiver. The book appeals to a wide audience, ranging from bioacousticians, ethologists and ecologists to evolutionary biologists. Intended for students and researchers alike, it promotes the idea that Shannon and Weaver’s Mathematical Theory of Communication still represents a strong framework for understanding all aspects of the communication process, including its dynamic dimensions.

Acoustic Coding Strategies Through the Lens of the Mathematical Theory of Communication.- To Shout or to Whisper? Strategies for Encoding Public and Private Information in Sound Signals.- The Bird Dawn Chorus Revisited.- Coding Human Languages for Long-Range Communication in Natural Ecological Environments: Shouting, Whistling, and Drumming.- Coding of Static Information in Terrestrial Mammal Vocal Signals.- Coding for ‘Dynamic’ Information: Vocal Expression of Emotional Arousal and Valence in Non-human Animals.- Seasonal Hormone Fluctuations and Song Structure of Birds.- From Vocal to Neural Encoding: A Transversal Investigation of Information Transmission at Long Distance in Birds.- Mother–Offspring Vocal Recognition and Social System in Pinnipeds.- Acoustic Coding of Information in a Complex Social Network: Identity Signaling in Northern Elephant Seals.- How Songbird Females Sample Male Song: Communication Networks and Mate Choice.- Interspecific Communication: Gaining Information from Heterospecific Alarm Calls.- A Framework to Understand Interspecific Multimodal Signaling Systems.

Thierry Aubin is Senior Scientist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and at the head of the “Acoustic communication” team of Paris-Sud University. His research focuses on the acoustic coding processes of numerous species of animals, mainly songbirds and seabirds, all studied in their natural environment. He has published more than 130 articles in scientific peer-reviewed journals. He was President of the French Society of Ethology (SFECA), President of the group “bioacoustics” within the French Society of Acoustics (SFA) and President of a grant review committee at the National Research Agency (ANR).

Nicolas Mathevon is Professor of animal behavior at the University of Lyon, Saint-Etienne, and senior member of the Institut universitaire de France. His research revolves around acoustic communication in vertebrates, with a focus on how environmental and social constraints shape the evolution of sound-based information transfer. He has published more than 80 scientific papers in international, peer-reviewed journals. Prof. Mathevon has been Miller visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and visiting full Professor at Hunter College, City University of New York. He is currently President of the International Bioacoustics Society IBAC.