ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ways in which colony size and cycle might respond to external influences, and deals with the polistine wasps. Colony size among social wasp species varies within a range of at least four orders of magnitude. Most parasitoids attack individual larvae and pupae and cause a reduction in colony output, but rarely destroy the entire brood. The cycle-lengthening effect of high pre-emergence mortality can be partially countered if colony mortality increases rapidly in later stages of the colony cycle. For quantifying the effects of natural enemies on colony size and cycle, comparing intraspecific populations in habitats chosen so as to vary levels of predation, parasitization, and seasonality independently of one another may be the most fruitful approach. Predators against which active defense is partially effective are likely to be more successful in their attacks on the pre-emergence stage, when the colony is small.
