Animal Communication
This course will examine information transfer between animals, including the mechanisms of the production and reception of animal signals in different sensory modalities, and the factors that shape the evolution and structure of communication signals. This course will discuss signal characteristics, signal evolution, honesty and deception, competing interests of signallers and receivers, communication in networks, and methods for identifying and quantifying information in the study of animal communication systems. The goals of this course are: 1) to demonstrate how communication affects the ecology, behavior, neurobiology, and evolution of animal systems; 2) to compare and contrast theoretical and empirical tools used in studying animal communication origins and structure; 3) and to highlight the effects of human-induced change on animal communication.