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Climatic correlates of temporal demographic variation in the tropical hover wasp Liostenogaster flavolineata

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Abstract

Environmental factors, and particularly climate, play an important role in influencing behaviour in many insects. In social species, climate is known to have a strong influence on social traits, but how this manifests itself in tropical ecosystems is poorly understood. In Peninsular Malaysia, the climate is characterised by relatively consistent annual temperatures with wet/dry cycles, and the tropical hover-wasp Liostenogaster flavolineata Cameron is active year-round. Newly emerged females can choose to remain at the natal nest and help, or disperse and found their own nest depending on a balance of ecological and demographic factors. We collated long-term adult and brood census data for populations of L. flavolineata in Peninsular Malaysia in three different years to investigate temporal variation in demographics (brood and adult numbers) and how this might be related to climatic factors. Our data indicate that there are multiple, temporally distinct peaks of brood production in this population. The number of newly eclosing females and number of mature brood were positively associated with temperature and negatively associated with the number of rain-days during the observation period. Furthermore, larger females were produced during the peaks of brood production. We speculate how these patterns may influence the staying or leaving decisions of newly emerged females in a primitively eusocial species such as L. flavolineata.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the following for help with collecting field data: Selina Brace, Maurizio Casiraghi, Salla Rantalla, Gavin Shreeves, David Stephens, Seirian Sumner, Julian Vuliamy and Mitsuba Yamamoto. We are grateful to K.S. Durai and R. Hashim for logistical support in Malaysia, and the Malaysian Meterological Department for climate data from Fraser’s Hill. We thank Thibaud Monnin and anonymous referees for comments that greatly improved the manuscript. This work was funded by NERC grants to J.P. Field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Écologie and Évolution CNRS UMR 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 Quai St Bernard, 75252, Paris, France

    A. L. Cronin

  2. School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, John Maynard Smith Building, Brighton, BN1 9QG, UK

    C. Bridge & J. Field

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  1. A. L. Cronin
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  2. C. Bridge
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  3. J. Field
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Correspondence to A. L. Cronin.

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Cronin, A.L., Bridge, C. & Field, J. Climatic correlates of temporal demographic variation in the tropical hover wasp Liostenogaster flavolineata . Insect. Soc. 58, 23–29 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-010-0112-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-010-0112-3

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