Signalling systems for individual recognition: an information theory approach

Beecher, Michael D.

doi:10.1016/s0003-3472(89)80087-9

Cited by 245 publications

(283 citation statements)

References 13 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

274

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…An obvious shortcoming of our experimental protocol is that it did not allow us to determine whether the species can discriminate one individual of a group from every other individual on the basis of "a unique set of cues defining that individual" (Beecher 1989), showing a "true individual recognition". However, the results of our experiment do demonstrate that P. longicarpus categorizes the individuals it encounters into two "heterogeneous subgroups" (Barrows et al 1975), i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Binary individual recognition in hermit crabs

Gherardi

Tiedemann

2004

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One mechanism that permits the maintenance of dominance hierarchies is individual recognition, defined as the ability of an animal to recognize a conspecific on the basis of one or more identifying cues, and to associate it with experiences of victories or defeats that the animal has gained from preceding encounters with that particular individual. We examined whether the long-clawed hermit crab, Pagurus longicarpus, could differentiate between unfamiliar and familiar opponents. The experimental protocol was designed to control in pairs of interacting individuals several factors together, such as status and relative size of the opponent, as well as species, quality, and fit of the inhabited shell. The hermit crabs were more reactive and their agonistic level was higher in unfamiliar than in familiar pairs; in addition, betas were more prone to initiate an interaction with unfamiliar than with familiar alphas. The alternative explanation-that the ability to discriminate between familiar and novel shells can explain our results per sewas tested following, in part, Jackson and Elwood's (1989) protocol for Pagurus bernhardus and was, at least for this species, rejected. This study did not determine whether a true individual recognition occurs, but demonstrated that P. longicarpus categorizes the individuals into two "heterogeneous subgroups", thus being capable of a binary discrimination among opponents.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Binary individual recognition in hermit crabs

Gherardi

Tiedemann

2004

Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While information theory was initially developed to describe information transmission in technical systems, it quickly found its way into a range of other disciplines, including psychology and animal behaviour (e.g. Dingle 1969;Beecher 1989). For our purposes, treating information as a reduction of uncertainty in the recipient is useful because it connects communication to learning theory and to research on the mechanisms by which animals associate signals (or cues) with each other or with the outcomes of specific behaviours.…”

Section: Clarifying the Terminologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The central importance of information in studies of animal communication

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Keywords:animal communication animal signal information information transmission language meaningThe concept of information plays a central role in studies of animal communication. Animals' responses to the calls of different individuals, to food calls, alarm calls, and to signals that predict behaviour, all suggest that recipients acquire information from signals and that this information affects their response. Some scientists, however, want to replace the concept of information with one based on the 'manipulation' of recipients by signallers through the induction of nervous-system responses. Here we review both theory and data that argue against hypotheses based exclusively on manipulation or on a fixed, obligatory link between a signal's physical features and the responses it elicits. Results from dozens of studies indicate that calls with 'arousing' or 'aversive' features may also contain information that affects receivers' responses; that acoustically similar calls can elicit different responses; acoustically different calls can elicit similar responses; and 'eavesdropping' animals respond to the relationship instantiated by signal sequences. Animal signals encode a surprisingly rich amount of information. The content of this information can be studied scientifically.

show abstract

“…That is, results of such experiments simply arrived at documenting that the study animals were capable of a Bbinary^dis-crimination among opponents (Boal, 1996), but not of Btrue individual recognition^(i.e., the ability to discriminate one individual of a group from every other individual on the basis of Ba unique set of cues defining that individual^; Beecher, 1989).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many studies have demonstrated the ability of nonhuman mammals to discriminate individuals by the use of chemicals (e.g., Halpin, 1980Halpin, , 1986Brown et al, 1990;Hurst et al, 2001). Particularly in the last few years, considerable effort has been directed at defining in vertebrates the processes of identification and recognition (Beecher, 1989): at the cognitive analysis level, questions have been addressed on the nature of individual representation exhibited by a handful of vertebrate taxa and on the evolutionary pathways leading to high-order knowledge about individuals (e.g., Johnston and Bullock, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unraveling the Nature of Individual Recognition by Odor in Hermit Crabs

2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract-Individual recognition is a key element in the social life of many invertebrates. However, most studies conducted so far document that several species are capable of a Bbinary^discrimination among conspecifics, but not of a Btrue individual recognition.^Our objective was to learn more about the mechanisms that underlie individual recognition by odor in hermit crabs by individuating some of its properties. Using Pagurus longicarpus Say 1817 as a model species, we conducted four series of experiments in which the response of every test crab (the Breceiver^) to the different odor treatments (emitted by a Bsender^) was evaluated from its investigative behavior toward an empty, high-quality shell. After having excluded the possibility that crabs chemically recognize familiar/unfamiliar shells and /or shells of high/low quality, we explored whether the receivers discriminate odors from two familiar senders and whether this discrimination also occurs with unfamiliar crabs. We also asked whether crabs form an association between the odor of a familiar sender and some of its relevant attributes, i.e., rank, size, and shell quality. Finally, the shells inhabited by familiar individuals were manipulated to modify the association between odor and shell quality. Results showed that: (1) there is no odor specific of a rank; (2) individual crabs discriminate their own odor from the odor of other individuals; (3) they can chemically discriminate between larger crabs inhabiting higher-quality shells and smaller crabs inhabiting lower-quality shells, provided that these crabs are familiar to them; (4) they associate the odor of an individual crab with the quality of the shell it inhabits; and (5) this association quickly changes when social partners switch to shells of different quality. These results indicate that the nature of chemical recognition in P. longicarpus is more refined than a simple binary 0098-0331/05/1200-2877/0 # 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc. 2877Journal of Chemical Ecology, Vol. 31, No. 12, December 2005 DOI: 10.1007/s10886-005-8400-5 * To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: francesca.gherardi@unifi.it system. The receiver appears able to associate a type of information from the sender with memories of past experiences, therefore suggesting the hermit crab's potential for relatively high-order knowledge about conspecifics.

show abstract

Signalling systems for individual recognition: an information theory approach

Cited by 245 publications

References 13 publications

Binary individual recognition in hermit crabs

Binary individual recognition in hermit crabs

The central importance of information in studies of animal communication

Unraveling the Nature of Individual Recognition by Odor in Hermit Crabs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About