Radio-Tagging Technology Reveals Extreme Nest-Drifting Behavior in a Eusocial Insect

Abstract

Kin-selection theory underlies our basic understanding of social evolution [1, 2]. Nest drifting in eusocial insects (where workers move between nests) presents a challenge to this paradigm, since a worker should remain as a helper on her natal colony, rather than visit other colonies to which she is less closely related. Here we reveal nest drifting as a strategy by which workers may maximize their indirect fitness by helping on several related nests, preferring those where the marginal return from their help is greatest. By using a novel monitoring technique, radio frequency identification (RFID) tagging, we provide the first accurate estimate of drifting in a eusocial insect: 56% of females drifted in a natural population of the eusocial paper wasp Polistes canadensis, exceeding previous records of drifting in natural populations by more than 30-fold. We demonstrate that drifting cannot be explained through social parasitism, queen succession, mistakes in nest identity, or methodological bias. Instead, workers appear to gain indirect fitness benefits by helping on several related colonies in a viscous population structure. The potential importance of this strategy as a component of the kin-selected benefits for a social insect worker has previously been overlooked because of methodological difficulties in quantifying and studying drifting.

Go High or Go Low? Adaptive Evolution of High and Low Relatedness Societies in Social Hymenoptera

“…distinguishable from unicoloniality in ants (e.g., 42% of workers in A. mellifera nests are aliens; Pfeiffer and Crailsheim, 1998, 59% of marked workers in B. terrestris at least visit a foreign nest; Blacher et al, 2013, and 56% of female Polistes canadensis drift; Sumner et al, 2007). Overall, one evolutionary pathway to unicoloniality may be as simple as strong selection through social heterosis for high levels of drifting.…”

“…Therefore, a third explanation for drifting would be that drifters can increase their fitness without directly reproducing. In P. canadensis drifting females often join nearby nests with genetic relatives and therefore gain indirect fitness (Sumner et al, 2007). Clearly, drifting also increases the genetic diversity in the workforce population and this can through social heterosis positively affect a variety of group-level characters Fewell, 2007, 2008).…”

Long live the wasp: adult longevity in captive colonies of the eusocial paper wasp Polistes canadensis (L.)

“…We predict the same 67 patterns will occur, as in the highly eusocial species, since workers emerging early in the colony cycle 68 are subject to low worker:larvae ratio and therefore low quality nutrition. Conversely, those 69 emerging late in the colony cycle experience high worker:larvae ratio and thus high quality nutrition 70 (Sumner et al, 2007 Yan et al, 2014). If group effects are important, we predict that variation in 77 longevity will be greater between groups than within groups, even in the face of group size variation.…”

Getting to the start line: how bumblebees and honeybees are visually guided towards their first floral contact

“…A metallic identification tag is glued to the thorax (see Fig. 2) and detected by a reader placed at strategic locations (Streit et al, 2003;Sumner et al, 2007;Ohashi et al, 2010;Stelzer and Chittka, 2010;Decourtye et al, 2011;Silcox et al, 2011;Nachev et al, 2012;Katzenberger et al, 2013). We have recently adapted the technology to detect flower-naïve bumblebees exploring unrewarding flowers (Orbán and Plowright, 2013).…”