A snapshot of known animal communication via the vibration channel

When a new field, or sub‐discipline, first emerges in the scientific arena, terminology is often borrowed from mostly compatible and closely related fields, or those fields from which the new one is emerging. Jargon is employed within the new field when the established vocabulary fails. A point is reached when the best interest of communication with those outside the new field requires development of a new vocabulary, or at least a specific redefinition of broadly used terms, so that the new field can continue to develop and fill its own niche. Animals from fiddler crabs to elephants communicate via the vibration channel. In fact, when researchers have suspected substrate borne signaling, it has almost always been confirmed. In this presentation, I will provide examples from the literature of animals across taxa that are known to communicate in this way, and the contexts within which signals are sent and received. Further, I will pose questions (with few answers) concerning selection for use of the channe...