Abstract
Optimal-skew models (OSMs) predict that cooperative breeding occurs as a result of dominants conceding reproductive benefits to subordinates, and that division of reproduction within groups reflects each cooperator's willingness and ability to contest aggressively for dominance. Polistine paper wasps are a leading model system for testing OSMs, and data on reproduction and aggression appear to support OSMs. These studies, however, measure aggression as a single rate rather than by the activity patterns of individuals. This leads to a potential error: if individuals are more likely to receive aggression when active than when inactive, differences in aggression across samples can reflect changes in activity rather than hostility. This study replicates a field manipulation cited as strongly supporting OSMs. We show that fundamentally different conclusions arise when controlling for individual activity states. Our analyses strongly suggest that behaviours classified as 'aggression' in paper wasps are unlikely to function in establishing, maintaining or responding to changes in reproductive skew. This illustrates that OSM tests using aggression or other non-reproductive behaviour as a metric for reproductive partitioning must demonstrate those links rather than assume them.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (106.1 KB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Clutton-Brock T. H., Brotherton P. N., Russell A. F., O'Riain M. J., Gaynor D., Kansky R., Griffin A., Manser M., Sharpe L., McIlrath G. M. Cooperation, control, and concession in meerkat groups. Science. 2001 Jan 19;291(5503):478–481. doi: 10.1126/science.291.5503.478. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Cooney R., Bennett N. C. Inbreeding avoidance and reproductive skew in a cooperative mammal. Proc Biol Sci. 2000 Apr 22;267(1445):801–806. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2000.1074. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Haydock Joseph, Koenig Walter D. Reproductive skew in the polygynandrous acorn woodpecker. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2002 May 7;99(10):7178–7183. doi: 10.1073/pnas.102624199. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- doi: 10.1098/rspb.1999.0674. [DOI] [PMC free article] [Google Scholar]
- Queller D. C., Zacchi F., Cervo R., Turillazzi S., Henshaw M. T., Santorelli L. A., Strassmann J. E. Unrelated helpers in a social insect. Nature. 2000 Jun 15;405(6788):784–787. doi: 10.1038/35015552. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reeve H. K., Keller L. Tests of reproductive-skew models in social insects. Annu Rev Entomol. 2001;46:347–385. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ento.46.1.347. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reeve H. K., Starks P. T., Peters J. M., Nonacs P. Genetic support for the evolutionary theory of reproductive transactions in social wasps. Proc Biol Sci. 2000 Jan 7;267(1438):75–79. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2000.0969. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Reeve HK. A Transactional Theory of Within-Group Conflict. Am Nat. 2000 Mar;155(3):365–382. doi: 10.1086/303322. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Strassmann J. E., Barefield K., Solís C. R., Hughes C. R., Queller D. C. Trinucleotide microsatellite loci for a social wasp, Polistes. Mol Ecol. 1997 Jan;6(1):97–100. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-294x.1997.00158.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Strassmann J. E., Solís C. R., Barefield K., Queller D. C. Trinucleotide microsatellite loci in a swarm-founding neotropical wasp, Parachartergus colobopterus and their usefulness in other social wasps. Mol Ecol. 1996 Jun;5(3):459–461. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294x.1996.tb00338.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]