Lost in translation: adaptation of mating signals in changing environments

Competition for mates is often intense and the ability of an individual to attract a mate is highly dependent on the traits that enable an animal to compete and communicate effectively with conspecifics. The animal’s sensory system must be tuned to receive and process specific information and such information must be relayed clearly and efficiently. Signalling individuals must also assess their environment in order to produce a suitable signal, and possess the apparatus required to produce this signal. Traits that provide such signalling opportunities do so provided that the signalling behaviour or trait, sensory reception and surrounding environment facilitate both transmission and reception. If the surrounding environment is altered in any way, then this can compromise either signal transmission or reception or both, so communication is likely to break down. It is therefore important, and often essential, that animals have a plastic response to such changes in order to attract mates, avoid predation and find food resource in changing environmental conditions. Three ‘critical signalling factors’, signal (behaviour/trait), response (signal-induced behavioural response) and sensory systems should co-evolve to ensure reliable communication. This review discusses the interaction of sensory ecology and the environment in shaping signalling and decision-making within mating systems.