Constraints on foraging success due to resource ecology limit colony productivity in social insects

The benefit of group living is a fundamental question in social evolution. For sociality to evolve, each individual must gain in terms of some fitness component by living in larger groups. However, in social insects, a decrease in per capita success in brood production has been observed in larger groups. While it has been proposed that this decrease could be outweighed by an increase in the predictability of success, a functional basis to this hypothesis has so far never been demonstrated. In this paper, using foraging economics as a functional proxy to colony productivity, we construct a model to explore how number of foragers in the colony interacts with the ecology of resources to influence per capita foraging success and its predictability. The results of the model show that there is no increase in per capita foraging success in larger colonies under most circumstances, though there is an increase in its predictability. We then test the model with empirical data on the foraging behavior of the primitively eusocial wasp, Ropalidia marginata. The consistency between the data and the model suggests that foraging economics could provide a robust functional basis in explaining the relationship between colony size and productivity.     

Selection on social traits in greater spear-nosed bats, Phyllostomus hastatus

Many studies assume that selection molds social traits and have investigated the manner in which this occurs, yet very few studies have measured the strength of selection on social traits in natural populations. In this paper, I report results of phenotypic selection analyses on two social traits – the size of social groups and the frequency of group foraging – in Phyllostomus hastatus, the greater spear-nosed bat. I found significant positive directional selection on individual group foraging frequency, but no directional selection on individuals in different-sized social groups. These results have implications for the structure of social groups, cooperative behavior among group mates, and maternal investment strategies. I argue that combining studies of natural selection on wild populations with experiments to identify the agents and mechanisms of selection can do much to increase our understanding of social evolution.     

Different habitats, different habits? Response to foraging information in the parasitic wasp Venturia canescens

The parasitic wasp, Venturia canescens (Gravenhorst) (Hymenoptera: Ichneumonidae), has two reproductive modes, namely, thelytoky or arrhenotoky, and occurs in habitats with highly variable or relatively stable host abundances, respectively. Since information processing is costly, we expected that information indicating resource availability would be mainly used by the thelytokous wasps and less so by the arrhenotokous type. This idea was explored by two different approaches. In a study on patch-time allocation, we used females from ten populations and measured patch-residence times of individuals that visited multiple patches at different encounter rates. In a more detailed approach, thelytokous and arrhenotokous females from a single location were observed continuously while foraging, and all behaviors were recorded. Wasps of both reproductive modes (i.e., both habitat types) used information for the assessment of habitat quality. However, the way that the information was used differed between them. Whereas thelytokous females used foraging information to maximize their efficiency at high patch-encounter rates, arrhenotokous females merely reduced the number of offspring produced without changing patch times. The behavior of the arrhenotokous females should result in a spreading of offspring across the habitat and, thus, reduced sib-mating. The foraging strategy of these wasps might therefore be an adaptation to reduce costs associated with inbreeding.     

Information transfer and gain in flocks: the effects of quality and quantity of social information at different neighbour distances

We assessed experimentally how the quality and quantity of social information affected foraging decisions of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) at different neighbour distances, and how individuals gained social information as a function of head position. Our experimental set up comprised three bottomless enclosures, each housing one individual placed on a line at different distances. The birds in the extreme enclosures were labelled senders and the one in the centre receiver. We manipulated the foraging opportunities of senders (enhanced, natural, no-foraging), and recorded the behaviour of the receiver. In the first experiment, receivers responded to the condition of senders. Their searching rate and food intake increased when senders foraged in enhanced conditions, and decreased in no-foraging conditions, in relation to natural conditions. Scanning was oriented more in the direction of conspecifics when senders behaviour departed from normal. In the second experiment, responses were dose dependent: receivers increased their searching rate and orientated their gaze more towards conspecifics with the number of senders foraging in enhanced food conditions. In no-foraging conditions, receivers decreased their searching and intake rates with the number of senders, but no variation was found in scanning towards conspecifics. Differences in foraging and scanning behaviour between enhanced and no-foraging conditions were much lower when neighbours were separated farther. Overall, information transfer within starling flocks affects individual foraging and scanning behaviour, with receivers monitoring and copying senders behaviour mainly when neighbours are close. Information transfer may be related to predation information (responding to the vigilance of conspecifics) and foraging information (responding to the feeding success of conspecifics). Both sources of information, balanced by neighbour distance, may simultaneously affect the behaviour of individuals in natural conditions.Communicated by H. Kokko     

