In this communicative issue:
· Birds run a highly effective Neighbourhood Watch system by eavesdropping on each other’s alarm calls.
· Recent research on insects highlights just how much can be achieved by tiny brains.
· Some of the forest’s tiniest and most diverse inhabitants – mites – render a mighty service to trees.
· An unusual shark mimics sea snakes when young and can reproduce without sex.
· We should learn from losses – ecologists conduct an inquest into three recent extinctions.