RUI: Nourishment, Trophallaxis and Caste in Primitively Social Wasps

进化主要是由遗传因素决定的，还是 环境因素？ 近年来越来越重视 一直被放在外部因素作为显着影响 进化事件和路径。 另一个主要的兴趣领域是 帮助行为的起源和维持， 自私的行为 严格的达尔文主义对自然的解释 选择是帮助行为应该是罕见的外部 父母、子女和配偶之间的互动，但社会行为 广泛存在于哺乳动物中并且在人类中特别突出， 也存在于一些鸟类和昆虫中。 社会性昆虫代表了一个有价值的模式系统， 测试和评估某些假设，这些假设是核心， 当代生物学的问题。 群居昆虫可以是 实验性地操作，以轻松地解决问题， 在社会性鸟类、哺乳动物或人类中从未接触过的经济。 拟议的研究利用了群居黄蜂 （“纸黄蜂”），在实验室饲养，根据严格的 实验方案，试图解决发展 在他们的工作（帮助）行为的基础上。 这项工作将在 同时解决环境的相对贡献 因素（特别是营养）与假设的 内在的、遗传的因素在工人行为的进化中。 该领域的最新研究强调了遗传因素， 而本研究将着重于外在因素。 因此，研究结果将直接影响两个领域， 当今生物学的核心兴趣。 除了解决生物学中的基本假设外， 获得有关黄蜂营养和发育的具体知识 可能适用于纸黄蜂的管理饲养， 具有作为生物控制剂的高潜力， 毛虫（例如，棉铃虫、番茄青虫、甘蓝 活套等）是植物害虫，化学防治 毛毛虫不是不可行就是不受欢迎。

Is evolution dictated primarily by genetic factors or primarily by environmental factors? Increasing emphasis in recent years has been placed on extrinsic factors as significantly affecting evolutionary events and pathways. Another major interest area is the origin and maintenance of helping behavior as opposed to selfish behavior. A strict Darwinian interpretation of natural selection would be that helping behavior should be rare outside of parent.offspring and mate interactions, yet social behavior is widespread in mammals and is particularly prominent in humans, and it also occurs in some birds and insects. Social insects represent a valuable model system with which to test and evaluate certain hypotheses that are central to these issues in contemporary biology. Social insects can be manipulated experimentally to address questions with an ease and economy unapproached in social birds, mammals, or humans. The proposed research utilizes primitively social wasps ("paper wasps"), reared in the laboratory according to strict experimental protocols, to attempt to resolve the developmental basis of worker (helping) behavior in them. The work will at the same time address the relative contribution of environmental factors (nourishment, in particular) versus hypothesized intrinsic, genetic factors in the evolution of worker behavior. Most recent research in the field has emphasized genetic factors, whereas the present study will emphasize extrinsic factors. Results of the research will thus bear directly on two areas of central interest in biology today. In addition to addressing basic hypotheses in biology, the specific knowledge gained about wasp nourishment and development may be applicable to the managed rearing of paper wasps, which have high potential as biological control agents where caterpillars (e.g., Cotton bollworm, Tomato budworm, Cabbage looper, etc.) are plant pests, and chemical control of the caterpillars is either unfeasible or undesirable.