Exploding the Dyad: Animal Communication in Multiple Dimensions

Animal communication behaviors are complex, dynamic, conspicuous, and often critically important for individual fitness as well as sociality. For these reasons, animal communication has been of interest to evolutionary biologists from the very beginnings of the field. Recent work has uncovered multidimensionality and increased complexity in every portion of the model, facilitated by foundational work and new technologies. We reexamine the classic sender–receiver model of animal communication in light of recent studies to understand how each part of the model—the signal, sender, receiver, medium, and noise—has become multidimensional. We frame much of our discussion around progress made since several past landmark reviews, highlighting areas of growth and suggesting some future directions.