Constraints on the Design of Chemical Communication Systems in Terrestrial Vertebrates

Relations between structure, function, and constraint in the chemical communication systems of terrestrial vertebrates are examined from a design-feature perspective. A survey of chemical signals from 34 mammalian species indicates variation in the chemical structure of signals that are used in different social contexts and under different environmental conditions. Behavioral, physiological, and morphological adaptations in the emission and reception of chemical signals in terrestrial vertebrates are reviewed. Several features of chemical signals, including temporal parameters, spatial range, localizability, intensity and detectability, and information content, appear to be adjusted for particular social functions, subject to constraints of the signaling environment. In many cases, these adaptations may minimize energetic costs to signaling animals.

[1]  E. Keverne,et al.  Pheromones: Isolation of Male Sex Attractants from a Female Primate , 1971, Science.

[2]  R M BENJAMIN,et al.  THE CHEMICAL SENSES. , 1965, Annual review of psychology.

[3]  J. Sale.  Unusual External Adaptations in the Rock Hyrax , 1970 .

[4]  M. D. Beecher.  Signalling systems for individual recognition: an information theory approach , 1989, Animal Behaviour.

[5]  G. Preti,et al.  The major volatile constituents of the scent mark of a South American primateSaguinus fuscicollis, Callithricidae , 2004, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[6]  Fred E. Regnier,et al.  On the Chemical and Environmental Modulation of Pheromone Release from Vertebrate Scent Marks , 1977 .

[7]  M. Meredith,et al.  Vomeronasal pump: significance for male hamster sexual behavior. , 1980, Science.

[8]  P. Marler,et al.  Animal Communication Signals , 1967, Science.

[9]  G. VonBékésy,et al.  OLFACTORY ANALOGUE TO DIRECTIONAL HEARING. , 1964, Journal of applied physiology.

[10]  P. Johnsen,et al.  Detection of Glandular Secretions by Yearling Alligators , 1982 .

[11]  L. M. Gosling,et al.  A Reassessment of the Function of Scent Marking in Territories , 1982 .

[12]  Devra G. Kleiman,et al.  Olfactory Communication in Mammals , 1972 .

[13]  K. Pachler,et al.  Studies on Mammalian Pheromones, I. Ketones from the Pedal Gland of the Bontebok ( Damaliscus dorcas dorcas) , 1976 .

[14]  B. Martof,et al.  The Function of the Naso-Labial Groove of Plethodontid Salamanders , 1966, Physiological Zoology.

[15]  G. Dryden,et al.  THE ORIGIN AND HORMONAL CONTROL OF SCENT PRODUCTION IN SUNCUS MURINUS , 1967 .

[16]  E. Wilson.  7 – Chemical Communication within Animal Species , 1970 .

[17]  F. Bronson,et al.  Estrus-Inducing Pheromone of Male Mice: Transport by Movement of Air , 1968, Science.

[18]  R. Crewe,et al.  Chemical Communication in Galago Crassicaudatus: Investigation of the Chest Gland Secretion , 1980 .

[19]  N. Smythe.  The natural history of the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) , 1978 .

[20]  K. Lloyd.  Aspects of the ecology of black and grizzly bears in coastal British Columbia , 1979 .

[21]  D. Werner,et al.  Kinship recognition and grouping in hatchling green iguanas , 1987, Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.

[22]  R. Silverstein,et al.  Mammalian Pheromone: Identification of Active Component in the Subauricular Scent of the Male Pronghorn , 1974, Science.

[23]  D. Madison,et al.  Individual recognition in salamanders: Cloacal odours , 1984, Animal Behaviour.

[24]  M. Sandell,et al.  Scent-marking and its territorial significance in stoats, Mustela erminea , 1982, Animal Behaviour.

[25]  D. Thiessen,et al.  Harderian gland pheromone in the Mongolian gerbilMeriones unguiculatus , 1976, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[26]  L. M. Gosling,et al.  Economic Consequences of Scent Marking in Mammalian Territoriality , 1986 .

[27]  James Dale Smith,et al.  Histology of a Sexually Dimorphic Integumentary Gland in Macroglossus lagochilus (Chiroptera: Pteropodidae) , 1984 .

[28]  M. H. Nitecki,et al.  Biochemical Aspects of Evolutionary Biology , 1983 .

[29]  K. Ralls,et al.  Mammalian Scent Marking , 1971, Science.

