Predictors of nest growth: diminishing returns for subordinates in the paper wasp Polistes dominula.

ABSTRACT:

Abstract

In cooperative breeders, subordinates that have alternative reproductive options are expected to stay and help dominant breeders only as long as they contribute to group productivity, if their fitness is linked with colony success. Female Polistes dominula paper wasps live as cooperative breeders in small groups of typically fewer than 10 females. Subordinates tend to have high-quality outside options, and so could choose alternative breeding tactics if their work efforts increased productivity negligibly. In the founding stage before workers emerge, we tested the effect of various predictors on nest growth, as a proxy for group productivity, and explored the shape of the relationship between group size and nest growth. We found group size to be the only significant

SUBMITTER: Grinsted L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5945790 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature