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Abstract Signals and receiver responses often vary across a species’ geographic range. Effective communication requires a match between signal and receiver response, so there is much interest in the developmental mechanisms that maintain this link. Two potential mechanisms are genetic covariance between signal and receiver response and plasticity where individuals adjust their phenotype based on their partner’s phenotype. Here, we test how plasticity contributes to geographic variation in individual face recognition in Polistes fuscatus wasps. Previous work has shown that P. fuscatus from Michigan, USA (MI) have variable facial patterns used for individual recognition, while P. fuscatus from central Pennsylvania, USA (PA) lack variable facial patterns and are unable to learn individual conspecifics. We experimentally altered rearing environment, so wasps were either reared with their own population or in a common garden with wasps from both populations. Then, we tested the wasps’ capacity to learn and remember individual conspecific faces. Consistent with previous work, MI wasps reared with MI wasps were adept at learning conspecific faces, while PA wasps reared with PA wasps were unable to learn conspecific faces. However, MI and PA wasps reared in a common garden developed similar, intermediate capacity for individual face learning. These results indicate that individual face learning in Polistes wasps is highly plastic and responsive to the social environment. Plasticity in receiver responses may be a common mechanism mediating geographic differences in non-sexual signaling systems and may play a role in maintaining links between signals and receiver responses in geographically variable communication systems.
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Postural analysis reveals persistent changes in paper wasp foundress behavioral state after conspecific challenge
Abstract Vigilant animals detect and respond to threats in the environment, often changing posture and movement patterns. Vigilance is modulated not only by predators but also by conspecific threats. In social animals, precisely how conspecific threats alter vigilance behavior over time is relevant to long‐standing hypotheses about social plasticity. We report persistent effects of a simulated conspecific challenge on behavior of wild northern paper wasp foundresses,Polistes fuscatus. During the founding phase of the colony cycle, conspecific wasps can usurp nests from the resident foundress, representing a severe threat. We used automated tracking to monitor the movement and posture ofP. fuscatusfoundresses in response to simulated intrusions. Wasps displayed increased movement, greater bilateral wing extension, and reduced antennal separation after the threat was removed. These changes were not observed after presentation with a wooden dowel. By rapidly adjusting individual behavior after fending off an intruder, paper wasp foundresses might invest in surveillance of potential threats, even when such threats are no longer immediately present. The prolonged vigilance‐like behavioral state observed here is relevant to plasticity of social recognition processes in paper wasps.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1750394
- PAR ID:
- 10466067
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Ecology and Evolution
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 9
- ISSN:
- 2045-7758
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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