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Noise in Visual Communication: Motion from Wind-Blown Plants

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Animal Communication and Noise

Part of the book series: Animal Signals and Communication ((ANISIGCOM,volume 2))

Abstract

Animals demonstrate with their signalling strategies that they are sensitive to signal efficacy. Signallers can choose favourable conditions or alter the structure of their signals at times of increased noise. The nature of these adjustments has provided important insights into how signal evolution is constrained by the noise landscape. Only recently, have we shown that the structure of movement-based visual signals depends on ambient motion noise caused by wind-blown plants, but our depth of understanding has been constrained by our limited knowledge of motion noise. We therefore need to understand in detail how plants move. In this chapter, I outline how and why plant interactions with wind will vary according to plant species, plant geometry, microhabitat structure, and the light environment. Ultimately, we will need to consider signal and noise together to truly determine the masking effect of plant motion. With this in mind, I conclude by suggesting that a fresh look at movement-based signals and plant motion noise is needed.

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Acknowledgments

I would very much like to thank Henrik Brumm for the invitation to submit this chapter, and for providing me with the opportunity to organise a collection of thoughts and ideas about why we should care about plant movements. I am also indebted to a number of individuals with whom I have enjoyed many discussions on the topic including Jan Hemmi, Jochen Zeil, Leo Fleishman and Terry Ord. I am also grateful to Tom Chandler for helping me recognise the potential of animation for understanding motion signals, and to Henrik Brumm, Leo Fleishman, Haven Wiley and Jochen Zeil for their thoughtful and constructive comments on earlier versions of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC, 3086, Australia

    Richard A. Peters

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  1. Richard A. Peters
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Correspondence to Richard A. Peters .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Communication and Social Behaviour Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany

    Henrik Brumm

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Peters, R.A. (2013). Noise in Visual Communication: Motion from Wind-Blown Plants. In: Brumm, H. (eds) Animal Communication and Noise. Animal Signals and Communication, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-41494-7_11

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