Scaling and vibrational signals: potential semantic elements in termites
Abstract
raw data for a forthcoming publication related to termite communications. Abstract as follows: Semantics, or the exchange of meaning in communications, is an essential characteristic of human language that is also present in other species such as monkeys or squirrels and in social insects such as bees. Here we report experiments suggesting that vibrational signals of termites encode different responses in front of different stimuli, complying with the elementary blocks of semantic communication. Moreover, we show that the energy statistics of these signals are power-law distributed rather than stochastic, suggesting intriguingly a more complex structure of the temporal vibrational patterns.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Insect and Arachnid Ecology and Behavior
Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior
Language and cultural evolution
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Harvard Dataverse
- Publication date
- 16 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Dataset