Climatic correlates of temporal demographic variation in the tropical hover wasp Liostenogaster flavolineata

Abstract

Environmental factors, and particularly climate, play an important role in influencing behaviour in many insects. In social species, climate is known to have a strong influence on social traits, but how this manifests itself in tropical ecosystems is poorly understood. In Peninsular Malaysia, the climate is characterised by relatively consistent annual temperatures with wet/dry cycles, and the tropical hover-wasp Liostenogaster flavolineata Cameron is active year-round. Newly emerged females can choose to remain at the natal nest and help, or disperse and found their own nest depending on a balance of ecological and demographic factors. We collated long-term adult and brood census data for populations of L. flavolineata in Peninsular Malaysia in three different years to investigate temporal variation in demographics (brood and adult numbers) and how this might be related to climatic factors. Our data indicate that there are multiple, temporally distinct peaks of brood production in this population. The number of newly eclosing females and number of mature brood were positively associated with temperature and negatively associated with the number of rain-days during the observation period.Furthermore, larger females were produced during the peaks of brood production. We speculate how these patterns may influence the staying or leaving decisions of newly emerged females in a primitively eusocial species such as L. flavolineata.

High indirect fitness benefits for helpers across the nesting cycle in the tropical paper waspPolistes canadensis

“…Polistes is thought to have originated in the tropics (Carpenter, 1996;Santos, Payne, Pickett, & Carpenter, 2015), and two-thirds of species in this genus are tropical (West-Eberhard, 1969). The impact of climate and environmental variation on sociality has recently been noted in cooperatively breeding birds, bees and wasps (Cockburn & Russell, 2011;Cronin, Bridge, & Field, 2011;Field, Paxton, Soro, & Bridge, 2010;Fucini, Bona, Mola, Piccaluga, & Lorenzi, 2009;Jetz & Rubenstein, 2011;Richards, 2000;Sheehan et al, 2015). However, we lack detailed analyses of the genetic structure and fitness strategies employed in Polistes species across latitudinal gradients, especially for the foundress period and for tropical species (see summary in Appendix S1).…”

Use of Fruit Juice as a Method for the Collection of Social Wasps

“…The positive correlation between rainfall and social wasp abundance, but not with richness of these insects, may be explained by the high foraging activity of some species of this group during the rainy periods (Tryjanowski et al 2010). The positive correlations between temperature and social wasp richness and abundance indicate an increase in the number of workers foraging, possibly due to greater water need (Cronin et al 2011). Mischocyttarus sp., the most collected species, has great adaptative capacity to anthropogenic environments.…”

“…Agelaia vicina, the second most frequently collected species, has large colonies and exploits resources in different vegetation types (De Oliveira et al 2010). The greater social wasp diversity in the rainy season is due to higher plant biomass and nesting places with food supply, such as nectar and prey (Auad et al 2010;Cronin et al 2011). The positive correlation between rainfall and social wasp abundance, but not with richness of these insects, may be explained by the high foraging activity of some species of this group during the rainy periods (Tryjanowski et al 2010).…”