Spatial and temporal variation in vibroscape composition in two grassland habitats.

Substrate-borne vibrational signaling is one of the oldest and taxonomically widespread forms of animal communication. For many animals the natural vibrational environment (vibroscape) is an essential source of information underlying their behavioral decisions; however, the structure and dynamics of vibroscape composition of the natural habitats are largely unexplored. We studied vibroscape composition in a eutrophic lowland hay meadow and a sub-Mediterranean dry karst grassland. The results obtained by simultaneous, multi-channel recordings showed that vibroscape composition changes throughout the day and from day to day, differs between plant species, depends on the spatial position of the plant within the habitat and is also influenced by environmental parameters. The results highlight the unpredictability and high variability of the vibrational environment encountered by plant-dwelling insects, and the complexity in implementing biodiversity monitoring based on vibroscape composition.