Abstract
AN appreciation of the background noise of the communication “channel” is crucial to our understanding of animal communication systems. Lightning1–4 is one source of naturally-occurring, non-biological electrical noise that is within the frequency range of electric communication by fish (below 20 kHz), and there may be others5. It is an important noise source because thunderstorms are especially common over South America and Africa where electric fish are found6,7, and electromagnetic waves from lightning propagate long distances according to the inverse first power of distance1. I investigated the importance of this noise during a field study of gymnotid fishes in Guyana, South America (3° 19′ N; 59° 39′ W).
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HOPKINS, C. Lightning as Background Noise for Communication among Electric Fish. Nature 242, 268–270 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/242268a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/242268a0
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