PRODUCTIVITY, INDIVIDUAL-LEVEL AND COLONY-LEVEL FLEXIBILITY, AND ORGANIZATION OF WORK AS CONSEQUENCES OF COLONY SIZE

In social insects, colony-level complexity may emerge from simple indi vidual-level behaviors and interactions. Emergent global properties su ch as colony size, which can be viewed as a consequence of life histor y traits, may influence individual-level behaviors themselves. The eff ects of colony size on productivity, body size, behavioral flexibility , and colony organization are examined here by considering colony size as an independent variable, Large colony size commonly corresponds wi th complex colony-level performance, small body size, and lower per ca pita productivity. Analyzing the construction behavior of various wasp societies reveals that complexity of individual behavior is inversely related to colony size. Parallel processing by specialists in large c olonies provides flexible and efficient colony-level functioning. On t he other hand, individual behavioral flexibility of jack-of-all trades workers ensures success of the small and early societies.