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Perspectives on Chemical Signals Conveying Information in Rodents

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Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 14

Abstract

Social cues must be detectable by receivers or bystanders before they can respond to the information contained in the cue. Information about conspecifics and heterospecifics can be extracted from social cues. At that point, the information in the cue becomes a fact and the cue becomes a signal. Chemical signals, such as scent marks, provide accurate information that can be used by conspecifics in sexual and social contexts. Scent marks of many conspecifics distributed in an area may be akin to a chemical bulletin board that provides information about the identity of senders and how recently they were in that area. These scent marks deposited by senders can provide both private and public information to receivers. The manner in which receivers use this information to make decisions will depend on the context and manner in which it encounters these scent marks. Thus, a learned rule of thumb that will allow the animal to respond in a predictable way to a scent mark and when to scent mark would not suffice. The sender and the receiver must identify the phenotype and genotype of their counterparts, recollect interactions with them, be aware of their own condition and the context of the communication. Higher level cognitive processing would likely be required for receivers and senders to make potentially informed decisions that reflect tradeoffs in their survival and fitness.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Adam C. Ferkin, Drs. Javier delBarco-Trillo, Christina D. Buesching, and Lyndsey Pierson, and two anonymous reviewers for reading earlier versions of this manuscript. The writing of this manuscript was supported by funds from the Jack H. Morris Distinguished Professorship.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Memphis, Ellington Hall, Memphis, TN, 38152, USA

    Michael H. Ferkin

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  1. Michael H. Ferkin
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Correspondence to Michael H. Ferkin .

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  1. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK

    Christina D. Buesching

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Ferkin, M.H. (2019). Perspectives on Chemical Signals Conveying Information in Rodents. In: Buesching, C. (eds) Chemical Signals in Vertebrates 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-17616-7_1

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