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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Encyclopedia Of Animal Behavior, A. Payne, P. Starks, Aviva Liebert Jun 2013

Encyclopedia Of Animal Behavior, A. Payne, P. Starks, Aviva Liebert

Aviva E Liebert

The Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior has engaged-with great success-the efforts of many of the best behavioral biologists of the 21st century. Section editors drawn from the most accomplished behavioral scientists of their generation have enrolled an international cast of highly respected thinkers and writers-all of whom have taken great care and joy in illuminating every imaginable corner of animal behavior. This comprehensive work covers not only the usual topics such as communication, learning, sexual selection, navigation, and the history of the field, but also emerging topics in cognition, animal welfare, conservation, and applications of animal behavior. The large section on …


Taming Of The Skew: Transactional Models Fail To Predict Reproductive Partitioning In The Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks Feb 2013

Taming Of The Skew: Transactional Models Fail To Predict Reproductive Partitioning In The Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks

Aviva E Liebert

Female Polistes paper wasps can initiate colonies either solitarily or in cooperative groups. Reproduction is often distributed unequally in groups, even to the point of complete monopolization of breeding by the dominant group member. Transactional models of reproductive skew predict the degree of reproductive partitioning, assuming that the dominant controls group membership and will yield a proportion of reproduction to a subordinate as an incentive to stay peacefully in the group. Using a combination of demographic, genetic and morphological data from a population of P. dominulus, we test predictions of 'classical' two-person skew models as well as more complex …


The Relationships Between Cuticular Hydrocarbon Composition, Faunal Assemblages, Inter-Island Distance, And Population Genetic Variation In Tuscan Archipelago Wasps, Leonardo Dapporto, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks, Stefano Turillazzi Feb 2013

The Relationships Between Cuticular Hydrocarbon Composition, Faunal Assemblages, Inter-Island Distance, And Population Genetic Variation In Tuscan Archipelago Wasps, Leonardo Dapporto, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks, Stefano Turillazzi

Aviva E Liebert

Until recently, studies examining the geographical distribution of insects in the Tuscan Archipelago have focused on paleogeography as the primary influence on species distributions. However, for flying insects such as Hymenoptera that may be able to disperse over water, current geographical location is likely to be more important in determining present distributions within the Archipelago. Here we compare mainland and island wasp populations using genetic variation and cuticular hydrocarbon composition of the vespid wasp Polistes dominulus, and species composition of wasps in the family Pompilidae. Both chemical and genetic data result in similar clustering of P. dominulus populations that reflect …


Sexual Interactions And Nestmate Recognition In Invasive Populations Of Polistes Dominulus Wasps, Aviva Liebert, N Wilson-Rich, C Johnson, Philip Starks Feb 2013

Sexual Interactions And Nestmate Recognition In Invasive Populations Of Polistes Dominulus Wasps, Aviva Liebert, N Wilson-Rich, C Johnson, Philip Starks

Aviva E Liebert

Many social insect species have mating systems or recognition abilities that minimize the chance of inbreeding. In haplodiploid systems, inbreeding is especially costly due to the production of sterile offspring such as diploid males. Diploid males (and their triploid offspring) have been identified in invasive populations of the paper wasp, Polistes dominulus, but to date have not been reported in its native populations. Due to the degree of genetic diversity in the invasive populations, it is unlikely that the production of these genetic ‘misfits’ is the result of a genetic bottleneck alone, but rather that errors in nestmate recognition may …


Nest Hydrocarbons As Cues For Philopatry In A Paper Wasp, Annagiri Sumana, Aviva Liebert, Anne Berry, Ghislaine Switz, Colin Orians, Philip Starks Feb 2013

Nest Hydrocarbons As Cues For Philopatry In A Paper Wasp, Annagiri Sumana, Aviva Liebert, Anne Berry, Ghislaine Switz, Colin Orians, Philip Starks

Aviva E Liebert

Philopatric behavior has been demonstrated in a wide taxonomic spread of animals. In temperate environments, overwintered Polistes wasp foundresses often return to their natal nest prior to initiating colony construction. Previous research has shown that these spring foundresses can identify the natal nest in the absence of landmark and gross morphological cues. Hydrocarbons are essential recognition cues for Polistes nest and nestmate discrimination, but cuticular hydrocarbon profiles can become homogenized when foundresses overwinter in mixed colony groups. We examined the hydrocarbon profiles of Polistes dominulus foundresses and nests before and after an overwintering period, and found that the hydrocarbon profiles …


Extreme Polygyny: Multi-Seasonal “Hypergynous” Nesting In The Introduced Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, Aviva Liebert, Julia Hui, Peter Nonacs, Philip Starks Feb 2013

Extreme Polygyny: Multi-Seasonal “Hypergynous” Nesting In The Introduced Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, Aviva Liebert, Julia Hui, Peter Nonacs, Philip Starks

Aviva E Liebert

In temperate climates, female paper wasps typically initiate new colonies in the spring. Several nest-founding tactics have been documented in Polistes species, including solitary nest initiation, joining a cooperative association, usurping an existing nest, or adopting an abandoned nest. Occasionally, exceptionally large groups of females have also been found reusing nests from the previous season. Here we report this phenomenon in introduced populations of the Eurasian species Polistes dominulus. We describe in detail the demographic and genetic characteristics of one such spring colony from Los Angeles, California, USA, which was collected with 84 associated adults and all stages of developing …


Solitary Nesting And Reproductive Success In The Paper Wasp Polistes Aurifer, Aviva Liebert, Peter Nonacs, Robert Wayne Feb 2013

