Are communication activities shaped by environmental constraints in reverberating and absorbing forest habitats?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Are communication activities shaped by environmental constraints in reverberating and absorbing forest habitats?

AU - Mathevon, Nicolas

AU - Aubin, Thierry

AU - Dabelsteen, Torben

AU - Vielliard, Jacques M. E.

N1 - Key words: acoustic communication, propagation-induced modifications, environmental constraints, evolution of communication.

PY - 2004

Y1 - 2004

N2 - In the dense vegetation of temperate or tropical forests, communication processes are constrained bypropagation-induced modifications of the transmitted sounds. The presence of leaves, trunks and branchesinduces important sound reverberation and absorption leading to diminution of the signal energy as well asqualitative modifications. The aim of this paper is to briefly review the different strategies used by birdsto manage with these constraints. At the emitter’s level, an adapted emission behavior which takes intoaccount both the physical heterogeneities of the forest environment and the temporal variations of the acousticconstraints, is especially useful to control the active space of signaling. The coding of information intoacoustic parameters that have different susceptibility to propagation constraints is also of great interest. Atthe receiver’s level, an adaptive reception behavior (listening post) and a great tolerance to sound degradationduring the decoding process are the keys to an optimal communication process.

AB - In the dense vegetation of temperate or tropical forests, communication processes are constrained bypropagation-induced modifications of the transmitted sounds. The presence of leaves, trunks and branchesinduces important sound reverberation and absorption leading to diminution of the signal energy as well asqualitative modifications. The aim of this paper is to briefly review the different strategies used by birdsto manage with these constraints. At the emitter’s level, an adapted emission behavior which takes intoaccount both the physical heterogeneities of the forest environment and the temporal variations of the acousticconstraints, is especially useful to control the active space of signaling. The coding of information intoacoustic parameters that have different susceptibility to propagation constraints is also of great interest. Atthe receiver’s level, an adaptive reception behavior (listening post) and a great tolerance to sound degradationduring the decoding process are the keys to an optimal communication process.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0001-3765

VL - 76

SP - 259

EP - 263

JO - Anais da Academia Brasileiras de Ciências

JF - Anais da Academia Brasileiras de Ciências

IS - 2

ER -