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Natural Designs
Studies in the Natural Design of Some Animal Communication Systems

Studying the design of a communication system requires examining the manner in which the elements of the system vary in relation to the circumstances both of the sender and the receiver.  The ideal study is a playback study of some sort.  In a playback study, the scientists "breaks into" the communication system by fabricating behaviors of the sender and observing the behavior of the receiver in the hope of discovering which  features of the communication are effective.  Of the thirty studies listed below, some are simple examinations of the form of communicative behavior and some are playback studies. 

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Each of the titles below links to a paper abstract.  When you get to the abstract page, clicking on the abstract will down load the paper.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1967a).  Some variables affecting the behavior of irus macaques in dyadic encounters.  Animal Behavior, 15, 307-311.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1967b).  Primate infanticide: A note and a request for information. Laboratory Primate Newsletter, 6:3, 18-19.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1968).  Counting and communication in crows. Communications in Behavioral Biology, Part A, 2, 223-225.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1969a).  Individual identification and temporal patterning in the cawing of common crows.  Communications in Behavioral Biology, Part A, 3.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1969b).  Physical properties of cawing in the common crow.  Communications in Behavioral Biology, Part A, 4, 269-271.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1969c).  Caws and affect in the communication of common crows. Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, 50, 142, (Abstract).

 

Thompson, N.S. (1969d). The motivations underlying social structure in Macaca irus.  Animal Behavior, 17, 459-467.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1969e).  Crows over the Crum.  Swarthmore College Bulletin, December, 11-13.

 

Boughey, M.J. and Thompson, N.S. (1976).  Species specificity and individual variation in the songs of the brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum) and catbird (Dumetella carolinensis).  Behavior, 57, No. 1-2, 64-90.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1977).  “Instinctive behavior” and “Ethological motivation theory.”  In B.B. Wolman and L.R. Pomeroy (Eds.), International Encyclopedia of Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology, 6, 67-68 and 4, 388-390.

 

Thompson, N.S. and Caputo, V. (1977).  The neck band of the blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata.  Inland Birdbanding News, No. 3, 49, 83-87.

 

Richards, D.B. and Thompson, N.S. (1978).  Critical properties of the assembly call of the common American crow.  Behavior, 64:3-4.

 

 

Kramer, H.G. and Thompson, N.S. (1979).  Geographic variation in the bell call of the blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata).  The Auk, 96,:2, 423-425.

 

Rappolt, G.A., John, J. and Thompson, N.S. (1979).  Canine response to familiar and unfamiliar humans.  Aggressive Behavior, 5, 155-161.

 

Thompson, N.S.  (1980). Editorial. International Corvid Newsletter, 1:1

 

Thompson, N.S. (1980).  Corvus corone; Cyanocitta cristata; and social behavior and adaptation.  International Corvid Newsletter, 1:1.

 

Boughey, M. and Thompson, N.S. (1981).  Song variety in the brown thrasher (Toxostoma rufum). Z Tierpsychol., 56, 47-58.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1982).  Editorial.  International Corvid Newsletter, 3:1.

 

Thompson, N.S. (1982).  A comparison of cawing in the European carrion crow (Corvus corone) and the American common crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos).  Behavior, 80, 106-117.

 

Bakker, A., Withrow, K.D. and Thompson, N.S. (1983). Levels of organization in the song of the bobolink. Tierpsychol., 62, 105-114.

 

Racine, R. & Thompson, N.S. (1983).  Social organization of wintering blue jays.  Behavior, 87,
237-255.

 

Mitchell, R.W. & Thompson, N.S. (1990).  The effects of familiarity on dog-human play.  Anthrozoos, IV, No. 1, 24–43

 

Moody,K., Ledoux, K. and Thompson, N.S. (1994).  A system for describing bird song units.  Bioacoustics 5, 267-279.

 

Thompson, N. S, Abbey, E., Wapner, J., Logan, C., Merritt, P., Pooth, A., & Thompson, N. S. (2000) Variation in the bout structure of northern mockingbird singing. Bird Behavior, 13, 93-98.

 

 

 


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