Chemical communication

Abstract

Communication takes place when two or more individuals interact via signal release and reception. This chapter focuses on chemical communication among arthropods, first, discussing the physical attributes of chemical communication and following up with examples that demonstrate the importance of chemical communication as a mediator of behavioral, ecological and evolutionary processes. In doing so, both the functional (i.e. why) and causal (i.e. how) aspects of chemical communication are considered. The examples are drawn from a broad range of topics, including mating conflict (and resolution), honest signals (e.g. marking pheromones), deceptive signals (e.g. sexual deception by orchids to exploit pollinators) and impacts on population dynamics via non-consumptive impacts (e.g. alarm pheromones of aphids). Finally, most of the examples illustrate the subtle and contextual nature of chemical communication making the case that to understand chemical communication one must understand the chemical communicators and not just the chemical compounds that mediate their inter-individual interactions.