Solitary Nesting And Reproductive Success In The Paper Wasp Polistes Aurifer, Aviva Liebert, Peter Nonacs, Robert Wayne

Aviva E Liebert

Female Polistes paper wasps are capable of independent nesting, yet many populations demonstrate a mixture of solitary and cooperative nest foundation. Previous studies of Polistes have found survival and/or productivity advantages of cooperative nest foundation compared to solitary nesting, and reproductive skew models have been designed to predict the dynamics of such flexible cooperation. In this paper, we examine the success of different nesting strategies in a previously unstudied population of Polistes aurifer in southern California. The colony cycle of this population is less synchronous than that of other temperate species, and the frequency of solitary nesting averages 86.2%. Our …


Wolbachia In The Invasive European Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, J Stahlhut, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks, Leonardo Dapporto, J Jaenike Feb 2013

Wolbachia In The Invasive European Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, J Stahlhut, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks, Leonardo Dapporto, J Jaenike

Aviva E Liebert

The European paper wasp Polistes dominulus has been expanding its North American range since its introduction in the 1970s. We screened P. dominulus from Italy and the northeastern U.S. for the presence of the intracellular reproductive symbiont Wolbachia. Infection rates among females varied from 16% to 87% among U.S. sites and from 33% to 71% in Italy. We also found infected haploid and diploid males, indicating that this is not a male-killing Wolbachia infection. Our data show that infected individuals from New York, Massachusetts, and Italy carry the same Wolbachia strain, and that some mtDNA haplotypes include both infected and …


Diploid Males And Their Triploid Offspring In The Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, Aviva Liebert, Annagiri Sumana, Philip Starks Feb 2013

Diploid Males And Their Triploid Offspring In The Paper Wasp Polistes Dominulus, Aviva Liebert, Annagiri Sumana, Philip Starks

Aviva E Liebert

Although the hymenopteran sex-determining mechanism generally results in haploid males and diploid females, diploid males can be produced via homozygosity at the sex-determining locus. Diploid males have low fitness because they are effectively sterile or produce presumably sterile triploid offspring. Previously, triploid females were observed in three species of North American Polistes paper wasps, and this was interpreted as indirect evidence of diploid males. Here we report what is, to our knowledge, the first direct evidence: four of five early male-producing Polistes dominulus nests from three populations contained diploid males. Because haploid males were also found, however, the adaptive value …


Ground Nesting In The Paper Wasp Polistes Aurifer (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), Aviva Liebert Feb 2013

Ground Nesting In The Paper Wasp Polistes Aurifer (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), Aviva Liebert

Aviva E Liebert

Polistes paper wasp species vary in their nest site selection, with some nesting in relatively exposed areas and others in protected cavities. Locating the nest sites of cavity dwelling species in natural habitat can prove difficult, and most behavioral studies on these species are therefore conducted using human-built structures. Since Hungerford and Williams (1912) and Rau (1929) noted the location of several P. fuscatus (Fabricius) nests in rodent burrows, there have been no published accounts of ground nesting Polistes species. I report the occurrence of a large, dense cluster of P. aurifer (Saussure) nests located within cracks in the dried …


The Action Component Of Recognition Systems: A Focus On The Response, Aviva E. Liebert, Philip T. Starks Dec 2012

The Action Component Of Recognition Systems: A Focus On The Response, Aviva E. Liebert, Philip T. Starks

Aviva E Liebert

The action component of recognition systems is concerned with the response of an evaluator to perceived cues, based on the dissimilarity of those cues compared with a template. Building upon the historical focus on kin recognition, we apply the framework of conspecific acceptance thresholds to recognition in a broader sense, including interactions within and between organisms, between species, and between living and nonliving things. We review examples from a variety of taxa and recognition contexts to demonstrate when a discriminatory response is expected, and how this response may be flexible depending on the costs and benefits of recognition errors and …


Transactional Skew And Assured Fitness Return Models Fail To Predict Patterns Of Cooperation In Wasps, Peter Nonacs, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks Dec 2012

Transactional Skew And Assured Fitness Return Models Fail To Predict Patterns Of Cooperation In Wasps, Peter Nonacs, Aviva Liebert, Philip Starks

Aviva E Liebert

Cooperative breeders often exhibit reproductive skew, where dominant individuals reproduce more than subordinates. Two approaches derived from Hamilton’s inclusive fitness model predict when subordinate behavior is favored over living solitarily. The assured fitness return (AFR) model predicts that subordinates help when they are highly likely to gain immediate indirect fitness. Transactional skew models predict dominants and subordinates “agree” on a level of reproductive skew that induces subordinates to join groups. We show the AFR model to be a special case of transactional skew models that assumes no direct reproduction by subordinates. We use data from 11 populations of four wasp …


Genetics, Behavior And Ecology Of A Paper Wasp Invasion: Polistes Dominulus In North America, Aviva Liebert Dec 2012

Genetics, Behavior And Ecology Of A Paper Wasp Invasion: Polistes Dominulus In North America, Aviva Liebert

Aviva E Liebert

Studies of social insect invasions to date have focused primarily on highly eusocial insects such as ants and yellowjacket wasps. Yet insect societies without fixed, morphological caste systems may be particularly good invaders due to their behavioral flexibility, as demonstrated by the recent invasion of the European paper wasp Polistes dominulus into North America. Here we provide a review of this ongoing invasion in terms of (1) population genetic variation in P. dominulus, and (2) comparative behavior and ecology of P. dominulus vs. the native P. fuscatus. We present new genetic evidence supporting the occurrence of multiple independent introductions of …