Social Communication
Résumé
An elementary communication system corresponds to an exchange of signals between an emitter and a receiver through a channel of transmission (i.e., air, water, or solid). The physical environment and the physiological equipment constrain signal design. Therefore, to optimize their communication, animals adapt their coding strategies. Communication systems are also influenced by the fact that emitters and receivers have mutual or conflicting interests. As a consequence, honest signals and cheating are commonly used in the animal kingdom. In gregarious or social animals, group organization requires a complex communication system: the exchange of information occurs in a network rather than in a one emitter–one receiver dyad.