Canopy compass in nocturnal homing of the subsocial shield bug, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Parastrachia japonensis</Emphasis> (Heteroptera: Parastrachiidae)

In contrast to an open environment where a specific celestial cue is predominantly used, visual contrast of canopies against the sky through the gap, known as canopy cues, is known to play a major role for visually guided insect navigators in woodland habitats. In this paper, we investigated whether a subsocial shield bug, Parastrachia japonensis, could gauge direction using canopy cues on a moonless night. The results show that they could perform the round trip foraging behaviour even in an experimental arena with only an artificial round gap opened in the ceiling of the arena and adjust their homing direction for a new azimuth when the gap was rotated. Thus, P. japonensis can use slightly brighter canopy cues as a compass reference but not complex landmarks during nocturnal homing behaviour.     

茶叶挥发物对白斑猎蛛觅食行为的影响

为了探明茶树叶片挥发物在白斑猎蛛(Evarcha albaria)选择觅食斑块过程中的作用,采用固相微萃取-气相色谱-质谱联用技术研究了其猎物假眼小绿叶蝉(Empoasca vitis)取食对茶树叶片挥发物释放的影响,同时利用蜘蛛行为观测平台研究了白斑猎蛛在不同味源侧(觅食斑块)的活动行为。结果表明,未损伤叶片(对照)仅释放出微量挥发物,而假眼小绿叶蝉成虫取食后的茶树叶片释放出14种挥发物;雌、雄蛛在进入处理味源(假眼小绿叶蝉取食后的茶树叶片)侧和对照侧的初次选择及进入频次上均无显著差异,但与对照相比,雌、雄蛛在虫害处理叶片中的停留时间显著增加。研究表明,假眼小绿叶蝉取食诱导了茶树叶片挥发物的释放,而挥发物种类和含量的变化造成了白斑猎蛛在不同味源侧停留时间的差异。     

中国穿山甲的食性与觅食行为初步观察

通过野外观察及粪便和胃内容物分析,对中国穿山甲的食性进行了调查和研究.结果表明,中国穿山甲的觅食行为可分为6个类别,即行走、搜寻、行走/搜寻、挖掘、取食、暂停;取食地点主要发生在杂草、乔木、灌木的基部,落叶层下,倒木/枯枝、死树桩附近及白蚁巢内;以蚁类为食,且表现出明显的选择和偏爱,被拒食的蚂蚁和白蚁种数分别占83.87%(26/31)和53.85%(7/13),最喜爱的蚁类是台湾乳白蚁(Coptotermesformosanus)、黄翅大白蚁(Macrotermesbarneyi)、双齿多刺蚁(Polyrhachisdives);食谱由11种蚁类构成,占大雾岭保护区蚁类组成25%,其中蚂蚁5属5种,白蚁4属6种,夏季食谱主要由蚂蚁构成,冬季食谱主要由白蚁构成,台湾乳白蚁、黄翅大白蚁很可能是穿山甲食谱中的关键食物.表6参25     

Paying for information: partial loads in central place foragers

Information about food sources can be crucial to the success of a foraging animal. We predict that this will influence foraging decisions by group-living foragers, which may sacrifice short-term foraging efficiency to collect information more frequently. This result emerges from a model of a central-place forager that can potentially receive information on newly available superior food sources at the central place. Such foragers are expected to return early from food sources, even with just partial loads, if information about the presence of sufficiently valuable food sources is likely to become available. Returning with an incomplete load implies that the forager is at that point not achieving the maximum possible food delivery rate. However, such partial loading can be more than compensated for by an earlier exploitation of a superior food source. Our model does not assume cooperative foraging and could thus be used to investigate this effect for any social central-place forager. We illustrate the approach using numerical calculations for honeybees and leafcutter ants, which do forage cooperatively. For these examples, however, our results indicate that reducing load confers minimal benefits in terms of receiving information. Moreover, the hypothesis that foragers reduce load to give information more quickly (rather than to receive it) fits empirical data from social insects better. Thus, we can conclude that in these two cases of social-insect foraging, efficient distribution of information by successful foragers may be more important than efficient collection of information by unsuccessful ones.