Communication

Description

ON THE FUTURE OF PERSPECTIVES When Patrick Bateson and Peter Klopfer offered me the editorship of Perspectives in 1992, the world of academic publishing was in one of its periodic upheavals. Subscriptions to series-even distinguished series such as Perspec­ tives-had been declining and individual volume prices had been rising, a trend that if continued could only result in the series pricing itself out of the market. In the course of the negotiations around the change of editors, the publishers offered a cost-cutting solution: change the production pattern to "camera ready" and elimi­ nate the costs of indexing and proofreading. While I could see the sense in this proposal, I was reluctant to accept it. Part of what I had always liked about the volumes in this series was that they were real books, intelligently proofread, nicely laid out, and provided with proper indexes. Thus, I in return offered a "Devil's bargain": the publisher should maintain the present quality of the series for two more volumes and make a renewed effort to advertise the series to our ethological and sociobiological colleagues, while I as the new series editor committed myself to a renewed effort to make Perspectives the publication of choice for writers who are trying to get their message out to the world intact and readers who are seeking clear, coherent, comprehensive and untrammeled presentations of authors' ideas and research programs. Front Matter....Pages i-xiv Introduction: Perspectives on Communication....Pages 1-6 The Behavior of Communicating, after Twenty Years....Pages 7-53 Conspicuousness and Diversity in Animal Signals....Pages 55-75 What is the Function of Song Learning in Songbirds?....Pages 77-97 Referential Signals....Pages 99-143 Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Advertisement Signals....Pages 145-177 Determinants of Conflict Outcomes....Pages 179-224 Incidental Emissions, Fortuitous Effects, and the Origins of Communication....Pages 225-249 Studying how Cetaceans use Sound to Explore their Environment....Pages 251-297 An Affect-Conditioning Model of Nonhuman Primate Vocal Signaling....Pages 299-346 Speech Acts and Animal Signals....Pages 347-358 The Role of Information in Communication: An Assessment/Management Approach....Pages 359-390 Communication and Natural Design....Pages 391-415 Back Matter....Pages 417-431