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Dissertation
Pre- and post-emergent effects on caste: a test of caste determination and flexibility in an independent-founding paper wasp (Mischocyttarus pallidipectus)
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
Dec 2021
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00000903
Abstract
Long fascinated and puzzled researchers, eusociality and the evolutionary mechanisms selecting for and maintaining it are most easily observed within insect societies. In eusocial paper wasps, reproduction is limited to a small subset of females while the remainder forage and feed and care for the offspring. Some hypotheses in the field predict that female reproductive status is shaped by nutrition specifically ingested during larval development, while others predict that wasps emerge as adults with an equal opportunity to develop ovaries in adulthood, depending on their social position and nutrition acquisition within the colony. The goal of my work is to untangle the mechanisms maintaining reproductive caste within a primitively eusocial paper wasp species. Using social network analysis and stable isotope analysis, I found that aggressive female wasps were significantly enriched in nitrogen and spent more time on the nest than subordinate females (and were more likely to have developed ovaries), likely increasing their ability to store the nutrients necessary for building costly reproductive tissue in adulthood. Aggressive and reproductively developed females were also slightly larger in body size, although wing length was distributed normally across reproductive development, indicating that pre-adult body size is not the only factor affecting caste development. Finally, I found evidence that queens status is communicated to nestmates via cuticular hydrocarbons, providing further evidence that nestmate identification (essential to adult dominance interactions) is necessary for caste determination in this species. Taken together, it is likely that caste is shaped by both developmental and adult-stage factors, and further research is necessary in order to fully characterize the development of caste in primitively eusocial insects.
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Details
- Title
- Pre- and post-emergent effects on caste
- Creators
- Katherine Ann Fiocca
- Contributors
- Sean O'Donnell (Advisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- x, 97 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biology; College of Arts and Sciences; Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991016457359204721