Temporal and spatial dynamics of carpenter bee sociality revealed by CT imaging
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Insectes Sociaux
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Temporal and spatial dynamics of carpenter bee sociality revealed by CT imaging M. M. Ostwald1 · B. R. Lyman2 · Z. Shaffer1 · J. H. Fewell1 Received: 16 January 2020 / Revised: 10 March 2020 / Accepted: 17 March 2020 © International Union for the Study of Social Insects (IUSSI) 2020
Abstract Facultatively social animals adaptively match social strategy to environmental context; as such, they offer unique insights into the ecological factors facilitating social evolution. We investigated temporal (seasonal) and spatial (nest architectural) factors governing flexible social behavior in the carpenter bee Xylocopa varipuncta Patton using repeated, non-destructive computerized tomography scans of nesting logs. We tested the hypothesis that group living is mediated by environmental factors, specifically ecological constraints and phenological parameters. These imaging data support a facultative social organization strongly influenced by seasonal shifts in life-history strategy. Our results also illuminate patterns of structural change associated with nest inheritance and eventual nest abandonment. This dynamic use of space mediates the within-nest interactions that determine social organization. Furthermore, constraints on the usefulness of inherited nest structures compound an existing limitation on nest sites that may underlie the origins of this flexible social strategy. These findings emphasize the importance of including spatial dynamics in considerations of the ecological contexts in which sociality evolved. Keywords Carpenter bees · Nest architecture · Phenology · Social polymorphism
Introduction The initial transitions from solitary to group living are likely facultative, with some individuals in a solitary population adopting a social lifestyle (West-Eberhard 1987; Wcislo and Fewell 2017). As such, facultatively social species found among diverse taxa including birds, mammals, and insects, provide valuable insights into the conditions promoting the evolution of social behavior. Studies of the drivers of flexible sociality have variously highlighted ecological factors (Field et al. 2010; Haney and Fewell 2018), social factors (Kapheim et al. 2015; Lawson et al. 2016), and indirect fitness effects (Reyer 1984; Yagi and Hasegawa 2012). Within these broader contexts, individuals must weigh the Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00040-020-00761-w) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * M. M. Ostwald [email protected] 1
School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
2
fundamental considerations of when and where it is adaptive to be social. In this study, we use CT imaging to characterize a facultative social organization in the carpenter bee Xylocopa varipuncta Patton, for which both seasonal and spatial selective pressures likely play roles in the formation of social groups. Complex social behavior
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