Foundress number, but not queen size or boldness, predicts colony life-history in wild paper wasps

摘要: Colonies of social insects exhibit a spectacular variety of life histories. Here, we documented the degree of variation in colony life-history traits, mostly related to productivity, in two species of wild paper wasps. We then tested for associations between colony life-history traits to look for evidence of trade-offs vs. a life-history productivity syndrome (i.e. all colony performance metrics are positively correlated) and examined whether differences in the individual behavioural tendencies of foundresses (Polistes metricus) or the number of cofoundresses (Polistes fuscatus) influenced colony life history. The majority of our measures of colony life history were positively related, indicating no obvious resource allocation trade-offs. Instead, the positive association of traits into a productivity syndrome appears to be driven by differences in queen or microhabitat quality. Productivity syndrome structure differed only marginally …