Social Contracts and Sex Allocation Theory in an Annual, Eusocial Wasp

Nonacs 9808788 蜂属的蜂巢通常由几个合作的雌性发起。这样的巢比单个黄蜂的巢要大得多。然而，大多数后代都是一个占主导地位的雌性的后代，这就引出了一个问题，为什么其他雌性接受它们的从属地位，而不是自己筑巢。一种解释是“社会契约”理论，即支配者将一小部分再生产割让给下属，以激励他们留下来帮忙。也就是说，他们允许下属抚养自己的一些年轻人。这部分可以是儿子或女儿，这使得社会契约也依赖于整个巢穴产生的性别比例。然而，性别比例可能会受到环境以及巢中发生的社会互动的影响。在野外对蜂巢的实验操作和在实验室对母蜂和后代的遗传分析将直接测量从属黄蜂的一生繁殖成功率，并测试几种性别分配的理论模型。 黄蜂表现出复杂的社会互动，并且与鸟类和哺乳动物一样，对幼崽有广泛的父母照顾。因此，从这项研究中得出的理论见解与许多社会物种有关。 此外，黄蜂的大量和易于观察使它们成为测试社会进化和父母行为的一般问题的理想模型系统。更好地了解殖民地的形成过程也将对害虫防治有实际意义。

Nonacs 9808788 Wasp nests in the genus Polistes are often initiated by several cooperating females. Such nests grow to considerably larger sizes than nests initiated by a single wasp. However, most of the offspring are the progeny of one dominant female, which leads to a question of why do the other females accept their subordinate status rather than nest on their own. One explanation is the theory of 'social contracts', where dominants cede to subordinates a fraction of the reproduction as incentive to stay and help. That is they allow the subordinates to rear some of their own young. This fraction can be either in sons or daughters, which makes the social contract dependent also on the sex ratio produced by the entire nest. However, sex ratios are potentially affected by environment as well as social interactions taking place on the nest. Experimental manipulation of wasp nests in the field and genetic analysis of foundresses and offspring in the laboratory will directly measure the lifetime reproductive success of subordinate wasps and test several theoretical models of sex allocation. Wasps exhibit complicated social interactions and have extensive parental care for their young not unlike birds and mammals. Therefore the theoretical insights resulting from this research are relevant for many social species. Furthermore, the wasps' greater abundance and ease of observation makes them an ideal model system for testing general questions about social evolution and parental behavior. A better understanding of the colony initiation process will also have practical considerations in pest control.