Title: | A new conceptual and quantitative approach to exploring and defining potential open-access olfactory information |
Author(s): | Orlando CG; Possell M; Price C; Banks PB; Mercorelli L; McArthur C; |
Address: | "School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia. The Sydney Informatics Hub, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1469-8137 (Electronic) 0028-646X (Print) 0028-646X (Linking) |
Abstract: | "All organisms emit odour, providing 'open-access' olfactory information for any receiver with the right sensory apparatus. Characterizing open-access information emitted by groups of organisms, such as plant species, provides the means to answer significant questions about ecological interactions and their evolution. We present a new conceptual framework defining information reliability and a practical method to characterize and recover information from amongst olfactory noise. We quantified odour emissions from two tree species, one focal group and one outgroup, to demonstrate our approach using two new R statistical functions. We explore the consequences of relaxing or tightening criteria defining information and, from thousands of odour combinations, we identify and quantify those few likely to be informative. Our method uses core general principles characterizing information while incorporating knowledge of how receivers detect and discriminate odours. We can now map information in consistency-precision reliability space, explore the concept of information, and test information-noise boundaries, and between cues and signals" |
Keywords: | *Odorants *Plants/chemistry Reproducibility of Results Trees/chemistry cue ecological interactions information recovery signal volatile organic compounds; |
Notes: | "MedlineOrlando, Cristian Gabriel Possell, Malcolm Price, Catherine Banks, Peter B Mercorelli, Louis McArthur, Clare eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2022/08/18 New Phytol. 2022 Nov; 236(4):1605-1619. doi: 10.1111/nph.18432. Epub 2022 Sep 13" |