Search

Summary: A major threat to eusocial colonies is predation (Starr, 1990) since these colonies place their entire reproductive investment into a single nest (Hansell, 1996). The vertebrate predator is probably the most destructive type of predator in that it can remove the entire nest and thereby destroy all of the investment made by the colony.¶ In this study I considered how the paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus, changes its defensive behavior over the colony cycle. The colonies were presented with a model of an adult Red-winged Blackbird and a speaker that vibrated the comb. The simulated attack was designed to give each colony the same experience. ¶The colonies of Polistes fuscatus became more aggressive over the colony cycle. After the emergence of the gynes, the colony showed no aggression towards a vertebrate predator. The aggression levels of the colony were positively correlated with the number of reproductive-destined brood (but not worker-destined brood) in the nest. This suggests that the brood representing direct reproductive investment (reproductive brood) affects the level of defense in the colony and not the indirect reproductive investment (worker brood).