Effect of Habitat Disturbance on Colony Productivity of the Social Wasp Mischocyttarus consimilis Zikán (Hymenoptera, Vespidae)

Kamylla Balbuena Michelutti,Thiago Santos Montagna,William Fernando Antonialli-Jr

doi:10.13102/sociobiology.v60i1.96-100

Abstract

Social wasps are important elements of the fauna in a variety of environments, including human-modified environments. Evidence indicates that habitat quality affects the growth of colonies of social wasps in urban environments. This study investigated whether the colony productivity of the social wasp Mischocyttarus consimilis Zikán (Hymenoptera, Vespidae) is affected by loss habitat quality in human-occupied environment. Nests of M. consimilis were collected in forest and urban environment between January 2010 and June 2011. Only nests that reached the decline stage were sampled. As productivity parameters, we measured the total number of cells constructed, total number of adults produced and dry mass of the nests. Productivity was significantly lower in urban than in forest environment for all parameters analyzed. Habitat quality is probably the principal factor that contributed to the lower productivity in urban environment. In this type of environment, particularly where the study was conducted, the vegetation adjacent to the nesting sites was composed predominantly of grasses. Such habitats may have limited resources available, especially those resources used by the wasps for feeding the immature, such as larvae of other insects. That result suggests that human degradation of habitats negatively affects the final productivity of colonies of social wasps.

Highlights

Anthropogenic disturbance of natural habitats is one of the main factors that contribute to reduction of the biodiversity in tropical environments
This study investigated the effect of habitat disturbance on colony productivity of the social wasp M. consimilis
For nests in the urban environment, the mean values (± SE; n=11) were: number of adults produced, 131.9 ± 4.69; number of constructed cells, 142.2 ± 13.4; nest dry mass, 0.59 ± 5.70 g; proportion of productive cells, 56.2 ± 20.2%; proportion of reused cells, 39.3 ± 5.91%; and number of adults produced per cell, 0.98 ± 0.09 (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Anthropogenic disturbance of natural habitats is one of the main factors that contribute to reduction of the biodiversity in tropical environments (reviewed in Samways, 2005; 2007). Many social wasps are facultatively synanthropic, occurring abundantly in both forest and urban environments (Fowler, 1983; Curtis & Stamp, 2006; De Oliveira et al, 2010). A recent approach suggests that nesting behavior in social insects is influenced by several ecological variables, including competition, foraging efficiency, microclimate, nest deterioration, nest quality, parasitism, predation, seasonality, and colony growth (reviewed in McGlynn, 2012). The wide range of nesting sites on human constructions and low interspecies competition may partly explain the facultative occurrence of some social wasp species in urban environments (Giannotti & Mansur, 1993; Prezoto et al, 2007; De Oliveira et al, 2010). Synanthropic colonies of social wasps are directly exposed to the effects of human interference in the

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Conclusion