Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization

Autores
Mattiacci, Analia; Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina; Masciocchi, Maite; Corley, Juan Carlos
Año de publicación
2023
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
Workers’ task specialization and division of labor are critical features of social insects’ ecological success. It has been proposed that the division of labor relies on response threshold models: individuals varying their sensitivity (and responsiveness) to biologically relevant stimuli and performing a specific task when a stimulus exceeds an internal threshold. In this work, we study carbohydrate and protein responsiveness and their relation to worker task specialization in Vespula germanica, an invasive social wasp. The sucrose and peptone responsiveness of two different subcastes, preforagers and foragers, was determined by stimulating the antenna of the wasps with increasing concentrations of the solution and quantifying whether each concentration elicited a licking response. We studied responsiveness in five different ways: (1) response threshold, (2) concentration 50 (concentration to which at least 50% of wasps responded), (3) maximum response, (4) mean scores and (5) median scores. Our results suggest that V. germanica foragers are more sensitive to sucrose (lower thresholds) than preforager workers. However, we found no differences for peptone thresholds (i.e., a protein resource). Nonetheless, this is the first study to investigate response thresholds for protein resources. The intercaste variation in sucrose responsiveness shown in our work contributes to the existing knowledge about response threshold theory as a mechanism for task specialization observed in V. germanica.
EEA Bariloche
Fil: Mattiacci, Analia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Mattiacci, Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; Argentina
Fil: Masciocchi, Maite. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Masciocchi, Maite. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional Del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Departamento de Ecología; Argentina
Fuente
Insect Science : 1-12. (First published: 03 August 2023)
Materia
Vespula germanica
Estímulo
Carbohidratos
Proteínas
Especie Invasiva
Stimuli
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Invasive Species
Avispa Chaqueta Amarilla
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso restringido
Condiciones de uso
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Repositorio
INTA Digital (INTA)
Institución
Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
OAI Identificador
oai:localhost:20.500.12123/15020

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network_acronym_str INTADig
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network_name_str INTA Digital (INTA)
spelling Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specializationMattiacci, AnaliaMengoni Goñalons, CarolinaMasciocchi, MaiteCorley, Juan CarlosVespula germanicaEstímuloCarbohidratosProteínasEspecie InvasivaStimuliCarbohydratesProteinsInvasive SpeciesAvispa Chaqueta AmarillaWorkers’ task specialization and division of labor are critical features of social insects’ ecological success. It has been proposed that the division of labor relies on response threshold models: individuals varying their sensitivity (and responsiveness) to biologically relevant stimuli and performing a specific task when a stimulus exceeds an internal threshold. In this work, we study carbohydrate and protein responsiveness and their relation to worker task specialization in Vespula germanica, an invasive social wasp. The sucrose and peptone responsiveness of two different subcastes, preforagers and foragers, was determined by stimulating the antenna of the wasps with increasing concentrations of the solution and quantifying whether each concentration elicited a licking response. We studied responsiveness in five different ways: (1) response threshold, (2) concentration 50 (concentration to which at least 50% of wasps responded), (3) maximum response, (4) mean scores and (5) median scores. Our results suggest that V. germanica foragers are more sensitive to sucrose (lower thresholds) than preforager workers. However, we found no differences for peptone thresholds (i.e., a protein resource). Nonetheless, this is the first study to investigate response thresholds for protein resources. The intercaste variation in sucrose responsiveness shown in our work contributes to the existing knowledge about response threshold theory as a mechanism for task specialization observed in V. germanica.EEA BarilocheFil: Mattiacci, Analia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Mattiacci, Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Masciocchi, Maite. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Masciocchi, Maite. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; ArgentinaFil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional Del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Departamento de Ecología; ArgentinaWiley2023-08-25T13:10:05Z2023-08-25T13:10:05Z2023-08-03info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/15020https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1744-7917.132581744-7917https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13258Insect Science : 1-12. (First published: 03 August 2023)reponame:INTA Digital (INTA)instname:Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuariaenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccesshttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)2025-09-29T13:46:03Zoai:localhost:20.500.12123/15020instacron:INTAInstitucionalhttp://repositorio.inta.gob.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://repositorio.inta.gob.ar/oai/requesttripaldi.nicolas@inta.gob.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:l2025-09-29 13:46:03.845INTA Digital (INTA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuariafalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
title Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
spellingShingle Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
Mattiacci, Analia
Vespula germanica
Estímulo
Carbohidratos
Proteínas
Especie Invasiva
Stimuli
