Reproduction in cooperative animal groups is often dominated by one or a few individuals, with the remaining group members relegated to nonreproductive helping roles. This reproductive skew can evolve if helpers receive fitness benefits such as potential future inheritance of the breeding position, but the mechanisms by which inheritance is determined are not well resolved. Polistes paper wasps form highly reproductively skewed groups and inheritance of the breeding position is likely to play a key role in the maintenance of this social structure, making them excellent models for the processes by which simple societies are maintained. Reproductive succession is thought to be determined via an age-based convention in some Polistes species, but there is also evidence for contest-based succession systems in which the replacement queen uses physical aggression to overpower and thereby subordinate her nestmates. Here, we provide evidence that queen succession in colonies of the European paper wasp Polistes dominula is determined via convention rather than contest, with little disruption to the colony’s social functioning. We use queen removal experiments and fine-scale behavioral analyses to confirm that age is a strong predictor of succession, and that behavioral responses to queen removal are restricted to the oldest individuals rather than being experienced equally across the group. We provide the most comprehensive and detailed experimental analysis on the dynamics of breeder succession in a cooperatively breeding invertebrate to date, thereby shedding light on the mechanisms by which animal societies are able to maintain cohesion in the face of within-group conflict.

中文翻译：

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论文中的王后继承冲突通过基于年龄的约定得到缓解

合作动物群体的繁殖通常由一个或几个个体主导，其余的群体成员被降级为非繁殖性的帮助角色。如果帮助者获得诸如育种位置的潜在未来遗传等健康益处，则这种繁殖偏斜可以进化，但确定遗传的机制尚未得到很好的解决。Polistes 纸蜂形成了高度生殖偏向的群体，繁殖位置的继承可能在维持这种社会结构中发挥关键作用，使它们成为维持简单社会过程的绝佳模型。生殖继承被认为是通过一些 Polistes 物种的基于年龄的约定来确定的，但也有证据表明，基于竞争的继承系统在这种系统中，替代女王使用身体攻击来压制她的同窝成员，从而使她的同窝成员从属。在这里，我们提供的证据表明，欧洲纸蜂 Polistes dominula 殖民地的女王继承是通过约定而不是竞争决定的，几乎不会破坏殖民地的社会功能。我们使用蜂后移除实验和精细尺度的行为分析来确认年龄是继承的有力预测因素，并且对蜂后移除的行为反应仅限于最年长的个体，而不是在整个群体中经历平等。我们提供了迄今为止最全面、最详细的关于合作繁殖无脊椎动物中繁育者演替动态的实验分析，