VU Research Portal Information Transfer in a Complex and Noisy World Velilla Perdomo, E. 2020 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) Velilla Perdomo, E. (2020). Information Transfer in a Complex and Noisy World: A study through the lens of organisms using vibrational signals and cues. 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Oct. 2021 Information Transfer in a Complex & Noisy World A study through the lens of organisms using vibrational signals & cues Estefania Velilla 1 Information Transfer in a Complex and Noisy World A study through the lens of organisms using vibrational signals and cues 2 This thesis should be cited as: Velilla, E. (2020) Information Transfer in a Complex and Noisy World: A study through the lens of organisms using vibrational signals and cues. PhD thesis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. ISBN: 978-94-6416-078-9 Cover and layout: Studio Migle, www.studiomigle.com Illustrations: Studio Migle (p. 20, 36, 60, 72, 88) Printed by: Ridderprint BV, www.ridderprint.nl Copyright © 2020 by E. Velilla ([email protected]) 3 VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT Information Transfer in a Complex and Noisy World A study through the lens of organisms using vibrational signals and cues ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad Doctor aan de Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, op gezag van de rector magnificus prof.dr. V. Subramaniam, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van de promotiecommissie van de Faculteit der Bètawetenschappen op donderdag 15 oktober 2020 om 9.45uur in de aula van de universiteit, De Boelelaan 1105 door Estefania Velilla Perdomo geboren te Bogotá, Colombia 4 promotor: prof.dr. J. Ellers copromotor: dr. W. Halfwerk 5 Contents glossary 7 chapter 1 General Introduction 9 chapter 2 Gone with the wind: is signal timing in a 18 Neotropical katydid an adaptive response to variation in wind-induced vibratory noise? chapter 3 Variation in plant leaf traits affects 34 transmission and possibly detectability of herbivore vibrational cues chapter 4 The effect of vibrational noise on a 58 parasitoid-host interaction chapter 5 Vibrational noise from wind energy-turbines 70 negatively impacts earthworm abundance chapter 6 Effect of anthropogenic vibratory noise on 86 plant development and herbivory chapter 7 Summary and general discussion 101 References 113 Authors affiliation and addresses 141 List of publications 145 Summary (en) 147 Samenvatting (nl) 150 Acknowledgements 154 6 Glossary Bioacoustics Cross-disciplinary science that combines biology and acoustics. Usually refers to the investigation of sound production, transmission and perception in organisms Biotremology The study of production, transmission and perception of mechanical vibrations by organisms, and their effect on behavior Cross-modal The process in which stimuli from one sensory modal- interference ity can affect the detection and processing of stimuli of another sensory modality Cue A phenotypic trait that can be detected by a perceptual system, but has not been selected to induce a behavioral or physiological change in a receiver Distraction A perceptual process during which noise reduces the detectability and discriminability of a signal or cue via an overload of an animal’s cognitive processing capacity Information Knowledge obtained from biotic or abiotic stimuli Masking A perceptual process during which noise reduces the detectability and discriminability of a signal or cue via a reduction in signal-to-noise ratio 7 glossary Noise Environmental stimuli that interfere with the detection and processing of signals and cues Signal A phenotypic trait that can be detected by a perceptual system and has specifically evolved to induce a behavioral or physiological change in a receiver Signal-to-noise ratio Difference in intensity of a signal or cue relative to the background noise Tremulatory signal Type of vibrational signal. It can be described as a trem- bling, shaking, sometimes jerking body motion that intro- duces substrate-borne vibrations into the plants on which the animals are perched 8 chapter 1 General Introduction The environment is teeming with valuable information on which animals rely to make box 1.1 important decisions such as, where to find a The information transfer chain mate, or a prey, or when to avoid a predator (Dominoni et al. 2020). The reproductive The information transfer chain refers success and survival of animals, therefore to the process involving the produc- depends to a great extent on their ability tion of a stimulus that serves as infor- to extract relevant information from their mation (e.g. a pheromone mating environment (McNamara and Dall 2009; signal or vibrations in a plant induced Dominoni et al. 2020). Environments vary by herbivores chewing), its transmis- in their habitat complexity and in back- sion through a medium and, finally ground noise levels, of which both can affect its perception by a receiver. There are, the different stages of the information trans- thus, three stages in the information fer chain (Brumm and Slabbekoorn 2005, transfer chain: the production, trans- Box 1.1, Fig. 1.1). While there has been mission and perception of informa- extensive research on the effects of noise tion (Bradbury and Vehrencamp and environmental variation on information 1998). transfer for the acoustic domain, much less is known about these effects in the vibrational modality. 9 chapter 1 FACTORS AFFECTING THE INFORMATION TRANSFER CHAIN CONSEQUENCES Noise Reproductive Production Transmission Perception Survival success Environmental Fitness variation fig. 1.1 Factors affecting the production, transmission and perception of signals and cues and its conse- quences. Noise can affect both the production and the perception of information, and environmental variation can affect its transmission. Failure to perceive (extract) the relevant information can lead to lower reproductive success and survival, which can ultimately affect fitness. Depending on the context (e.g. mating versus predator-prey interactions), fitness can be negatively or positively impacted, as indicated by the red and green arrow in the fitness box, under consequences. The cases of increased fitness refer to predators/parasitoids whose cues are less easily perceived by their prey/hosts, increasing their chances of predation/parasitism. In those cases, the producer’s fitness increases and the receiver’s fitness decreases (Dominoni et al. 2020). box 1.2 Sound versus vibrations Sound (acoustic waves) propagates gate perpendicular to the direction longitudinally in the form of compres- or surface of the substrate through sion waves through a medium like which they are traveling (Hill 2014). air or water, or as transverse waves In contrast to airborne sounds, in in solids. In a longitudinal wave, the which all frequency components particle displacement is parallel to the travel with the same velocity, in bend- direction of wave propagation, and ing waves, high frequencies propa- in a transverse wave, the oscillations gate faster than low frequencies. As are perpendicular to the direction of a result, vibrational (bending) waves the wave. Substrate-borne vibrations, can change shape and duration when on the other hand, are mostly either they travel. Therefore, the strategies Rayleigh waves (through the earth) or used by animals relying on acoustic bending waves (in plants) (Hill 2014). versus vibrational information will Both of these types of waves propa- differ (Michelsen 2014). 10 chapter 1 The vibrational modality information across a wide range of contexts, including mating (e.g. Morris et al. 1994; Vibrational and acoustic communication Rodriguez 1999; Čokl et al. 2007; Bagwell were once considered part of the same et al. 2008; Mazzoni et al. 2009; Rodrí- scientific discipline, ‘bioacoustics’ (Hill et guez et al. 2015; Xiao et al. 2015), group al. 2019). However, vibrational and acous- communication (e.g. Faeth 1989; Cocroft tic waves have important mechanical and 1999, 2001; O’Connell-Rodwell et al. 2001; propagation differences (Box 1.2) that have Fletcher 2007), predator-prey dynamics (e.g. eventually led to the establishment of a new Warkentin 2005; Catania 2008; Halfwerk field dedicated solely to study of vibrational et al. 2014) and parasitoid-host interactions information, ‘biotremology’. In this section (e.g. Casas et al. 1998; Meyhofer and Casas I provide an introduction to the vibrational 1999; Broad and Quicke 2000; Djemai et modality. al. 2001). ‘Vibrational signal’ is often used as an The use of vibrational signals and cues umbrella term to refer to different kinds of is most prominent in animals living