Parental manipulation of offspring size in social groups: a test using paper wasps

This is the final version. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Maternal effects should be especially likely when mothers actively provision offspring with resources that influence offspring phenotype. In cooperatively breeding and eusocial taxa, there is potential for parents to strategically manipulate offspring phenotype in their own interests. Social insect queens are nearly always larger than their worker offspring, and queens could benefit by producing small daughter workers in several ways. If queens use aggression to dominate or coerce workers, a queen producing small workers might minimize potential conflict or competition from her offspring. In addition, because of the tradeoff between the number of workers she is able to produce and their individual size, a queen may produce small workers to optimize colony work effort. In this study, we investigate why queens of the primitively eusocial paper wasp Polistes gallicus limit the size of their workers. We created queen–worker size mismatches by cross-fostering queens between nests. We then tested whether the queen–worker size difference affects worker foraging and reproductive effort, or the amount of aggression in the group. Some of our results were consistent with the idea that queens limit worker size strategically: small workers were no less successful foragers, so that producing a larger number of smaller workers may overall increase queen fitness. We found that queens were less likely to attack large workers, perhaps because attempting to coerce large workers is riskier. However, larger workers did not forage less, did not invest more in ovarian development, and were not more aggressive themselves. There was therefore little evidence overall that queens limit conflict by producing smaller workersNatural Environment Research Council (NERC)European Commissio

Spatial organization of the impulse response in a karst aquifer.

International audienceKarst aquifers are characterized by a strong heterogeneity in their physical properties. The purpose of the study is the spatial variability of water transfers in a carbonated karstic aquifer. To this end, a high spatial density of information about the water transfer is needed. The characteristics of the site, a topographic hill of 13 km2 with eight boreholes, which was monitored hourly over four years, allows the study of the spatial variability of water transfers. The variability of the impulse response of the system is studied using autocorrelation and cross-correlation analysis between the rainfall and piezometric level time series. The shapes of the autocorrelation and cross-correlation functions vary according to the geographical location of the boreholes, that proves a spatial organization of the groundwater transfer. The response time varies depending on the thickness of the unsaturated zone by an unusual inverse correlation. In this case, the water level signal spatially integrates the signal transfer of the unsaturated zone and the signal transfer of the saturated part of the aquifer. Consequently, inertia and response time increased with the distance between the borehole and the top of piezometric dome. This description supports highly organized fast transfers in this karst aquifer and a highly connected fracture network

Temporal variability of karst aquifer response time established by the sliding-windows cross-correlation method

International audienceWe study the temporal variability of water transfer through the infiltration zone of a karst aquifer by estimating the impulse response of the system using cross-correlogram analyses between rainfall and piezometric level time series. We apply a sliding-window cross-correlation method, which calculates cross-correlograms on partially superposed short time series windows. We apply this method for rainfall and piezometric level time series at six boreholes in a fractured karstic aquifer located in Burgundy, France. Based on cross-correlogram functions, we obtain a time series of response time. At most of the boreholes, the cross-correlation functions change over time, and the response times vary seasonally, being shorter during the summer. This unusual structure can be partly explained by the seasonal variability in rainfall intensity, which is higher during the summer (May–September), inducing the seasonal behaviour of the epikarst. During the summer, when rainfall intensity is higher, the epikarst is more easily and quickly saturated. This induces an increase in lateral water transfer within the epikarst and an increase in concentrated fast flows. We also show that the response time seems to tend towards a limit which represents the maximum saturation of the epikarst

Investigation of Young water inflow in karst aquifers using SF6-CFC-3H/He-85Kr-39Ar and stable isotope components

International audienc