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Different axes of environmental variation explain the presence vs. extent of cooperative nest founding associations in Polistes paper wasps.

ABSTRACT: Ecological constraints on independent breeding are recognised as major drivers of cooperative breeding across diverse lineages. How the prevalence and degree of cooperative breeding relates to ecological variation remains unresolved. Using a large data set of cooperative nesting in Polistes wasps we demonstrate that different aspects of cooperative breeding are likely to be driven by different aspects of climate. Whether or not a species forms cooperative groups is associated with greater short-term temperature fluctuations. In contrast, the number of cooperative foundresses increases in more benign environments with warmer, wetter conditions. The same data set reveals that intraspecific responses to climate variation do not mirror genus-wide trends and instead are highly heterogeneous among species. Collectively these data suggest that the ecological drivers that lead to the origin or loss of cooperation are different from those that influence the extent of its expression within populations.

SUBMITTER: Sheehan MJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4564336 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Different axes of environmental variation explain the presence vs. extent of cooperative nest founding associations in Polistes paper wasps.

Sheehan Michael J MJ Botero Carlos A CA Hendry Tory A TA Sedio Brian E BE Jandt Jennifer M JM Weiner Susan S Toth Amy L AL Tibbetts Elizabeth A EA

Ecology letters 20150806 10

Ecological constraints on independent breeding are recognised as major drivers of cooperative breeding across diverse lineages. How the prevalence and degree of cooperative breeding relates to ecological variation remains unresolved. Using a large data set of cooperative nesting in Polistes wasps we demonstrate that different aspects of cooperative breeding are likely to be driven by different aspects of climate. Whether or not a species forms cooperative groups is associated with greater short- ...[more]

PMID: 26248800

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Project description:Understanding intraspecific geographic variation in animal signals poses a challenging evolutionary problem. Studies addressing geographic variation typically focus on signals used in mate-choice, however, geographic variation in intrasexual signals involved in competition is also known to occur. In Polistes dominulus paper wasps, females have black facial spots that signal dominance: individuals wasps with more complex 'broken' facial patterns are better fighters and are avoided by rivals. Recent work suggests there is dramatic geographic variation in these visual signals of quality, though this variation has not been explicitly described or quantified. Here, we analyze variation in P. dominulus signals across six populations and explore how environmental conditions may account for this variation. Overall, we found substantial variation in facial pattern brokenness across populations and castes. Workers have less broken facial patterns than gynes and queens, which have similar facial patterns. Strepsipteran parasitism, body size and temperature are all correlated with the facial pattern variation, suggesting that developmental plasticity likely plays a key role in this variation. First, the extent of parasitism varies across populations and parasitized individuals have lower facial pattern brokenness than unparasitized individuals. Second, there is substantial variation in body size across populations and a weak but significant relationship between facial pattern brokenness and body size. Wasps from populations with smaller body size (e.g. Italy) tend to have less broken facial patterns than wasps from populations with larger body size (e.g. New York, USA). Third, there is an apparent association between facial patterns and climate, with wasp from cooler locations tending to have higher facial pattern brokenness than wasps from warmer locations. Additional experimental work testing the causes and consequences of facial pattern variation will be important, as geographic variation in signals has important consequences for the evolution of communication systems and social behavior.

Project description:AbstractIn cooperative breeders, subordinates that have alternative reproductive options are expected to stay and help dominant breeders only as long as they contribute to group productivity, if their fitness is linked with colony success. Female Polistes dominula paper wasps live as cooperative breeders in small groups of typically fewer than 10 females. Subordinates tend to have high-quality outside options, and so could choose alternative breeding tactics if their work efforts increased productivity negligibly. In the founding stage before workers emerge, we tested the effect of various predictors on nest growth, as a proxy for group productivity, and explored the shape of the relationship between group size and nest growth. We found group size to be the only significant predictor of nest growth: variation among body sizes within the group showed no effect, suggesting a lack of size-dependent task specialization in this species. Average body size and average genetic relatedness between group members similarly showed no effects on nest growth. Group size had a non-linear effect so that per-capita benefits to nest growth decreased in larger groups, and groups of 10 or more would benefit negligibly from additional group members. Hence, females might be better off pursuing other options than joining a large group. This finding helps to explain why P. dominula groups are usually relatively small in our study population. Further studies may illuminate the mechanisms behind the smaller per-capita nest growth that we found in larger groups.Significance statementIdentifying which factors influence the productivity of animal groups is key to understanding why different species breed cooperatively in groups of varying sizes. In the paper wasp Polistes dominula, we investigated the growth rate of nests as a measure of group productivity. We found that average body size, the variation in body sizes within the group, and average genetic relatedness between group members did not affect nest growth, while group size had a strong, positive effect: nests grew faster with more group members, but the per-capita benefit decreased in larger groups. The addition of extra group members in groups of 10 or more had negligible effects on nest growth. Hence, wasps may be better off pursuing other options than joining large groups. This finding helps to explain why groups normally consist of fewer than 10 wasps in this population.

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Different axes of environmental variation explain the presence vs. extent of cooperative nest founding associations in Polistes paper wasps.

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Different axes of environmental variation explain the presence vs. extent of cooperative nest founding associations in Polistes paper wasps.

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