Forager Load Size Correlations with Colony Size in a Neotropical Wasp, Polybia occidentalis
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Authors
Moon, Miranda J.
Issue Date
1998
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
Polybia occidentalis has proven to be an excellent wasp species to work with in developing a
deeper understanding of sociality. A good example of emergent behavior in wasps is nest construction, and
today much is known about roles and specialization of workers and how they regulate themselves to meet
the changing demands of the colony. As P. occidentalis is a swarm founder, colonies can be observed as
they build a new nest. Species-specific colony sizes vary significantly among the Hymenoptera and we
ultimately want to know the reason for this variation. It has been found that per capita productivity (eggs,
larvae, and pupae per adult female) increases with colony size in P. occidentalis. Various hypotheses have
been offered for this phenomenon and are in the process of being investigated. One of these hypotheses
was tested in the present study: individual foragers from large colonies bring larger loads back to the nest
than do foragers from small colonies. Pulp loads were collected and weighed and nectar loads were
measured from colonies of P. occidentalis with sizes ranging from 60 wasps to 2,294 wasps. No
correlation was found between pulp load size and colony size, but nectar load size did seem to increase
with colony size. Foragers were also collected, dried, and weighed, and a negative relationship was
discovered when comparing load size with forager weight for both pulp and nectar. Additional
investigations on work rates of nest construction workers and studies of related topics are currently
underway and will be valuable in developing a deeper understanding of sociality in wasps and the evolution
of sociality in other organisms .
Description
vi, 32 p.
Citation
Publisher
Kalamazoo College
License
U.S. copyright laws protect this material. Commercial use or distribution of this material is not permitted without prior written permission of the copyright holder.