Wasp and Bird Nesting Interactions with special reference to Polistes dominula by Christopher Gene Earley A Thesis presented to The University of Guelph In partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Biology Guelph, Ontario, Canada © Christopher Gene Earley, August, 2013 ABSTRACT WASP AND BIRD NESTING INTERACTIONS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO POLISTES DOMINULA Christopher Gene Earley Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Professor Gard W. Otis Polistes dominula and P. fuscatus often nest in bird nest boxes. Potential competition between wasps and birds was studied by removing wasp nests from some boxes. No difference in nesting success of breeding birds was found between boxes with wasp nests and those in which wasp nests were removed. Boxes that never had a wasp nest and boxes from which wasp nests were removed differed greatly in bird occupancy, suggesting that birds detected previous wasp presence. Some bird species gain protection by nesting near wasp nests. Birds may prefer to nest near wasp species that inflict higher sting pain levels. A rank correlation of data from published studies provided no evidence that pain level influences which wasp nests are most attractive to nesting birds. A comprehensive table of bird-wasp nesting associations (listing 121 bird species, 28 wasp species and 4 bee species) is included here. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Dr. Gard W. Otis, my advisor, for all of his support throughout this process. His friendship and instruction is greatly appreciated. I also thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Ryan Norris and Dr. John Wenzel, for their patience as I worked through the part-time aspects of this project. Thanks to Dr. George Gamboa for his help in the initial stages of my research. None of the field research for this project would have been possible without the help of the many people who assisted with setting up the bird boxes and collecting the data. Thank you to Gustavo Betini, Stephanie Van Ryswyk, Jason Mouland, Joe Crowley, Holly Dodds, Megan Sellick, Lauren Rae, Ivan Casas and Dr. Ryan Norris. Local bird box monitors David Lamble, Joe Kral and Bryan Wyatt were incredibly helpful with my project and their support and friendship is gratefully appreciated. For the sting pain chapter, I thank the wasp researchers who supplied information as well as encouragement and enthusiasm. These include Dr. James Carpenter, Dr. Robert Jeanne, Dr. Justin Schmidt, Dr. Christopher Starr and Dr. John Wenzel. I gratefully acknowledge statistical help I received from Lucia Costanzo. As well, thank you to Dr. Shelley Hunt for her encouragement during the final stages of my thesis writing. Thank you to my examination committee members, Cynthia Scott-Dupree and Ernesto Guzman, for their evaluations and comments during my defense. Dr. Scott-Dupree’s comments on my thesis before the defense were particularly helpful. Last, but not least, I would like to thank my wife, Dr. Jiffy Gibson, and our children, Nathan and Skye, for putting up with a grumpy thesis-writer who often took over the whole iii dining room table with papers, books and snacks. Your love and support will be cherished forever. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iii CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1 Nest-builders ...........................................................................................................1 1.2 Social wasps and their nests ..................................................................................1 1.3 Birds and their nests ..............................................................................................2 1.4 Interactions between nesting wasps and nesting birds .......................................3 1.5 Bird nests near wasp nests ....................................................................................4 CHAPTER 2 AN INVASIVE PAPER WASP, POLISTES DOMINULA, AND ITS EFFECTS ON THE BREEDING SUCCESS OF CAVITY-NESTING BIRDS 2.1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................11 2.1.1 Polistes dominula ..........................................................................11 2.1.2 Cavity-nesting birds .....................................................................13 2.1.3 Competition for cavities ..............................................................14 2.1.4 Interactions between P. dominula & cavity-nesting birds ........15 2.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS .........................................................................19 2.2.1 Study area and nest boxes ...........................................................19 2.2.2 Data collection ..............................................................................20 2.2.3 Data analysis .................................................................................21 2.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..........................................................................21 2.3.1 Results ...........................................................................................21 2.3.2 Use of a box by a wasp and a bird simultaneously ...................26 2.3.3 Nest box design .............................................................................27 2.3.4 Conclusion ....................................................................................28 CHAPTER 3 THE INFLUENCE OF WASP STING PAIN LEVEL ON NEST SITE CHOICE BY BIRDS THAT NEST NEAR WASPS 3.1 INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................30 3.1.1 Wasp sting pain level ...................................................................30 3.1.2 Wasp nest-associating birds ........................................................31 3.2 MATERIALS AND METHODS .........................................................................32 3.3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION ..........................................................................32 CHAPTER 4 GENERAL DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ........................................................36 v REFERENCES .............................................................................................................................39 APPENDIX A BIRD-WASP NESTING ASSOCIATIONS ORGANIZED BY BIRD .......................52 APPENDIX B BIRD-WASP NESTING ASSOCIATIONS ORGANIZED BY WASP .....................66 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Nesting attempts in nest boxes by birds (Tree Swallows, Tachycineta bicolor, Eastern Bluebirds, Sialia sialis and Black-capped Chickadees, Poecile atricapillus) and presence of Polistes (P. dominula and P. fuscatus) wasp nests in a Guelph, Ontario, Canada study site ......................................................................................................................................23 Table 2.2. 2 X 2 Contingency Table for Bird Boxes with Wasp Nests (W) and Bird Boxes with Wasp Nests removed (X) (Fisher’s Exact Test; p=0.26) ...................................................23 Table 2.3. 2 X 2 Contingency Table for Wasp Nest Removed (X) boxes and boxes that never had a wasp nest (Fisher’s Exact test; p=0.01) ....................................................................24 Table 2.4. 2 X 2 Contingency Table for Bird Boxes with Wasp Nests at some point (both with wasp nest left intact (W) and with wasp nests removed (X)) and Bird Boxes that never had a Wasp Nest (Fisher’s Exact Test; p=0.0000004) .......................................................25 Table 3.1. Wasp species, Number of bird nests associated with each (Joyce, 1990) and sting pain levels (Starr, 1985; Schmidt, 1990; Wenzel, unpublished data). Colony size data from Jeanne (1991) .....................................................................................................................33 Table 3.2. P and rho values from Spearman Rank Order Correlation showing the relationship between sting pain level and the number of bird nests near each wasp species’ nests ......34 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. A domed bird nest (right) in association with a wasp nest in Northeastern Brazil .........6 Figure 2. Polistes dominula ..........................................................................................................11 Figure 3. Polistes fuscatus ............................................................................................................12 Figure 4. Nest box showing triangular opening at the top of one side .........................................20 viii CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.1 Nest-builders While many diverse taxa of animals are able to build structures, three classes are known for the complexity and diversity of their architecture: Arachnida (spiders and mites), Insecta (insects) and Aves (birds; Hansell 2000). While spiders (order Araneae) build webs primarily as foraging devices (Starr 1991), termites (order Isoptera), ants, bees and wasps (order Hymenoptera) and birds build nests in which they rear their offspring. These nest-builders are able to manipulate their environment in such a way that their reproductive fitness may increase through the use of a built structure (Hansell 2000). 1.2 Social Wasps and their Nests