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Vibration Communication in Vertebrates

  • Conference paper
Ecology of Sensing

Abstract

In this chapter I shall attempt to explore the ways in which several vertebrate groups utilize vibrational or seismic signals Specifically, I hope to encourage the study of animals other than those used in the standard mammalian preparations by emphasizing that an animal’s natural acoustic behavior often leads to insights concerning the underlying physiological mechanisms. Applied across a wide range of taxa, this neuroethological approach has yielded a great deal of information about vertebrate behaviors including bat echolocation, sound localization by owls, electrolocation and object avoidance in electric fishes, song learning in passerine birds, and frog acoustic and vibrational communication. Among the vertebrates, strong evidence for seismic signal detection and/or communication has been documented for only a handful of cases. These animals appear to rely on surface (Rayleigh) waves to transmit vibrational signals. In Leptodactylus and perhaps in Crotalus, the apparatus for detecting these signals resides both in the sensory epithelium of the inner ear and in its associated sensory structures and appears to take advantage of the multimodal response properties of the sensory hair cells. Methods used to explore these responses and new behavioral evidence for seismic cue detection in several animal groups are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiological Science, UCLA, PO Box 160606, Los Angeles, California, 90095-1606, USA

    Peter M. Narins

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  1. Peter M. Narins
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Biocenter, Institute for Zoology, University of Vienna, Althanstr. 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Friedrich G. Barth  & Axel Schmid  & 

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Narins, P.M. (2001). Vibration Communication in Vertebrates. In: Barth, F.G., Schmid, A. (eds) Ecology of Sensing. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-22644-5_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-22644-5_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08619-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-22644-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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