Corbett, Owen Richard; (2025) Mechanisms of Conflict Resolution in Cooperatively Breeding Insect Societies. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

Cooperative breeding is found across the animal kingdom. Dominance hierarchies in animal societies exist to maintain social order and determine distribution of reproduction and resources. In cooperative breeders like Polistes paper wasps, loss of the reproductive often results in a previously non-reproductive helper inheriting the role of breeder, benefiting from the associated direct reproductive benefits. Many species resolve succession through pre-existing dominance, minimizing social disruption; age-related hierarchies are common. Paradoxically, some species lack conflict-minimizing mechanisms, and instead succession appears to involve costly, disruptive aggressive contest. In this thesis I examine systems of dominance and succession in two sister-species of tropical Polistes—Polistes canadensis and Polistes lanio—which display heightened aggression during succession; I use a multi-faceted approach, examining how behaviour, chemical signals, hormonal regulation and age-demography affect reproductive physiology, dominance and succession. Chapter 2 unravels the process of succession in P. canadensis and reveals how non-competitive helpers compensate for succession costs by assuring nest-level foraging efforts. Chapter 3 describes behavioural and chemical mechanisms involved in maintaining dominance in P. lanio and identifies hormonal mechanisms regulating reproductive development and queen signalling. Chapter 4 reveals that, contrary to predictions, age is not a mechanism for determining dominance or succession in P. lanio; it provides further evidence that non-competing helpers compensate for succession costs. Finally, Chapter 5 tests the validity of the common use of cuticular darkening as a proxy for age in social wasps; it reveals how this trait is affected by social disruption, calling into question previous studies on the importance of age in resolving conflict which use this proxy. In conclusion, this thesis provides novel insights into mechanisms of conflict resolution in tropical Polistes and examines these in the wider context of cooperative breeding across the animal kingdom, highlighting the importance of tropical insects as model systems for cooperative breeding.

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