File(s) not publicly available
The evolution of progressive provisioning
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 10:07 authored by Jeremy FieldMost nonsocial wasps and bees are mass provisioners (MP), sealing each egg into its own cell containing all of the food required to reach maturity. Other species instead provision progressively, feeding their offspring only gradually as they develop and usually provisioning more than one offspring simultaneously (SPP). The evolution of progressive provisioning is interesting because it has obvious drawbacks. In particular, it could prolong the period of offspring dependency, and hence increase the chance that a mother will die before her offspring reach independence. Prolonged dependency could in turn facilitate the evolution of helping through insurance-based mechanisms. In this paper, I outline two ecologically extreme models of how reproductive success is accrued during provisioning. In Model 1, immature offspring become independent as soon as they are fully provisioned. SPP is then disadvantageous because it prolongs the provisioning period compared with MP. If SPP does evolve, Model 1 predicts that brood size, the number of offspring provisioned simultaneously in a batch, should be minimized. Model 2 differs from Model 1 in that offspring become independent only at adulthood. SPP can then be advantageous because investment is converted into independent offspring more quickly than under MP. Model 2 predicts an intermediate brood size, positively correlated with larval development time and the abundance of provisions. Ammophiline digger wasps and eusocial vespids may correspond to Models 1 and 2, respectively, whereas ground-nesting wasps and bees with multicellular nests may be intermediate.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Behavioral EcologyISSN
1045-2249Publisher
Oxford University PressExternal DOI
Issue
4Volume
16Page range
770-778Pages
9.0Department affiliated with
- Evolution, Behaviour and Environment Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-02-06Usage metrics
Categories
No categories selectedKeywords
Licence
Exports
RefWorks
BibTeX
Ref. manager
Endnote
DataCite
NLM
DC