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Invasive Species
Avispa Chaqueta Amarilla
title_short Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
title_full Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
title_fullStr Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
title_full_unstemmed Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
title_sort Gustatory responsiveness in Vespula germanica workers: exploring the interplay between sensory perception and task specialization
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Mattiacci, Analia
Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina
Masciocchi, Maite
Corley, Juan Carlos
author Mattiacci, Analia
author_facet Mattiacci, Analia
Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina
Masciocchi, Maite
Corley, Juan Carlos
author_role author
author2 Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina
Masciocchi, Maite
Corley, Juan Carlos
author2_role author
author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Vespula germanica
Estímulo
Carbohidratos
Proteínas
Especie Invasiva
Stimuli
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Invasive Species
Avispa Chaqueta Amarilla
topic Vespula germanica
Estímulo
Carbohidratos
Proteínas
Especie Invasiva
Stimuli
Carbohydrates
Proteins
Invasive Species
Avispa Chaqueta Amarilla
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv Workers’ task specialization and division of labor are critical features of social insects’ ecological success. It has been proposed that the division of labor relies on response threshold models: individuals varying their sensitivity (and responsiveness) to biologically relevant stimuli and performing a specific task when a stimulus exceeds an internal threshold. In this work, we study carbohydrate and protein responsiveness and their relation to worker task specialization in Vespula germanica, an invasive social wasp. The sucrose and peptone responsiveness of two different subcastes, preforagers and foragers, was determined by stimulating the antenna of the wasps with increasing concentrations of the solution and quantifying whether each concentration elicited a licking response. We studied responsiveness in five different ways: (1) response threshold, (2) concentration 50 (concentration to which at least 50% of wasps responded), (3) maximum response, (4) mean scores and (5) median scores. Our results suggest that V. germanica foragers are more sensitive to sucrose (lower thresholds) than preforager workers. However, we found no differences for peptone thresholds (i.e., a protein resource). Nonetheless, this is the first study to investigate response thresholds for protein resources. The intercaste variation in sucrose responsiveness shown in our work contributes to the existing knowledge about response threshold theory as a mechanism for task specialization observed in V. germanica.
EEA Bariloche
Fil: Mattiacci, Analia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Mattiacci, Analia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Mengoni Goñalons, Carolina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; Argentina
Fil: Masciocchi, Maite. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Masciocchi, Maite. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Bariloche. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones Forestales y Agropecuarias Bariloche (IFAB). Grupo de Ecología y Poblaciones de Insectos; Argentina
Fil: Corley, Juan Carlos. Universidad Nacional Del Comahue. Centro Regional Universitario Bariloche. Departamento de Ecología; Argentina
description Workers’ task specialization and division of labor are critical features of social insects’ ecological success. It has been proposed that the division of labor relies on response threshold models: individuals varying their sensitivity (and responsiveness) to biologically relevant stimuli and performing a specific task when a stimulus exceeds an internal threshold. In this work, we study carbohydrate and protein responsiveness and their relation to worker task specialization in Vespula germanica, an invasive social wasp. The sucrose and peptone responsiveness of two different subcastes, preforagers and foragers, was determined by stimulating the antenna of the wasps with increasing concentrations of the solution and quantifying whether each concentration elicited a licking response. We studied responsiveness in five different ways: (1) response threshold, (2) concentration 50 (concentration to which at least 50% of wasps responded), (3) maximum response, (4) mean scores and (5) median scores. Our results suggest that V. germanica foragers are more sensitive to sucrose (lower thresholds) than preforager workers. However, we found no differences for peptone thresholds (i.e., a protein resource). Nonetheless, this is the first study to investigate response thresholds for protein resources. The intercaste variation in sucrose responsiveness shown in our work contributes to the existing knowledge about response threshold theory as a mechanism for task specialization observed in V. germanica.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-08-25T13:10:05Z
2023-08-25T13:10:05Z
2023-08-03
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/15020
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1744-7917.13258
1744-7917
https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13258
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/15020
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1744-7917.13258
https://doi.org/10.1111/1744-7917.13258
identifier_str_mv 1744-7917
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess
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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
eu_rights_str_mv restrictedAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Wiley
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv Insect Science : 1-12. (First published: 03 August 2023)
reponame:INTA Digital (INTA)
instname:Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
reponame_str INTA Digital (INTA)
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repository.name.fl_str_mv INTA Digital (INTA) - Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria
repository.mail.fl_str_mv tripaldi.nicolas@inta.gob.ar
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