Journal article
A developmental test of the dominance-nutrition hypothesis: linking adult feeding, aggression, and reproductive potential in the paperwasp Mischocyttarus mastigophorus
Ethology, ecology & evolution, v 20(2), pp 125-139
01 Jul 2008
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Because adult females of primitively eusocial insects are plastic in their social roles, they are excellent models for assessing factors that affect fecundity and its relationship with dominance. Previous cross-sectional studies led to the dominance-nutrition hypothesis, which posits that the nutritional costs and benefits of task performance determine ovary development, and thereby affect female's dominance status. In this study, we investigate developmental predictions of the dominance-nutrition hypothesis in the paper wasp Mischocyttarus mastigophorus. Females were relatively inactive when young, and showed limited ovary development until over 2 weeks of adult age. As females aged, inter-individual variance in rates of behavior and in oocyte development increased significantly As predicted by the dominance-nutrition model, females developed along diverging pathways, which were associated with worker-like and queen-like behavior and physiology. Individuals differed in their rates of nutritionally favorable (taking food from foragers) and nutritionally expensive (flying from the nest to forage) behavior. High rates of taking food from foragers were correlated with accelerated onset of giving social aggression (chases/bites) and with increased ovary development. Conversely, receiving aggression typically preceded the onset of foraging, and high rates of receiving aggression were positively associated with earlier onset of foraging. Our data do not support part of the dominance-nutrition model: ovary development did not precede the onset of elevated aggression. Variation in ovary development did not correlate positively with rates of giving aggression for young females. our data implicate adult nutrition as an important factor for behavioral and physiological development, including the developmental onset of social aggression.
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Details
- Title
- A developmental test of the dominance-nutrition hypothesis: linking adult feeding, aggression, and reproductive potential in the paperwasp Mischocyttarus mastigophorus
- Creators
- Y. Molina - University of WashingtonS. O'Donnell - University of Washington
- Publication Details
- Ethology, ecology & evolution, v 20(2), pp 125-139
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- Number of pages
- 15
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Biodiversity, Earth, and Environmental Science (BEES)
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000258122000004
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-49049096501
- Other Identifier
- 991020950433504721
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InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Web of Science research areas
- Behavioral Sciences
- Zoology