Effect of climate on strategies of nest and body temperature regulation in paper wasps, Polistes biglumis and Polistes gallicus
Both in Polistes biglumis and P. gallicus in most of the inhabited nests all types of brood were present: eggs, larvae and pupae (Table S1), with the exception of one foundress nest of P. biglumis with only one egg. The size of thermographed nests was quite variable in both species, the number of cells ranging from 18 to 99 in P. biglumis (mean: 61.6 cells), and from 19 to 381 in P. gallicus (mean: 101.7 cells) (Table S1). The mean number of wasps on the thermographed nests was higher in P. gallicus (12.6 wasps) than in P. biglumis (7.1 wasps). All nests of Polistes biglumis we observed in this study were built on stone substrate or walls (Figs. 1c, 2a). Only recently we found one nest built on a pile of wood. The choice of the nest substrate was more diverse in P. gallicus (Figs. 1d, 2b). They chose stone, concrete, walls, window grilles, and metal of fences or doorframes.Figure 2Examples of nests and fieldwork set-up in Obergail (a) and Sesto Fiorentino (b). 1 = thermocouple wire; 2 = global radiation sensor, 3 = Peltier-element IR reference source.Full size imageDaily nest temperature coursePolistes biglumisFigure 3 shows a sequence of thermograms of a P. biglumis nest taken from dawn to dusk. Before sunrise the temperatures of the nest and of the wasps on it were quite low (mean ~ 15 °C) and uniform (~ 12 to 17.5 °C; Fig. 3a). The temperature of the stone substrate where the nest was built on was considerably higher (~ 20 °C). After sunrise (Fig. 3b,c) the nest temperature began to rise quickly. It only needed 13 min of sunshine (radiation) to heat the nest from ~ 17 to ~ 25 °C. Within one hour, temperature differences of almost 20 °C were measured within the nest. At 6:50, when the highest temperature on the nest was already at 36.2 °C, fast movements of the adults with inspections of the cells were observed (Fig. 3c). Soon afterwards the increasing temperature induced the wasps to start fanning (arrow in Fig. 3d). The wasps also began to gather water and spread it on and inside cells to cool the nest by evaporation (Fig. 3d,e). Towards late morning, some parts of the nest reached temperatures as high as 46 °C (Fig. 3e)! As soon as the nest was shaded by the substrate (~ 13:00) the nest temperature decreased according to the decrease in ambient temperature (Fig. 3f,g), reaching ~ 21 °C on average after dusk (Fig. 3h). At that time the substrate temperature (~ 25 °C) was still about 4 °C higher than the nest temperature.Figure 3Thermograms of a P. biglumis nest during a whole day (19.07.2017). (a) Before sunrise at 6:20; (b) during sunrise (06:33); (c) nest temperature increasing fast in sunshine; (d) with a fanner for convective nest cooling (arrow; see also Fig. S4); (e) with water drops for evaporative cooling when sunshine increased part of the nest to temperatures > 45 °C; (f,g) after sunset (nest now in shade) in the afternoon; (h) at dusk with wasps sitting motionless on the nest. Time = CEST = UTC + 2 h.Full size imageThe nest and body temperatures of a complete 24 h cycle of a different nest are shown in Fig. 4a. At night the nest temperature and the wasps’ thorax temperature decreased slowly according to the decrease of the air temperature. The substrate temperature was always higher than the mean nest temperature, which surely helped to keep the nest temperature higher than the temperature of the surrounding air (Tanest). Variation of within-nest temperature (max–min) was low at night. As soon as solar radiation increased in early morning, the nest temperature and the body temperature of the wasps on it increased rapidly, and the variation of nest temperature (max–min) increased (see also Fig. 3b). Though the maximum nest temperature reached values as high as 46.9 °C, cooling measures of the wasps (fanning and spreading of water drops, see below) kept the mean nest temperature always below 38.5 °C. Cooling of the nest after sunset (at the nest) was much slower than the increase in the morning, following the decrease of ambient and substrate temperature (Fig. 4a,b).Figure 4Examples of daily temperature changes of nests and wasps of P. biglumis (a,b) and P. gallicus (c,d). Tthorax = mean thorax surface temperature of up to five adult individuals per time of measurement; gray ribbon: total range of nest temperatures (Tmax:Tmin) with mean; Tsubstrate = temperature beside the nest (see Fig. S1c,d); Tanest = ambient air temperature directly at the nest. Ta = ambient air temperature in shade 1–3 m away from nest; Radiation = global radiation hitting the nest; black bars = fanning events at the time of thermographic measurements: actually, many more fanning events were observed. (c) Fanning was never observed! See also Fig. S2 for another example of a P. gallicus nest in shade. Time = CEST = UTC + 2 h.Full size imagePolistes gallicusMost P. gallicus nests were built in locations with no or only little direct sunshine (Figs. 2b, 4c, Fig. S2). In their habitats temperatures in midsummer are often already quite high in the morning, and may increase to values higher than 40 °C during the day (Fig. 4d). Mean temperatures of the nest and of the imagines on it were usually higher than the air temperature close to the nest (Tanest). In most nests variation of within-nest temperature (max–min) remained small throughout the day. On hot days (Tanest > 40 °C), however, maximum temperatures of empty cells in the nest margin sometimes reached values as high as 49.9 °C even in shade. Body temperature of the adults was mostly similar to the mean nest temperature (Fig. 4c, Fig. S2). At night, the nest temperature decreased according to the decrease of Tanest, similar to P. biglumis but at a higher level (Fig. 4d).The situation was different in one large nest which had been built in a location exposed to the morning sun (Figs. 4d, 5). On a hot day when Tanest increased to values higher than 42 °C, the body temperature of the adults increased to values up to 5 °C higher than the mean nest temperature. Nevertheless, though the combined effects of high air temperature and intense insolation increased part of the nest to a temperature of ~ 58 °C (Fig. 4d), mean nest temperature was kept below 41 °C. This was accomplished by cooling with many water droplets in the cells (dark spots in Fig. 5), and by the occurrence of fanning during the period when the sun was shining on the nest (Fig. 4d; see arrows in Fig. 5c). Fanning, however, was quite rare in all the other observed nests, even during the hottest time of the day! Water droplets were carried onto this nest until evening (Fig. 5h), as at that time the nest temperature was still at about 35–38 °C.Figure 5Thermograms of a large P. gallicus nest during a whole day (01.08.2017). Thermograms are rotated 90° clockwise (the upper part is on the right). (a) Before sunrise (6:36); (b) during sunrise (06:46) with the first water drops visible (dark spots); (c) with two fanners for convective nest cooling (arrows, see also Fig. 4d); (d) with more cooling drops; (e) after sunset at the nest site (nest now in shade); (f–h) after sunset in the afternoon and evening. Time = CEST = UTC + 2 h. For temperature evaluation see Fig. 4d.Full size imageBody and nest temperaturesFigure 6 shows a comparison of the dependence of body and nest temperatures on ambient air temperature and insolation between the two species. In the lower ranges of air temperature, usually at night, body temperature followed Tanest closely in both species. The exposition of the P. biglumis nests to the morning sun at ESE (Fig. 7) increased the wasp body temperature to values of often more than 15 °C higher than the surrounding air. However, body temperatures remained always below 40 °C (Fig. 6a). In P. gallicus, by contrast, the body temperature of the wasps increased considerably above 40 °C, to maximum values of about 46 °C, especially (but not exclusively) during intense insolation in the nest exposed to the morning sun (Fig. 6b).Figure 6Surface temperature of the thorax of adult wasps, of different stages of brood and of water drops of P. biglumis (left) and P. gallicus (right), in dependence on ambient air temperature close to the nest (Tanest) and global radiation (color scale). Egg f.n. = single egg on a foundress nest; diagonal lines = isolines. Regressions were calculated for shaded conditions (Radiation = 0–100 W/m2; black or gray solid lines) and sunshine (Radiation > 100 W/m2; pink broken lines); P More