Location
Additional Presentations- College of Science and Mathematics
Document Type and Release Option
Thesis Presentation (Restricted to Georgia Southern)
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Kevin Loope
Faculty Mentor Email
.
Presentation Year
2021
Start Date
26-4-2021 12:00 AM
End Date
30-4-2021 12:00 AM
Keywords
Georgia Southern University, Honors Symposium, Presentation
Description
The Southern Yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa, is known for engaging in two differing colonial lifestyles. These two lifestyles are largely dependent on the number of queens residing in a colony. In the common single-queen, or monogyne, strategy, colonies typically have a smaller nest that survives for a year, whereas the unusual multiqueen, or polygyne, colonies will sometimes form massive “supercolonies” that can survive up to two years. These polygyne colonies have only been observed in the southernmost ranges of V. squamosa, and are quite rare where they have been studied, though this phenotype is common in some invasive Vespula populations in tropical habitats. As a means of understanding the geographic and ecological factors behind polygyny colony creation, this study seeks to perform genetic analysis on colonies from Southern Mexico, where perenniality rate could be high, to compare genetic relatedness both within and between colonies. The end goal being to determine if and to what extent polygyny in V. squaomsa is occurs in the unexplored portions of this species range. I genotyped two hundred and eighty-six individuals from eight colonies at eight microsatellite loci in order to establish a family structure of each colony. Statistical parentage analysis showed that the colonies together contained a minimum of forty-four queens. Colony data suggested that all of the colonies were polygynous, the minimum number of queens in one colony being three and the highest being thirteen. These data suggest that polygyny is common at this site, unlike all other studied native Vespula populations.
Academic Unit
College of Science and Mathematics
Using Microsatellite Loci to Establish Colonial Matrilineages in Order to Better Understand Polygynous and Perennial Behavior of Vespula squamosa
Additional Presentations- College of Science and Mathematics
The Southern Yellowjacket, Vespula squamosa, is known for engaging in two differing colonial lifestyles. These two lifestyles are largely dependent on the number of queens residing in a colony. In the common single-queen, or monogyne, strategy, colonies typically have a smaller nest that survives for a year, whereas the unusual multiqueen, or polygyne, colonies will sometimes form massive “supercolonies” that can survive up to two years. These polygyne colonies have only been observed in the southernmost ranges of V. squamosa, and are quite rare where they have been studied, though this phenotype is common in some invasive Vespula populations in tropical habitats. As a means of understanding the geographic and ecological factors behind polygyny colony creation, this study seeks to perform genetic analysis on colonies from Southern Mexico, where perenniality rate could be high, to compare genetic relatedness both within and between colonies. The end goal being to determine if and to what extent polygyny in V. squaomsa is occurs in the unexplored portions of this species range. I genotyped two hundred and eighty-six individuals from eight colonies at eight microsatellite loci in order to establish a family structure of each colony. Statistical parentage analysis showed that the colonies together contained a minimum of forty-four queens. Colony data suggested that all of the colonies were polygynous, the minimum number of queens in one colony being three and the highest being thirteen. These data suggest that polygyny is common at this site, unlike all other studied native Vespula populations.
Comments
This work is archived and distributed under the repository's standard copyright and reuse license, available here. Under this license, end-users may copy, store, and distribute this work without restriction. For questions related to additional reuse of this work, please contact the copyright owner.