Animal choruses concentrate when air is calm and noise minimal

Evidence

The intensity of the signal faces attenuation with distance, and a signal that reverberates can arrive with a rate of degradation that reduces its efficiency if poorly designed. These effects are more evident if the signal has a high content of information or when such information is transmitted at a high rate. Thus, the complexity of the signals that we can observe is the result of a trade-off between the maximum possible of information that can be transmitted and all the environmental and biological constraints that limit this efficiency. Signaling behavior is under such evolutionary constraint with preferences for time and space to minimize the distortion; this is the case of animal choruses that probably are concentrated in the most favorable period of the day when the air is calm and noises are at a minimum. — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 565

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Choruses paradoxically add self-masking noise while each male seeks signal — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1648; Air absorption of high frequencies makes distant voices sound duller — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1943; Quieter atmosphere at dawn boosts acoustic transmission, favoring chorus timing. — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology: Principles,…, 1735

Broader Connections

• Choruses paradoxically add self-masking noise while each male seeks signal #qualifies (0.82) — Almo Farina, Soundscape Ecology, 1648
• Air absorption of high frequencies makes distant voices sound duller #complicates (0.72) — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1943