[30]  R. F. Ewer.  The behaviour of the African giant rat (Cricetomys gambianus Waterhouse). , 2010, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[31]  D. Macdonald,et al.  Behavioural, anatomical and chemical aspects of scent marking amongst Capybaras (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) (Rodentia: Caviomorpha) , 1984 .

[32]  H. H. Bawden.  The Nose and Jacobson's organ with special references to Amphibia , 1894 .

[33]  A. F. Crowther.  Heterocyclic Chemistry , 1964, Nature.

[34]  J. Endler.  Predation, light intensity and courtship behaviour in Poecilia reticulata (Pisces: Poeciliidae) , 1987, Animal Behaviour.

[35]  R. Doty.  A Review of Recent Psychophysical Studies Examining the Possibility of Chemical Communication of Sex and Reproductive State in Humans , 1977 .

[36]  M. Gorman.  A mechanism for individual recognition by odour in Herpestes auropunctatus (Carnivora: Viverridae) , 1976, Animal Behaviour.

[37]  G. Eglinton,et al.  The anal sac secretion of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes); its chemistry and microbiology. A comparison with the anal sac secretion of the lion (Panthera leo). , 1974, Life sciences.

[38]  G. Burghardt.  Chemical Perception in Reptiles , 1970 .

[39]  E. Lederer,et al.  Chemistry and biochemistry of some mammalian secretions and excretions , 1949 .

[40]  R. Olivier,et al.  Habitat utilization by hippopotamus in the Mara River , 1974 .

[41]  Gustav Andersson,et al.  Volatile compounds from the interdigital gland of reindeer (Rangifer t. tarandus L.) , 1979, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[42]  R. Mason,et al.  Pheromone Mimicry in Garter Snakes , 1986 .

[43]  E. Keverne,et al.  Neuroendocrine factors in the control of primate behavior. , 1972, Recent progress in hormone research.

[44]  G. Badger.  Aromatic Character and Aromaticity , 1969 .

[45]  Georg v. Békésy,et al.  OLFACTORY ANALOGUE TO DIRECTIONAL HEARING. , 1964 .

[46]  W H Bossert,et al.  The analysis of olfactory communication among animals. , 1963, Journal of theoretical biology.

[47]  M. Bekoff.  Ground Scratching by Male Domestic Dogs: A Composite Signal , 1979 .

[48]  A. Alberts.  Ultraviolet visual sensitivity in desert iguanas: implications for pheromone detection , 1989, Animal Behaviour.

[49]  V. E. Sokolov,et al.  [Mammalian pheromones: study of the volatile acid composition of vaginal secretions in the mink Mustela vision Briss]. , 1976, Doklady Akademii nauk SSSR.

[50]  J. Eisenberg,et al.  Throat-Rubbing in Red Howler Monkeys ( Alouatta Seniculus ) , 1983 .

[51]  H. Gerhardt,et al.  Significance of two frequency bands in long distance vocal communication in the green treefrog , 1976, Nature.

[52]  M. Halpern.  The organization and function of the vomeronasal system. , 1987, Annual review of neuroscience.

[53]  G. Preti,et al.  Perineal scent gland of wild and domestic guinea pigs , 1979, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[54]  D. Duvall,et al.  Visual and Chemical Composite Signaling Effects of Sceloporus lizard fecal boli , 1987 .

[55]  R. Mykytowycz,et al.  Individual and sex differences in the chemical composition of pheromone-like substances from the skin glands of the rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus. , 1972, Journal of mammalogy.

[56]  L. Emmons,et al.  Social organization of some trinidad bats I. Emballonuridae. , 2010, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[57]  R. B. Cowles,et al.  Olfaction in Rattlesnakes , 1958 .

[58]  R P Peters,et al.  Scent-marking in wolves. , 1975, American scientist.

[59]  F. Regnier,et al.  Identification of a Ventral Scent Marking Pheromone in the Male Mongolian Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) , 1974, Science.

[60]  W. Cooper,et al.  Lingual responces to chemical fractions of urodaeal glandular pheromone to the skink Eumeces laticeps , 1987 .

[61]  G. Schaller.  The deer and the tiger , 1967 .

[62]  R. Silverstein,et al.  Isolation, Identification and Function of the Chief Component of the Male Tarsal Scent in Black-tailed Deer , 1969, Nature.

[63]  Rasa Oa.  Marking behaviour and its social significance in the African dwarf mongoose, Helogale undulata rufula. , 1973, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[64]  R. Johnston.  Sex Pheromones in Golden Hamsters , 1977 .

