Environmental Factors Influencing Foraging Activity in the Social Wasp Polybia paulista (Hymenoptera: Vespidae: Epiponini)
Foraging behavior in social wasps is important in the development of the colony and reflects an important ecological interaction between the colony and the environment. Although the social traits of the co...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2011-01-01
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| Series: | Psyche: A Journal of Entomology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2011/542487 |
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| Summary: | Foraging behavior in
social wasps is important in the development of
the colony and reflects an important ecological
interaction between the colony and the
environment. Although the social traits of the
colony play a role in the foraging activities,
the conditions that establish the space and time
limits are mainly physical. Here, we evaluate
colonies of Polybia paulista
throughout one year in order to verify the
foraging activities and the items collected, as
well as the importance of temperature, relative
humidity, and solar radiation on motivating
foraging. Collection of liquids was always
higher than that of solids; preys were collected
all year long, and nests showed two annual
episodic expansions. The linear mixed effects
(LME) model used to analyze which weather
factors influence the foraging showed
temperature as the most influencing factor on
the collection of materials. |
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| ISSN: | 0033-2615 1687-7438 |