Relatively little is known about the processes shaping population structure in cooperatively breeding insect species, despite the long-hypothesized importance of population structure in shaping patterns of cooperative breeding. Polistes paper wasps are primitively eusocial insects, with a cooperative breeding system in which females often found nests in cooperative associations. Prior mark-recapture studies of Polistes have documented extreme female philopatry, although genetic studies frequently fail to detect the strong population structure expected for highly philopatric species. Together these findings have led to lack of consensus on the degree of dispersal and population structure in these species. This study assessed population structure of female Polistes fuscatus wasps at three scales: within a single site, throughout Central New York, and across the Northeastern United States. Patterns of spatial genetic clustering and isolation by distance were observed in nuclear and mitochondrial genomes at the continental scale. Remarkably, population structure was evident even at fine spatial scales within a single collection site. However, P. fuscatus had low levels of genetic differentiation across long distances. These results suggest that P. fuscatus wasps may employ multiple dispersal strategies, including extreme natal philopatry as well as longer-distance dispersal. We observed greater genetic differentiation in mitochondrial genes than in the nuclear genome, indicative of increased dispersal distances in males. Our findings support the hypothesis that limited female dispersal contributes toward population structure in paper wasps.

中文翻译：

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精细规模的种群结构，但在合作繁殖的黄蜂中遗传分化有限。

尽管人们长期假设种群结构在合作繁殖模式中的重要性，但对合作繁殖昆虫物种的种群结构形成过程的了解相对较少。Polistes纸蜂原本是亲社会的昆虫，具有合作繁殖系统，其中雌性经常在合作协会中发现巢穴。先前的Polistes商标夺回研究已经记录了极端的女性philopatry，尽管遗传研究经常未能检测出预期的高度哲学化物种的强大种群结构。这些发现共同导致这些物种的分散程度和种群结构缺乏共识。这项研究评估了雌性Polistes fuscatus的种群结构在三个地点进行蜂鸣：在一个地点内，整个纽约中部和整个美国东北部。在大陆规模的核和线粒体基因组中观察到空间遗传聚类和按距离隔离的模式。值得注意的是，即使在单个收集地点内的精细空间尺度上，种群结构也很明显。但是，长距离对虾的遗传分化水平较低。这些结果表明，P。fuscatus黄蜂可能会采用多种分散策略，包括极端的出生期哲学研究和长距离分散。我们观察到线粒体基因的遗传分化比核基因组更大，这表明男性的扩散距离增加。我们的发现支持以下假设：女性黄蜂传播受限会导致黄蜂的种群结构。