Abstract
Social wasps do not possess a sophisticated, signal-based mechanism for recruiting foragers to food resources. Instead, in some species naive potential foragers use cues, specifically the scent of a resource obtained from successful foragers, to help locate the resource in the field. Prior studies have focused on the effectiveness of this mechanism on increasing the number of foragers at an artificial resource in the field; the increase is typically modest. Here, we focus on the activity at the nest in Polybia occidentalis, a tropical social wasp, and quantify the magnitude of the effect an influx of a known amount of scented carbohydrate solution added directly to the nest has on activating foragers to leave the nest in search of the resource. Under our experimental conditions, adding a scented 2.0 M sucrose solution to the nest doubled the average rate of departure. No increase occurred when the same amount of water was added as a control. This mass activation of foragers may give colonies of this species a competitive edge by enhancing their ability to rapidly exploit new resources.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.