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Reproductive physiology corresponds to adult nutrition and task performance in a Neotropical paper wasp: a test of dominance-nutrition hypothesis predictions

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Abstract

The dominance-nutrition hypothesis predicts that nutritional intake and energetic costs in adulthood interact to drive behavioral and physiological differences between females in primitively eusocial insects, and thereby affect reproductive caste. We tested predictions of this hypothesis in independent-founding Mischocyttarus pallidipectus paper wasps. We measured stable isotope tissue composition to compare nutritional status before adult emergence and among adult females. Adult tissue δ15N content (an indicator of feeding at a higher trophic level because it is enriched in animal prey relative to plant-based foods) was significantly higher in adults than at the end of pupal development, suggesting adult nutrition affects δ15N content after the end of pupal development. We then asked if behavior and nutritional status predicted ovary development. We measured ovary development, nitrogen and carbon stable isotope ratios, dominance behavior, and task performance (foraging, as indicated by time spent on the nest) for adult female wasps. We used social network analysis to quantify differences in social status between females with developed and undeveloped (filamentous) ovaries. Dominant females spent more time on the nest and were significantly more enriched in δ15N than subordinate females. These data support the dominance-nutrition hypothesis: adult behavior and energy expenditure, and access to animal-based diets, correspond to female reproductive physiology, and may play a role in adult-stage caste determination.

Significance statement

Within animal social groups, differential access to resources can affect differences in reproductive success. This may affect caste determination in eusocial colonies, where reproductive tasks are divided between female castes, with a queen (or multiple queens) capable of egg-laying and helped by sterile workers. Female sterile workers and reproductives of some social Hymenoptera are morphologically similar at adult emergence, suggesting that adult experience may impact caste status. We asked whether patterns of nutritional physiology in Mischocyttarus pallidipectus paper wasps matched adult-stage caste determination by testing predictions of the dominance-nutrition hypothesis, which states that adult nutrition and energetic costs of tasks shape reproductive female development through behavioral and physiological changes.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the Zenodo repository, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3908439

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are given to Susan Bulova and Meghan Campbell for their help in collecting behavioral data and wasps in the field. Emily Johns assisted with data analysis. Michelle Gannon assisted with stable isotope methodology. Thanks are also given to Mary Rockwell and Sara Stuckey for access to their properties to collect nests. Wasps were collected and exported under permits from MINAET, Costa Rica, to Katherine Fiocca and Sean O’Donnell.

Funding

Research was supported by a grant from the Drexel University Study Abroad Office (SO’D and KF), the Drexel University Office of Undergraduate Research (EF), a Wistar-Morris grant (DV and SO’D), the NAS/IUSSI Robert and Louise Jeanne Award (KF), the American Philosophical Society’s Lewis and Clark Fund Grant (KF), and the Drexel iSTAR fellowship program (KM).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Drexel University, 3245 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Katherine Fiocca, Emily Fanwick & Sean O’Donnell

  2. Department of Biodiversity Earth and Environmental Science, Drexel University, 3245 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Kelsey Capobianco, Rheanna Congdon, David Velinsky & Sean O’Donnell

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Drexel University, 3139 Ludlow Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    Kyle Moynahan

  4. Environmental Biogeochemistry Lab, Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA, 19103, USA

    Paula Zelanko & David Velinsky

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  1. Katherine Fiocca
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Correspondence to Katherine Fiocca.

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Fig. S1

Social network diagram showing nestmate interactions in Colony B. Each node represents a wasp in Colony B collected in 2017. Node size represents number of edges connected to the node. Colors correspond to ovary development: developed (green), filamentous (purple), unknown (orange) and the queen (blue). Thickness of arrow represents the number of interactions connecting the two nodes. Direction of arrow indicates initiator and receiver (PNG 340 kb)

Fig. S2

Social network created using Gephi. Each node represents a wasp in Colony C collected in 2018. Node size represents number of edges connected to the node. Colors correspond to ovary development: developed ovaries (green), filamentous ovaries (purple), and the queen (developed ovaries) (blue). Thickness of arrow represents the number of interactions connecting the two nodes. Direction of arrow indicates initiator and receiver (PNG 209 kb)

Fig. S3

Individual δ13C tissue content for females with developed and filamentous (undeveloped) ovaries. After accounting for colony-level effects, δ13C tissue content was not found to significantly differ between female ovary classes (GLM, F2,1.278=0.132, p=0.887). (JPG 103 kb)

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Fiocca, K., Capobianco, K., Fanwick, E. et al. Reproductive physiology corresponds to adult nutrition and task performance in a Neotropical paper wasp: a test of dominance-nutrition hypothesis predictions. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 74, 114 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-02898-x

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