Biotremology: Do physical constraints limit the propagation of vibrational information?

Mortimer, Beth

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2017.06.015

Cited by 67 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 74 publications

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“…Possible explanations could be the use of inter‐individual rather than intra‐individual values to calculate CVs, the differences in recording devices and procedures used in the various studies, the broad‐banded nature of many substrate vibrational signals, and the differences in signal transmission between acoustic and vibratory signals. The spectral properties of vibratory signals heavily depend on the transmission characteristics of the substrate and are thus more prone to deviate from a mean value, within and between individuals (Mortimer, ). Animals might additionally be able to vary spectral characteristics more than it is possible for airborne sound signals, for example, by matching the generated signal to the substrate properties (McNett & Cocroft, ; Polajnar & Čokl, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Sound travels through air or fluids as compressional waves, while the waveforms studied by biotremologists include Rayleigh waves, bending waves and potentially a number of others still to be studied (Hill & Wessel, ; Mortimer, ) so it needs to be tested, whether communication signals transmitted via substrate vibrations can be investigated and analysed like those transmitted via airborne sound. In this study, we examined if the pattern found for acoustic advertisement signals in insects and anurans, namely a dependence of trait variability (measured as CV) and trait duration, is also true for substrate‐borne vibrational signals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation of vibrational communication signals in animals depends on trait duration

Eberhard

Treschnak

2018

Ethology

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In the recent years, vibrational communication signals have become more and more prominent in research—often, characteristics of signals are described for several closely related species or populations of the same species, using means and standard deviations. Phenotypic variation in vibratory communication signals can be measured and compared using the coefficient of variation, which is supposed to be independent of trait size. However, it has been shown that the coefficients of variation of acoustic (airborne sound) male courtship signals in insects and anurans increase with signal duration in accordance with a power law. To examine whether this pattern is also true for vibrational communication signals, we used original data for Mantophasmatodea and reviewed the literature for published data on arthropods, anurans and mammals. The relationship between trait variability and duration is surprisingly stable for all investigated biotremology data and similar to the relationships found for airborne sound courtship signals. This study adds towards our knowledge about a general pattern for temporal variability of communication signals.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variation of vibrational communication signals in animals depends on trait duration

Eberhard

Treschnak

2018

Ethology

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“…Floral vibrations produced by bees are a type of substrate-borne vibration and can be described by biophysical properties such as duration, frequency and amplitude (Cocroft and Rodríguez, 2005; Mortimer, 2017). During a single visit, a bee may produce one to several “buzzes”, but each of them can be itself made from very short vibrations (tens to hundreds of milliseconds) (Vallejo-Marin, in review) (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…King calculated the ratio between the PA of vibrations of known amplitude applied to the anthers using a shaker table, with the PA of vibrations detected in the stem adjacent to the flower measured with an accelerometer. The ratio, which he called “coupling factor”, provides an estimate of the attenuation observed between the source of the vibration and the accelerometer, and is expected to be a function of the filtering and attenuating properties of the flower and intervening plant tissue (Cocroft and Rodríguez, 2005; Mortimer, 2017). King showed that the coupling factor differs between species with radically distinct floral morphologies (comfrey = 26.4; kiwi = 182).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bee and floral traits affect the characteristics of the vibrations experienced by flowers during buzz-pollination

Arroyo-Correa

Beattie

Vallejo‐Marín

2018

Preprint

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During buzz pollination, bees use their indirect flight muscles to produce vibrations that are transmitted to the flowers and result in pollen release. Although buzz pollination has been known for >100 years, we are still in the early stages of understanding how bee and floral characteristics affect the production and transmission of floral vibrations. Here we analysed floral vibrations produced by four closely related bumblebee taxa (Bombus spp.) on two buzz-pollinated plants species (Solanum spp.). We measured floral vibrations transmitted to the flower to establish the extent to which the mechanical properties of floral vibrations depend on bee and plant characteristics. By comparing four bee taxa visiting the same plant species, we found that peak acceleration (PA), root mean-squared acceleration (RMS) and frequency varies between bee taxa, but that neither bee size (intertegular distance) or flower biomass (dry weight) affect PA, RMS or frequency. A comparison of floral vibrations of two bee taxa visiting flowers of two plant species, showed that, while bee species affects PA, RMS and frequency, plant species affects acceleration (PA and RMS) but not frequency. When accounting for differences in the transmission of vibrations across the two types of flowers, using a species-specific “coupling factor”, we found that RMS acceleration and peak displacement does not differ between plant species. This suggests that bees produce the same initial acceleration in different plants but that transmission of these vibrations through the flower is affected by floral characteristics. Summary statement We show that buzz-pollinating bumblebees differ in the type of vibrations produced while visiting the same flower, and that floral species affects the transmission properties of those vibrations.

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“…This communication via surface-borne vibrations is widely documented in arthropods, such as orthopterans (Cocroft, Shugart, Konrad, & Tibbs, 2006) and hemipterans (Kavčič, Čokl, Laumann, Blassioli-Moraes & Borges, 2013), but also had been reported in some vertebrates, such as tree frogs (Caldwell et al, 2010), salamanders (Christensen, Lauridsen, Christensen-Dalsgaard, Pedersen, & Madsen, 2015) and seals (Bishop, Denton, Pomeroy, & Twiss, 2015). The analysis of this vibrational signaling in animals, known as biotremology, allows a better understanding of communication through these signals, the propagation process in the environment and how physical variables affect this behavior (Mortimer, 2017). According to Hill (2009) vibrations carried in the substrate are considered to provide a very old and apparently ubiquitous communication channel employed in the contexts of mate location and identification, courtship and mating, maternal care and sibling interactions, predation, predator avoidance, foraging, and general recruitment of family members to work.…”

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confidence: 99%

Tremulation display in male agonistic behavior of the black-eyed leaf frog (Agalychnis moreletii: Hylidae).

Serrano¹,

Cruz²,

Villatoro‐Castañeda³

et al. 2018

AB&C

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-The black-eyed leaf frog (Agalychnis moreletii) is a critically endangered hylid frog restricted to humid lowland and lower montane forests of southern Mexico and northern Central America. Very few reports exist on wild reproductive behavior of this species. Lower body tremulation display has been reported as a relevant part of agonistic interactions between males of the related species A. callidryas but has never been reported in other species of Agalychnis. Herein, we present the first report and description of this tremulation display among males of A. moreletii in a lower montane forest of Guatemala. Based on our observations, we suggest that this display may serve to prevent physical confrontations among males and might play an important role in defining territories. We also suggest that the difference in fundamental frequency of the tremulations between A. moreletii and A. callidryas may serve to avoid confusing signals between species where they breed sympatrically.

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Biotremology: Do physical constraints limit the propagation of vibrational information?

Cited by 67 publications

References 74 publications

Variation of vibrational communication signals in animals depends on trait duration

Variation of vibrational communication signals in animals depends on trait duration

Bee and floral traits affect the characteristics of the vibrations experienced by flowers during buzz-pollination

Tremulation display in male agonistic behavior of the black-eyed leaf frog (Agalychnis moreletii: Hylidae).

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