Abstract
We investigated nest odor dynamics in the common yellow jacket, Vespula vulgaris. In six isolated colonies, we tested the aggression rates toward dead nestmates that had been stored for 10 min, 10 and 19 days outside their colonies at –76 °C. The aggression rate increased from about 12% toward recently killed nestmates up to 30% toward nestmates killed 19 days before the experiment. Obviously, the conserved nest odor profile of the nestmates frozen for several days did not match with that of their colony anymore. This indicates a change of the nest odor within the colony. In a second experiment, we kept two colonies each in one nest box with a complete separation of both neighbor nests by a solid wall inside the box for 28 days. In confrontation experiments, the colony members treated dead foragers from the neighbor nest as aggressively as dead foreign, non-neighbor workers (about 39% each) whereas only about 14% reacted aggressively toward dead nestmates. Seventeen days after the replacement of the solid wall by a metallic grid, which allowed no physical contact but air exchange between the two neighbor colonies, the aggression rates toward foreign workers and nestmates remained relatively unaffected whereas it decreased significantly toward dead neighbors to about 11%. These results suggest a nest odor dynamic caused by volatiles transferred between two adjacent colonies, resulting in an equalization of the former colony specific nest odors. A change of nest odor dynamics influenced by volatiles was so far described only for one ant species at all.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boulay R, Hefetz A, Soroker V (2000) Camponotus fellah colony integration: Worker individuality necessitates frequent hydrocarbon exchanges. Anim. Behav. 59:1127–1133
Conquest LL (2000) Environmental Monitoring: Investigating Associations and Trends. In: Tim Sparks (ed) Statistics in Ecotoxicology, John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK, pp. 179–210
Crozier RH, Dix MW (1979) Analysis of the two genetic models for the innate components of colony odor in social hymenoptera. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 4:217–224
Dani FR, Jones GR, Destri S, Spencer SH, Turillazzi S (2001) Deciphering the recognition signature within cuticular chemical profile of paper wasps. Animal Behav. 62:165–171
Dhabi A, Lenoir A (1998) Nest separation and the dynamics of the Gestalt odor in the polydomous ant Cataglyphis iberica (Hymenoptera, Formicidae). Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 42:349–355
Gamboa GJ, Reeve HK, Pfennig DW (1986) The evolution and ontogeny of nestmate recognition in social wasps. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 31:431–454
Katzav-Gozansky T, Boulay R, Vander Meer R, Hefetz A (2004) Nest volatiles modulate nestmate recognition in the ant Camponotus fellah. Naturwissenschaften 91:186–190
Lahav S, Soroker V, Hefetz A (1999) Direct behavioral evidence for hydrocarbons as ant recognition discriminators. Naturwissenschaften 86:246–249
Lenoir A, Cuisset D, Hefetz A (2001) Effects of social isolation on hydrocarbon pattern and nestmate recognition in the ant Aphaenogaster senilis Hymenoptera: Formicidae. Insectes Sociaux 48: 101–109
Liang D, Silverman J (2000) “You are what you eat”: Diet modifies cuticular hydrocarbons and nestmate recognition in the Argentine ant, Linepithema humile. Naturwisenschaften 87:412–416
Malham JP, Rees JS, Alspach PA, Beggs JR, Moller H (1991) Traffic rates as an index of colony size in Vespula wasps. New Zeal J Zool 18:105–109
Obin MS, Vander Meer RK (1988) Sources of nestmate recognition cues in the imported fire ant Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae). Anim. Behav. 36:1361–1370
Provost E, Rivière G, Roux M, Morgan ED, Bagnères AG (1993) Change in the chemical signature of the ant Leptothorax lichtensteini Bondroit with time. Insect Biochem Molec Biol 2:945–957
Ruther J, Sieben S, Schricker B (2002) Nestmate recognition in social wasps: manipulation of hydrocarbon profiles induces aggression in the European hornet. Naturwissenschaften 89:111–114
Singer TL, Espelie KE, Gamboa GJ (1998) Nest and nestmate discrimination in independent-founding paper wasps. In: Vander Meer RK, Breed MD, Espelie KE, Winston ML (eds) Pheromonal Communication in Insects: Ants, Wasps, Bees and Termites. Westview Press, Oxford, pp 105–125
Smith BH, Breed MD (1995) The chemical basis for nestmate recognition and mate discrimation in social insects. In: Cardé RT, Bell WJ (eds) Chemical Ecology of insects II. Chapman and Hall, New York
Soroker V, Vienne C, Hefetz A, Nowbahari E (1994) The postpharyngeal gland as a “gestalt” organ for nestmate recognition in the ant Cataglyphis niger. Naturwissenschaften 81:510–513
Soroker V, Fresneau D, Hefetz A (1998) Formation of colony odor in ponerine ant Pachycondyla apicalis. J Chem Ecol. 24:1077–1090
Vander Meer RK, Saliwanchik D, Lavine B (1989) Temporal changes in colony cuticular hydrocarbon patterns of Solenopsis invicta: Implications for nestmate recognition. J Chem Ecol 15:2115–2125
Vander Meer RK, Morel L (1998) Nestmate recognition in ants. In: Vander Meer RK, Breed MD, Espelie KE, Winston ML (eds) Pheromonal Communication in Social Insects: Ants, Wasps, Bees, and Termites. Westview Press, Oxford, pp 79–103
Vienne C, Soroker V, Hefetz A (1995) Congruency of hydrocarbon patterns in heterospecific groups of ants: Transfer and/or biosynthesis? Ins Soc. 42:267–277
Wilson EO (1971) The Insect Societies. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Wolfgang Hoffman for help in relocating the colonies. All experiments described in this study comply with the current laws of the Federal Republic of Germany
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Steinmetz, I., Schmolz, E. Nest odor dynamics in the social wasp Vespula vulgaris . Naturwissenschaften 92, 414–418 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0006-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-005-0006-9