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Unrelated Helpers in a Primitively Eusocial Wasp: Is Helping Tailored Towards Direct Fitness?
- Source :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 8, p e11997 (2010)
- Publication Year :
- 2010
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science, 2010.
-
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 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.\ud \ud
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Foraging
Wasps
lcsh:Medicine
Evolutionary Biology/Evolutionary Ecology
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Nesting Behavior
Evolution, Molecular
03 medical and health sciences
Nest
medicine
Animals
lcsh:Science
Phylogeny
030304 developmental biology
Paper wasp
0303 health sciences
Evolutionary Biology
Multidisciplinary
Natural selection
Evolutionary Biology/Animal Behavior
Behavior, Animal
Aggression
Ecology
lcsh:R
Inheritance (genetic algorithm)
Eusociality
Adaptation, Physiological
Social Dominance
lcsh:Q
Collective animal behavior
medicine.symptom
Social psychology
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19326203
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS ONE, PLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 8, p e11997 (2010)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5679ca4e639a649b0dbd67710d31e339