PAPER: Fitness in invasive social wasps

Fitness in invasive social wasps: the role of variation in viral load, immune response and paternity in predicting nest size and reproductive output

March 2019

Dobelmann J, Loope KJ, Wilson-Rankin E, Quinn O, Baty JW, Gruber MAM, Lester PJ 2017. Fitness in invasive social wasps: the role of variation in viral load, immune response and paternity in predicting nest size and reproductive output. Oikos 126(8): 1208–1218.

ABSTRACT

Variation in microbial communities between populations is increasingly hypothesised to affect animal fitness and performance, including for invasive species. Pathogenic species may be lost during the introduction process, enhancing invader fitness and abundance. This study assessed fitness, immune gene expression, and microbial network complexity of invasive common wasps, Vespula vulgaris. Microbial networks were assayed using 16S and 18S sequencing and gene expression arrays in the native (Belgium) and introduced range (New Zealand).

KEYWORDS

kashmir bee virus; interfering rna pathway; honey-bee; new-zealand; microsatellite loci; genetic diversity; Vespula vulgaris; Apis mellifera; Bombus terrestris; l hymenoptera