Exploitation of carbohydrate food sources in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Polybia occidentalis</Emphasis>: social cues influence foraging decisions in swarm-founding wasps |
| |
Authors: | Michael Hrncir Sidnei Mateus Fábio S Nascimento |
| |
Institution: | 1.Department of Biology,University of S?o Paulo,Ribeir?o Preto,Brazil;2.Department of Biology,Federal University of Sergipe, CCBS,S?o Cristov?o,Brazil |
| |
Abstract: | An efficient exploitation of carbohydrate food sources would be beneficial for social wasp species that store nectar within
their nest. In the swarm-founding polistine wasp Polybia occidentalis, we now demonstrate that the decisions of when and where to forage are influenced by information from conspecifics. Only
when foragers had been trained to collect at artificial carbohydrate feeders did newcomers (food-source-naive individuals)
continuously arrive at these feeders during 2 h of experiment. In control tests, in which no forager had been trained, not
a single newcomer alighted at any of the offered carbohydrate food sources. This indicates that, during the foraging process,
a nest-based input provided by successful foragers must have stimulated nestmates to search for food. Once activated, the
newcomers’ choice on where to collect was strongly influenced by field-based social information. The mere visual presence
of accumulated conspecifics (wasp dummies placed on one of the feeders) attracted newcomers to the food sources. Interestingly,
however, visual enhancement was not the only decision-biasing factor at the feeding site. In an experimental series where
searching wasps had to choose between the experimental feeder at which 3 foragers continuously collected and the control feeder
with nine wasp dummies, only 40% of the wasps chose the visually enhanced feeder. This points to the existence of additional
mechanisms of local enhancement. The possibility that, in social wasps, recruitment is involved in the exploitation of carbohydrate
food sources is discussed. |
| |
Keywords: | Social wasps Polybia occidentalis Foraging process Foraging decisions Local enhancement Carbohydrate food sources |
本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录! |
|