Nourishment affects colony demographics in the paper waspPolistes metricus

Abstract

Abstract 1. Colony survivorship and numbers of nest cells, pupae, and adult females were monitored throughout the nesting season for a cohort of 78 colonies of the paper waspPolistes metricusSay. Thirty‐nine colonies received a twice‐weekly nourishment supplement of honey during pre‐emergence and early emergence phases of the colony cycle; 39 colonies were unsupplemented controls.2. Colony survivorship was unaffected by the supplemental nourishment. Loss of colonies to predation differed among three sites but was unaffected by supplementation.3. Honey‐supplemented colonies constructed more nest cells than did control colonies but this effect was not expressed until after supplementation had ceased.4. Honey‐supplemented colonies produced more pupae than did control colonies but the number of adult females at nests did not differ between supplemented and control colonies. Because honey‐supplemented colonies had more offspring but fewer of them remained as workers at the nest, honey supplementation led to a lower frequency of workers and corresponding higher frequency of reproductives than in control colonies.5. In a second year of study, colony survivorship and numbers of nest cells, pupae, and adult females were monitored from late pre‐emergence until the end of the nesting season for a cohort of 32 colonies ofPolistes metricus. In 16 colonies, trophallactic saliva was taken from final‐instar larvae on nine dates in the late pre‐emergence and early emergence periods; 16 colonies served as controls.6. Saliva‐diminished colonies had lower survivorship, fewer nest cells, fewer pupae, and fewer adult females at the nest than did control colonies.7. These results show that variation in nourishment in the early to mid phases of the colony cycle can have significant effects on the subsequent colony demographics ofPolistes metricuspaper wasps.