The acoustic niche: Integrating physics, ecology and theory of communication

Abstract

Animal communication is related to many biological processes, and its investigation may help elucidate many aspects of an organism. If in the one hand, animal communication might be seen as a biological process, in the other, sound is a physical phenomenon, so that the understanding of animal communication depends on processes that go beyond biology itself. Here we aim to interlace concepts of Physics, Ecology, and communication to better operationalize the concept of acoustic niche. The study of the relationships between the communication problems (i.e. transmission, semantics and effectiveness), the physical properties of sound (frequency, intensity and time), and ecological aspects of communication, permits a better understanding of the acoustic niche and its evolution.