This methodological paper evaluates the productivity of a social wasp colony by examining the number of meconia per 100 cells of comb, to estimate the total number of adults the wasps produced. The associated video describes how to search for Vespula wasp nests, a method developed by amateur wasp chasers.
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Method Article
Evaluation of the Productivity of Social Wasp Colonies (Vespinae) and an Introduction to the Traditional Japanese Vespula Wasp Hunting Technique
In This Article
Summary
Abstract
For vespine wasps, colony productivity is typically estimated by counting the number of larval cells. This paper presents an improved method that enables researchers to estimate more accurately the number of adults produced, counting the number of meconia (the stools left in the cells by wasp larvae when pupating into adults, per 100 cells) in each comb. This method can be applied before or after colony collapse (i.e., in active or inactive nests). The paper also describes how to locate wild Vespula wasp colonies by "flagging" wasp baits and chasing the wasp collecting them, using a method traditionally performed by local people in central Japan (as illustrated in the associated video). The Vespula chasing method described has several advantages: it is easy to reinitiate the chase from a point where the forager flying back to the nest was lost, and it is easy to pinpoint the nest location as marked wasps often lose their flag at the nest entrance. These methods for estimating colony productivity and collecting nests can be valuable for researchers studying social wasps.
Introduction
Every species is thought to develop an optimal strategy for survival and reproduction among a vast array of possible strategies. In natural selection, individuals with traits that maximize an individual's reproductive success will leave more offspring (and genes) to the next generation. Therefore, the number of offspring produced by an individual can be used as an indicator of the individual's relative evolutionary fitness. In a given ecological context, the comparison of the number of offspring produced relative to alternative behavioral strategies can help researchers predict the best strategy for optimizing fitness1.
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Protocol
1. Evaluation of Colony Productivity
- Estimation of the number of cells per comb
- Separate the combs one by one. Sweep away all adult wasps from the comb and pull out all larvae and pupae from the cells with tweezers.
- Measure the square measures of 10 randomly chosen cells per a comb, by using imaging software (e.g., Image J version 1.48, see http://imagej.nih.gov/ij/).
- Take a picture with the scale reference so that all the cells are pictured from right above.
- Based on the actual length of the scale, convert all measured lengths to pixels.
- Measure the areas of the 10 cell....
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Results
One goal of this study was to determine how many samples are required to obtain an SEM of the number of meconia per cell which is less than 0.05. In this study, a comb with an average cell size of <20 mm2 was defined as a worker comb, whereas larger combs were defined as queen combs. I counted the number of cells for queen combs and worker combs (in this study, counts were made of six queen combs and six worker combs from five V. shidai colonies). The actual number .......
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Discussion
The colony productivity of bees, ants, and wasps has been estimated previously by the number of workers and cells in nests or by the weight of the nests3,9,10. This study shows that the estimate of the number of meconia provides a better estimate of the overall number of individuals produced (i.e., a better indicator of colony productivity). In fact, it was found that, for both worker and queen combs, the number of meco.......
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Disclosures
The author has nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Katsuyuki Takahashi, Hiroo Kobayashi, Fumihiro Sato, Daikichi Ogiso, Toshihiro Hayakawa, and Hisaki Imai for teaching him the traditional wasp hunt method. The author would like to offer special thanks to Kevin J. Loope and Davide Santoro for carefully proofreading the manuscript. The author is grateful to Masato Abe, Yasukazu Okada, Yuichiro Kobayashi, Masakazu Shimada, and Koji Tsuchida for their discussion. The author wants to thank Yuya Shimizu and Haruna Fujioka for their technical assistance with evaluating colony productivity. The author would like to thank Tsukechi black bee club for supporting the video shooting. The author wish....
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Materials
| Name | Company | Catalog Number | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| cuttlefish | Any | fresh/ as a bait | |
| dace | Any | fresh/ as a bait | |
| chichken heart | Any | fresh/ as a bait | |
| plastic bag (polyethylene) | Any | as a flag | |
| bamboo skewer | Any | ||
| industrial sewing thread | FUJIX Ltd. | King polyester, No.100 | |
| paint marker pen | Mitsubishi pencil | UNI, POSCA, PC5M | |
| fishing rod | ANY | ||
| carrying box | made of wood | ||
| nest box | made of wood |
References
- Davies, N. B., Krebs, J. R., West, S. A. An introduction to Behavioural Ecology. , John Wiley & Sons. (2012).
- Tibbetts, E. A., Reeve, H. K. Benefits of foundress associations in the paper wasp Polistes dominulus: increased productivity and survival, bu....
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