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Behavioral and physiological factors associated with juvenile hormone in Polistes wasp foundresses

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Abstract

Although there is increasing interest in the evolution of endocrine systems, relatively little is known about the factors associated with natural endocrine variation in invertebrates. Here, we assess juvenile hormone (JH) titers among nest-founding queens of the wasp Polistes dominulus over 2 years. We allowed unfamiliar wasps to battle for dominance and examined the relationships between dominance rank, JH, ovarian development, and facial patterns. The relationship between JH-titer and dominance varied across years; there was a stronger relationship between JH-titer and dominance in 2006 than in 2008. Across years, wasps that won dominance contests had facial patterns with more broken black spots than wasps that lost dominance contests. There was no relationship between dominance rank and ovarian development. The individual characteristics associated with JH-titer were also tested; JH-titers were correlated with facial pattern brokenness and ovarian development. This study adds to previous work indicating that P. dominulus facial patterns function as a signal of fighting ability. Furthermore, the correlation between JH-titers and facial patterns parallels previous work on testosterone and vertebrate signals and suggests that links between signals of fighting ability and hormones that mediate fighting ability may be common across taxa. Overall, individual JH-titers vary, though they are typically associated with factors related to individual reproductive success, including dominance, fertility, and facial pattern brokenness. Future studies in additional contexts and taxa will be important to test how and why JH-titers vary.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was provided by the University of Michigan and Michigan State University Agricultural Experimental Station. The JH anti-serum was generous gift from David Borst. Thanks are due to A. Mettler, J. Shorter, and M. Wells for research assistance as well as two anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Elizabeth A. Tibbetts & Amanda Izzo

  2. Department of Entomology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Zachary Y. Huang

  3. Ecology, Evolutionary Biology and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Zachary Y. Huang

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  1. Elizabeth A. Tibbetts
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  2. Amanda Izzo
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Correspondence to Elizabeth A. Tibbetts.

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Communicated by O. Rueppell

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Tibbetts, E.A., Izzo, A. & Huang, Z.Y. Behavioral and physiological factors associated with juvenile hormone in Polistes wasp foundresses. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 1123–1131 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1126-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-010-1126-6

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