Facial Patterns are a Conventional Signal of Agonistic Ability in Polistes exclamans Paper Wasps
2011
Tibbetts, Elizabeth A. | Sheehan, Michael (Michael J.)
Some animals minimize the high costs of aggressive conflict by using conventional signals of agonistic ability to assess rivals prior to interacting. Conventional signals are more controversial than other signals of agonistic ability because they lack an inherent physical or physiological link with their bearer’s agonistic ability. Here, we test whether the variable brown facial stripes in Polistes exclamans paper wasps function as a conventional signal. Polistes exclamans were given the option of challenging or avoiding a rival with an experimentally altered facial pattern. Our results show that rival assessment is based on the facial patterns of rivals, as well as an individual’s own size, facial patterns, and nesting strategy. Individuals with larger body size and larger brown facial stripes were more likely to challenge rivals than individuals with smaller body size and smaller brown facial stripes. In addition, large individuals were more likely to challenge rivals with large brown facial stripes than small individuals, while an individual’s own body size did not influence whether or not they challenged rivals with small brown stripes. Individuals who previously nested in multiple queen groups approached rivals more rapidly than individuals who previously nested alone, suggesting that social experience also plays a role in rival assessment. Finally, rivals with small facial stripes were challenged more rapidly than those with large facial stripes. These results demonstrate that P. exclamans facial patterns function as a signal used to minimize the cost of conflict. However, individuals do not make simple decisions based on their rival’s signal alone, as an individual’s own social experience and agonistic abilities also influence rival assessment decisions.
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