Unrelated helpers in a primitively eusocial wasp: is helping tailored towards direct fitness?
Leadbeater, E; Carruthers, JM; Green, JP; et al.van Heusden, J; Field, J
Date: 6 August 2010
Journal
PLoS ONE
Publisher
Public Library of Science
Publisher DOI
Abstract
The paper wasp Polistes dominulus is unique among the social insects in that nearly one-third of co-foundresses are
completely unrelated to the dominant individual whose offspring they help to rear and yet reproductive skew is high. These
unrelated subordinates stand to gain direct fitness through nest inheritance, raising the question ...
The paper wasp Polistes dominulus is unique among the social insects in that nearly one-third of co-foundresses are
completely unrelated to the dominant individual whose offspring they help to rear and yet reproductive skew is high. These
unrelated subordinates stand to gain direct fitness through nest inheritance, raising the question of whether their behaviour
is adaptively tailored towards maximizing inheritance prospects. Unusually, in this species, a wealth of theory and empirical
data allows us to predict how unrelated subordinates should behave. Based on these predictions, here we compare helping
in subordinates that are unrelated or related to the dominant wasp across an extensive range of field-based behavioural
contexts. We find no differences in foraging effort, defense behaviour, aggression or inheritance rank between unrelated
helpers and their related counterparts. Our study provides no evidence, across a number of behavioural scenarios, that the
behaviour of unrelated subordinates is adaptively modified to promote direct fitness interests.
Biosciences - old structure
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