Tibbetts Elizabeth A, Lindsay Rebecca
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
Biol Lett. 2008 Jun 23;4(3):237-9. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0048.
Aggressive competition is an important aspect of social interactions, but conflict can be costly. Some animals are thought to minimize the costs of conflict by using conventional signals of agonistic ability (i.e. badges of status) to assess rivals. Although putative badges have been found in a range of taxa, little research has tested whether individuals use badges to assess potential rivals before they engage in aggressive contests. Here, choice trials were used to test how the variable black facial patterns in Polistes dominulus wasps are used during rival assessment. Focal wasps were given access to two patches of food, each guarded by a wasp whose facial pattern had been experimentally altered. Wasps chose food patches based on the facial pattern of the guard, preferring to challenge guards with facial patterns indicating a low level of quality, while avoiding guards with facial patterns indicating a high level of quality. Therefore, status badges play an important role during rival assessment; paper wasps use facial patterns alone to quickly assess the agonistic abilities of strangers.
激烈的竞争是社会互动的一个重要方面，但冲突可能代价高昂。一些动物被认为通过使用争斗能力的传统信号（即地位标志）来评估对手，从而将冲突的成本降至最低。尽管在一系列分类群中都发现了假定的标志，但很少有研究测试个体在进行激烈竞争之前是否会使用标志来评估潜在对手。在这里，选择试验被用来测试意大利黄蜂可变的黑色面部图案在对手评估过程中是如何被利用的。将焦点黄蜂放入有两块食物的区域，每块食物由一只面部图案经过实验改变的黄蜂守护。黄蜂根据守卫的面部图案选择食物区域，更喜欢挑战面部图案显示质量较低的守卫，同时避开面部图案显示质量较高的守卫。因此，地位标志在对手评估中起着重要作用；纸黄蜂仅通过面部图案就能快速评估陌生人的争斗能力。