[65]  P. Weldon,et al.  The gular glands of Alligator mississippiensis: histology and preliminary analysis of lipoidal secretions , 1988 .

[66]  W. Auffenberg.  Sex and Species Discrimination in Two Sympatric South American Tortoises , 1965 .

[67]  L. M. Gosling.  Mammalian Semiochemistry: the Investigation of Chemical Signals between Mammals, Eric S. Albone. John Wiley, Chichester, Sussex (1984), xii, +360. Price £29.50 , 1985 .

[68]  C. Barrette.  Scent-marking in captive muntjacs, Muntiacus reevesi , 1977, Animal Behaviour.

[69]  R. Bonsall,et al.  Chemical Signals and Primate Behavior , 1977 .

[70]  F. Ebling.  Hormonal Control of Mammalian Skin Glands , 1977 .

[71]  W. B. Quay,et al.  The caudal gland in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.): Its behavioral role, histology, and chemistry , 1977, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[72]  Charles W. Brown.  Additional Observations on the Function of the Nasolabial Grooves of Plethodontid Salamanders , 1968 .

[73]  R. Wells.  Field Observations of the Hairy-Nosed Wombat, Lasiorhinus Latifrons (Owen). , 1978 .

[74]  W Wickler,et al.  A special constraint on the evolution of composite signals. , 2010, Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie.

[75]  F. Messier,et al.  Scent-marking in free-ranging coyotes, Canis latrans , 1980, Animal Behaviour.

[76]  Roger P Johnson,et al.  Scent marking in mammals , 1973 .

[77]  R. Jaeger,et al.  Intra- and interspecific communication in salamanders through chemical signals on the substrate , 1979, Animal Behaviour.

[78]  D. Meisner.  Histology and Gross Morphology of the Sexually Dimorphic Sternal Gland in the North American Opossum, Didelphis Virginiana Kerr , 1986 .

[79]  R. Estes.  THE ROLE OF THE VOMERONASAL ORGAN IN MAMMALIAN REPRODUCTION , 1972 .

[80]  Christoffer Rappe,et al.  Volatile compounds from the tarsal scent gland of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) , 1975, Journal of Chemical Ecology.

[81]  C. Wemmer,et al.  Olfactory Aspects of Rutting Behavior in the Bactrian Camel (Camelus Bactrianus Ferus) , 1980 .

[82]  R. Jaeger.  Agonistic Behavior of the Red-backed Salamander , 1984 .

[83]  L. Pannell,et al.  Sex pheromones in snakes. , 1989, Science.

[84]  D. Duvall.  Western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) chemical signals. II. A replication with naturally breeding adults and a test of the Cowles and Phelan hypothesis of rattlesnake olfaction. , 1981, The Journal of experimental zoology.

[85]  P. Marler,et al.  Characteristics of Some Animal Calls , 1955, Nature.

[86]  B. Burger,et al.  Mammalian pheromone studies, IV*. Terpenoid Compounds and Hydroxy Esters from the Dorsal Gland of the Springbok, Antidorcas marsupialis , 1981 .

[87]  R. Mykytowycz.  Territorial marking by rabbits. , 1968, Scientific American.

[88]  M. Gorman,et al.  The Scent Marking Behaviour of the Brown Hyaena Hyaena Brunnea , 1980 .

[89]  F. Macrides,et al.  Chemical Studies of Hamster Reproductive Pheromones , 1980 .

[90]  D. Madison.  CHEMICAL COMMUNICATION IN AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES , 1977 .

[91]  E. Albone,et al.  Bacteria as a Source of Chemical Signals in Mammals , 1977 .

[92]  M. Gorman,et al.  The scent-marking behaviour of the spotted hyaena Crocuta crocuta in the southern Kalahari , 1987 .

[93]  Leo J. Fleishman,et al.  Sensory influences on physical design of a visual display , 1988, Animal Behaviour.

[94]  C. Wemmer.  Comparative ethology of the large-spotted genet (Genetta tigrina) and some related viverrids , 1977 .

[95]  M. Hornocker.  WINTER TERRITORIALITY IN MOUNTAIN LIONS , 1969 .

[96]  B. Fadem.  Chemical Communication in Gray Short-Tailed Opossums (Monodelphis Domestica) with Comparisons to other Marsupials and with Reference to Monotremes , 1986 .

[97]  P. Stevens.  American Musk. IV. On the Biological Origin of Animal Musk. Two More Large Ring Ketones from the Muskrat , 1945 .