title: How does an invasive social wasp deal with changing contextual cues while foraging?
abstract: In this study, we explore how an invasive social wasp, Vespula germanica (F.), deals with contextual changes while searching for a food source that is no longer available. Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of different degrees of context modification on wasp behavior. Learning sessions consisted of a variable number of feeding trials during which an individual wasp fed from a landmark array made up of a feeder surrounded by four cylinders of the same color. The food and cylinders were subsequently removed from the training site, and this learned landmark array was modified in such a way that information relating to color and/or location of the resulting feeding arrays varied from that previously learned. The results indicate that the color most recently associated with food is prioritized over a formerly learned color, and this pattern is also maintained when wasps have learned the alternative color during a higher number of feeding experiences. This highlights the high plasticity with which V. germanica responds to unpredictable contextual changes while foraging.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA, Quintral 1250, 8400 Bariloche, Argentina. mlozada@crub.uncoma.edu.ar
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lozada
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: D'Adamo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior; D002417:Cattle; D003463:Cues; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D014863:Wasps