In the study of the biological sciences, biocommunication is any specific type of communication within (intraspecific) or between (interspecific) species of plants, animals, fungi,Rodriguez, R.J., Roossinck, M. (2012). Viruses, Fungi and Plants: Cross-Kingdom Communication and Mutualism. In: Biocommunication of Fungi. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4264-2_14 protozoa and microorganisms.Gordon, Richard. Seckbach, Joseph (eds), (2016) Biocommunication: Sign-mediated interactions between cells and organisms. World Scientific Communication means sign-mediated interactions following three levels of rules (syntactic, pragmatic and semantic). Signs in most cases are chemical molecules (semiochemicals),Regnier, F.E. (1971) Semiochemicals - Structure and Function. Biology of Reproduction 4, 309-326 but also tactile, or as in animals also visual and auditive. Biocommunication of animals may include vocalizations (as between competing bird species), or pheromone production (as between various species of insects), chemical signals between plants and animals (as in tannin production used by vascular plants to warn away insects), and chemically mediated communication between plants and within plants.Hodge, A. (2012). Plant Root Interactions. In: Biocommunication of Plants. Springer, Berlin/Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-23524-5_9
Biocommunication of fungi demonstrates that mycelia communication integrates interspecific sign-mediated interactions between fungal organisms, soil bacteria and plant root cells without which plant nutrition could not be organized.Deveau, A., Plett, J.M., Legué, V., Frey-Klett, P., Martin, F. (2012). Communication Between Plant, Ectomycorrhizal Fungi and Helper Bacteria. In: Biocommunication of Fungi. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4264-2_15 Biocommunication of Ciliates identifies the various levels and motifs of communication in these unicellular eukaryotes.Satir, P., Satir, B.H. (2016). Intracytoplasmic Signaling from Cilia in Ciliates. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32211-7_4 Biocommunication of Archaea represents key levels of sign-mediated interactions in the evolutionarily oldest akaryotes.DeCastro, ME., Escuder-Rodríguez, JJ., Becerra, M., Rodríguez-Belmonte, E., González-Siso, MI. (2017). Archaeal Biocommunication in Hot Springs Revealed by Metagenomics. In: Biocommunication of Archaea. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-65536-9_6 Biocommunication of phages demonstrates that the most abundant living agents on this planet coordinate and organize by sign-mediated interactions.Abedon, S.T. (2020). Phage-Phage, Phage-Bacteria, and Phage-Environment Communication. In: Biocommunication of Phages. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45885-0_2 Biocommunication is the essential tool to coordinate behavior of various cell types of immune systems.Rieckmann JC, Geiger R, Hornburg D, Wolf T, Kveler K, Jarrossay D, Sallusto F, Shen-Orr SS, Lanzavecchia A, Mann M, Meissner F. 2017. Social network architecture of human immune cells unveiled by quantitative proteomics. Nat Immunol. 18(5):583-593.
Biocommunication, biosemiotics and linguistics Biocommunication theory may be considered to be a branch of biosemiotics. Whereas biosemiotics studies the production and interpretation of signs and codes, biocommunication theory investigates concrete interactions in and between cells, tissues, organs and organismus mediated by signs. Accordingly, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of biocommunication processes are distinguished. Biocommunication specific to animals (animal communication) is considered a branch of zoosemiotics.Sebeok, Thomas (ed.) 1977. How Animals Communicate. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. The semiotic study of molecular genetics can be considered a study of biocommunication at its most basic level.
Interpretation of abiotic indices
Interpreting stimuli from the environment is an essential part of life for any organism.Moirta, M.T., Nakamura, M., Tasaka, M. (2012). Gravity Sensing, Interpretation, and Response. In: Biocommunication of Plants. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg Abiotic things that an organism must interpret include climate (weather, temperature, rainfall), geology (rocks, soil type), and geography (location of vegetation communities, exposure to elements, location of food and water sources relative to shelter sites).Caduto, M. & Bruchac, J. (1988). Keepers of the earth: Native American stories and environmental activities for children. Golden, CO: Fulcrum.
Birds, for example, migrate using cues such as the approaching weather or seasonal day length cues. Birds also migrate from areas of low or decreasing resources to areas of high or increasing resources, most commonly food or nesting locations. Birds that nest in the Northern Hemisphere tend to migrate north in the spring due to the increase in insect population, budding plants and the abundance of nesting locations. During the winter birds will migrate south to not only escape the cold, but find a sustainable food source.Keyes, R. (1982). Sharks: An Unusual Example of Cleaning Symbiosis. Copeia, 1982(1), 225-227.
Some plants will bloom and attempt to reproduce when they sense days getting shorter. If they cannot fertilize before the seasons change and they die then they do not pass on their genes. Their ability to recognize a change in abiotic factors allow them to ensure reproduction.Tafforeau M, Verdus MC, Norris V, Ripoll C, Thellier M. Memory processes in the response of plants to environmental signals. Plant Signal Behav. 2006 Jan;1(1):9-14. doi: 10.4161/psb.1.1.2164.
