Interspecific information flow is known to affect individual fitness, population dynamics and community assembly, but there has been less study of how species diversity affects information flow and thereby ecosystem functioning and services. We address this question by first examining differences among species in the sensitivity, accuracy, transmissibility, detectability and value of the cues and signals they produce, and in how they receive, store and use information derived from heterospecifics. We then review how interspecific information flow occurs in communities, involving a diversity of species and sensory modes, and how this flow can affect ecosystem-level functions, such as decomposition, seed dispersal or algae removal on coral reefs. We highlight evidence that some keystone species are particularly critical as a source of information used by eavesdroppers, and so have a disproportionate effect on information flow. Such keystone species include community informants producing signals, particularly about predation risk, that influence other species' landscapes of fear, and aggregation initiators creating cues or signals about resources. We suggest that the presence of keystone species means that there will likely be a positive relationship in many communities between species diversity and information through a ‘sampling effect’, in which larger pools of species are more likely to include the keystone species by chance. We then consider whether the number and relative abundance of species, irrespective of the presence of keystone species, matter to interspecific information flow; on this issue, the theory is less developed, and the evidence scant and indirect. Higher diversity could increase the quantity or quality of information that is used by eavesdroppers because redundancy increases the reliability of information or because the species provide complementary information. Alternatively, there could be a lack of a relationship between species diversity and information if there is widespread information parasitism where users are not sources, or if information sourced from heterospecifics is of lower value than that gained personally or sourced from conspecifics. Recent research suggests that species diversity does have information-modulated community and ecosystem consequences, especially in birds, such as the diversity of species at feeders increasing resource exploitation, or the number of imitated species increasing responses to vocal mimics. A first step for future research includes comprehensive observations of information flow among different taxa and habitats. Then studies should investigate whether species diversity influences the cumulative quality or quantity of information at the community level, and consequently ecosystem-level processes. An applied objective is to conserve species in part for their value as sources of information for other species, including for humans.

中文翻译：

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物种多样性和种间信息流

已知种间信息流会影响个体适应性、种群动态和群落组装，但关于物种多样性如何影响信息流进而影响生态系统功能和服务的研究较少。为了解决这个问题，我们首先检查物种之间在它们产生的线索和信号的敏感性、准确性、传播性、可检测性和价值方面的差异，以及它们如何接收、存储和使用来自异种特异性的信息。然后，我们回顾了群落中种间信息流如何发生，涉及物种和感官模式的多样性，以及这种信息流如何影响生态系统层面的功能，例如珊瑚礁上的分解、种子传播或藻类清除。我们强调的证据表明，一些关键物种作为窃听者使用的信息来源特别重要，因此对信息流产生不成比例的影响。这些关键物种包括产生信号的群落信息提供者，特别是关于捕食风险的信号，影响其他物种的恐惧景观，以及创建有关资源的线索或信号的聚集发起者。我们认为，关键物种的存在意味着，在许多群落中，通过“抽样效应”，物种多样性和信息之间可能存在正向关系，其中较大的物种库更有可能偶然包含关键物种。然后，我们考虑物种的数量和相对丰度（无论是否存在关键物种）是否对种间信息流有影响；在这个问题上，理论尚不发达，证据也少且间接。更高的多样性可以增加窃听者使用的信息的数量或质量，因为冗余增加了信息的可靠性，或者因为物种提供了补充信息。或者，如果存在广泛的信息寄生现象，而用户不是来源，或者来自异种的信息的价值低于个人获得的或来自同种的信息的价值，则物种多样性和信息之间可能缺乏关系。最近的研究表明，物种多样性确实会对信息调节的群落和生态系统产生影响，尤其是在鸟类中，例如饲养者的物种多样性增加了资源开发，或者模仿物种的数量增加了对声音模仿的反应。未来研究的第一步包括对不同类群和栖息地之间的信息流进行全面观察。然后研究应该调查物种多样性是否影响群落层面信息的累积质量或数量，从而影响生态系统层面的过程。一个应用的目标是保护物种，部分原因是它们作为其他物种（包括人类）的信息来源的价值。