In the study of the biological sciences the general term biocommunication is used to describe more specific types of communication within (intraspecific) or between (interspecific) species of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria. Communication means sign-mediated interactions following syntactic, pragmatic and semantic rules. Signs in most cases are chemical molecules (semiochemicals). Biocommunication of animals may include mechanisms as vocalizations (as between competing bird species), pheromone production (as between various species of insects),[1] chemical signals between plants and animals (as in tannin production used by vascular plants to warn away insects), and chemically mediated communication between plants[2][3] and within plants.
In the study of linguistics, abstract biocommunication theory may be considered to be a form of biosemiotics, and a subdiscipline of semiotic theory. Accordingly, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic aspects of biocommunication processes are distinguished.[4] Biocommunication specific to animals (animal communication) is considered a branch of zoosemiotics.[5] The semiotic study of molecular genetics, can be considered a study of biocommunication at its most basic level.[6]
The scientific study of biocommunication as a subfield of semiotics has been introduced by Charles W. Morris and Thomas A. Sebeok, and currently developed by the International Society for Biosemiotic Studies although they never used the term biocommunication.