Trans-organismic communication
Trans-organismic communication is when organisms of different species interact. In biology the relationships formed between different species is known as symbiosis. These relationships come in two main forms - mutualistic and parasitic. Mutualistic relationships are when both species benefit from their interactions. For example, pilot fish gather around sharks, rays, and sea turtles to eat various parasites from the surface of the larger organism. The fish obtain food from following the sharks, and the sharks receive a cleaning in return.Wheatcroft, D., Price, T., & Wheatcroft, D. (2013). Learning and signal copying facilitate communication among bird species. Proceedings. Biological Sciences, 280(1757), 20123070–20123070.
Parasitic relationships are where one organism benefits off of the other organism at a cost. For example, in order for mistletoe to grow it must leach water and nutrients from a tree or shrub.
Communication between species is not limited to securing sustenance. Many flowers rely on bees to spread their pollen and facilitate floral reproduction. To allow this, many flowers evolved bright, attractive petals and sweet nectar to attract bees. In a 2010 study, researchers at the University of Buenos Aires examined a possible relationship between fluorescence and attraction. The study concluded that reflected light was much more important in pollinator attraction than fluorescence.Iriel, A., Lagorio, M.G. Is the flower fluorescence relevant in biocommunication?. Naturwissenschaften97, 915–924 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-010-0709-4
Communicating with other species allows organisms to form relationships that are advantageous in survival, and all of these relationships are all based on some form of trans-organismic communication.
Inter-organismic communication
Inter-organismic communication is communication between organisms of the same species like bacteriaDessaux, Y., Chapelle, E., Faure, D. (2011). Quorum Sensing and Quorum Quenching in Soil Ecosystems. In: Biocommunication in Soil Microorganisms. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. (conspecifics). Inter-organismic communication includes human speech, which is key to maintaining social structures.
Dolphins communicate with one another in a number of ways by creating sounds, making physical contact with one another and through the use of body language. Dolphins communicate vocally through clicking sounds and pitches of whistling specific to only one individual.Sayigh, L.S. (2014). Cetacean Acoustic Communication. In: Biocommunication of Animals. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 275. The whistling helps communicate the individual's location to other dolphins. For example, if a mother loses sight of her offspring, or when two familiar individuals cannot find each other, their individual pitches help navigate back into a group. Body language can be used to indicate numerous things such as a nearby predator, to indicate to others that food has been found, and to demonstrate their level of attractiveness in order to find a mating partner, and even more.How Do Dolphins Communicate? Whale Facts. 2015 Jul 11 [accessed 2020 Apr 3]. https://www.whalefacts.org/how-do-dolphins-communicate/
However, mammals such as dolphins and humans are not alone communicating within their own species. Peacocks can fan their feathers in order to communicate a territorial warning. Bees can tell other bees when they have found nectar by performing a dance when they return to the hive. Karl von Frisch received the Nobel prize for deciphering bee communication in 1973.von Frisch, K. (1954). The Language of Bees. In: The Dancing Bees. Springer, Vienna. Deer may flick their tails to warn others in their trail that danger is approaching.How Do Animals Communicate? Wonderopolis. [accessed 2020 Apr 3]. https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-animals-communicate
Sexual communication
Sexual communication is the use of biocommunication signals to facilitate sexual interaction. Sexual communication appears to have three different aspects. (1) First, signals are employed to facilitate sexual interaction between individuals. (2) Second, signals are used to facilitate outbreeding and reduce inbreeding. (3) Third, signals are used to facilitate sexual selection among potential mates. It was proposed that these three aspects of sexual communication respectively promote the repair of DNA damage in the genomes passed on to progeny, the masking of mutations in the genomes of progeny, and selection for genetic fitness in a mating partner. Examples of sexual communication have been described in bacteria, fungi,Polaino, S., Idnurm, A. (2012). Sexual Pheromones in the Fungi. In: Biocommunication of Fungi. Springer, Dordrecht. protozoa, insects, plants and vertebrates.
Intra-organismic communication
Intra-organismic communication is not solely the passage of information within an organism, but also concrete interaction between and within cells of an organism, mediated by signs. This could be on a cellular and molecular level. An organism's ability to interpret its own biotic information is extremely important. If the organism is injured, falls ill, or must respond to danger, it needs to be able to process that physiological information and adjust its behavior.
For example, when the human body starts to overheat, specialized glands release sweat, which absorbs the heat and then evaporates.
This communication is imperative to survival in many species including plant life. Plants lack a central nervous system so they rely on a decentralized system of chemical messengers. This allows them to grow in response to factors such as wind, light and plant architecture. Using these chemical messengers, they can react to the environment and assess the best growth pattern.Witzany, Günther. (2006). Plant communication from biosemiotic perspective: Differences in abiotic and biotic signal perception determine content arrangement of response behavior. context determines meaning of meta-, inter- and intraorganismic plant signaling. Plant Signaling and Behavior, 1(4), 169–178. https://doi.org/10.4161/psb.1.4.3163 Essentially, plants grow to optimize their metabolic efficiency.