The energetic basis of acoustic communication
Open accessAbstract
Animals produce a tremendous diversity of sounds for communication to perform life's basic functions, from courtship and parental care to defence and foraging. Explaining this diversity in sound production is important for understanding the ecology, evolution and behaviour of species. Here, we present a theory of acoustic communication that shows that much of the heterogeneity in animal vocal signals can be explained based on the energetic constraints of sound production. The models presented here yield quantitative predictions on key features of acoustic signals, including the frequency, power and duration of signals. Predictions are supported with data from nearly 500 diverse species (e.g. insects, fishes, reptiles, amphibians, birds and mammals). These results indicate that, for all species, acoustic communication is primarily controlled by individual metabolism such that call features vary predictably with body size and temperature. These results also provide insights regarding the common energetic and neuromuscular constraints on sound production, and the ecological and evolutionary consequences of producing these sounds.
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The design of acoustic communication reflects energetic costs, body-size constraints, and sensory limitations, and sexual selection can drive signal divergence and speciation.
“Its design reflects energetic costs, body-size constraints, and sensory limitations, and sexual selection can even drive signal divergence and speciation”
From Listening forward: emerging roles of bioacoustics in ecology, evolution, and conservation (2026) · cites this paper as Gillooly and Ophir 2010
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- Authors
- Gillooly, J. F., & Ophir, A. G.
- Affiliations
- University of Florida (US)
- Oklahoma State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Gillooly, James F.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- Publisher
- The Royal Society
- Published
- 2010-01-06
- Volume
- 277
- Issue
- 1686
- Pages
- 1325-1331
- ISSN
- 0080-4649 (ISSN-L)
- 0962-8452
- 1471-2954
- PMC
- PMC2871947
- OpenAlex
- W2138822331
- Cited by
- 183
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 12 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 13 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 7.92
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology › Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Animal Behavior and Reproduction
- Keywords
- acoustic communication, energetic constraints, sound production, metabolism, body size scaling, temperature effects, signal frequency, signal power, signal duration
- MeSH terms
- Acoustics, Amphibians, Animals, Animal Communication, Auditory Perception, Behavior, Animal, Birds, Crustacea, Fishes, Insecta, Mammals, Models, Biological, Reptiles, Vocalization, Animal
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