What is "biocommunication"

n. 1 The field of medical art and illustration. 2 communication within or between species of plants, animals, fungus and bacterium, by such means as vocalizations or chemical signals. 3 The discredited theory that plants are sentient and respond to other organisms.

Biocommunication may refer to:

• Biocommunication, the field of medical art and illustration, and other allied communication modalities; see Medical illustrator
• Biocommunication (science), a term used to describe more specific types of communication within (intraspecific) or between (interspecific) species of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms
• Biocommunication (paranormal), theories of paranormal communication with plants
• The Journal of Biocommunication, a scholarly journal which provides information to the biocommunication community

In the study of the biological sciences the general term biocommunication is used to describe specific types of communication within (intraspecific) or between ( interspecific) species of plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms. Communication means sign-mediated interactions following three levels of ( syntactic, pragmatic and semantic) rules. Signs in most cases are chemical molecules (semiochemicals). Biocommunication of animals may include vocalizations (as between competing bird species), or pheromone production (as between various species of insects), chemical signals between plants and animals (as in tannin production used by vascular plants to warn away insects), and chemically mediated communication between plants and within plants. Biocommunication of fungi demonstrates that mycelia communication integrates interspecific sign-mediated interactions between fungal organisms soil bacteria and plant root cells without which plant nutrition could not be organized.