Signal Field Theory in Ecological Semiotics

The theory that we are about to illustrate furnishes an explanation of the animals" inter population and among species communication phenomena. We shall deal with small predator mammals that live naturally near the city of Samara (Russia, the Volga Region), such as the red fox, the pine marten, the ermine (short-tailed weasel) and the least weasel. Latin names are Vulpes vulpes (L.), Martes martes (L.), Mustela erminea (L.) and Mustela nivalis (L.). Studies of information transfer in populations make it possible to come to some conclusions about the mechanisms of sign processes for the abovementioned animals. We have researched some integration processes in small predatory solitary living mammals. We have been interested in the nature of animal communication based on information received by them through their habitat characteristics without any direct visual contacts with their kind. To formulate these theoretical statements we have conducted many field observations and applied some original author"s techniques. There are a number of works devoted to animal sign interaction nowadays in biosemiotics, sociobio logy, and ethology. This interaction in the situation of spontaneous contact may be represented by a dialogue or some directed information translation. Additionally, many animal species that lead solitary lives live and interact through their information environment. While directly contacting, animals transfer some significant information about their own state, their environment, they may establish a contact with their partners deliberately and expect their response. More often in nature we witness a situation when some information exchange among the individuals inhabiting the same or adjacent territories takes place without any communicative intention of the information sender. An animal in the course of its natural life activity changes its habitat. Later on an addressee who, in its turn, is changing the environment in some way and leaving his life activity information for the visitors to come "reads" this information. So the outer environment accumulates the information of animals" life activity and can