A new conceptual and quantitative approach to exploring and defining potential open-access olfactory information.

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 l

SUBMITTER: Orlando CG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9826502 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature