Signals and receiver responses often vary across a species’ geographic range. Effective communication requires a match between signal and receiver response, so there is much interest in the developmental mechanisms that maintain this link. Two potential mechanisms are genetic covariance between signal and receiver response and plasticity where individuals adjust their phenotype based on their partner’s phenotype. Here, we test how plasticity contributes to geographic variation in individual face recognition in Polistes fuscatus wasps. Previous work has shown that P. fuscatus from Michigan, USA (MI) have variable facial patterns used for individual recognition, while P. fuscatus from central Pennsylvania, USA (PA) lack variable facial patterns and are unable to learn individual conspecifics. We experimentally altered rearing environment, so wasps were either reared with their own population or in a common garden with wasps from both populations. Then, we tested the wasps’ capacity to learn and remember individual conspecific faces. Consistent with previous work, MI wasps reared with MI wasps were adept at learning conspecific faces, while PA wasps reared with PA wasps were unable to learn conspecific faces. However, MI and PA wasps reared in a common garden developed similar, intermediate capacity for individual face learning. These results indicate that individual face learning in Polistes wasps is highly plastic and responsive to the social environment. Plasticity in receiver responses may be a common mechanism mediating geographic differences in non-sexual signaling systems and may play a role in maintaining links between signals and receiver responses in geographically variable communication systems.

中文翻译：

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马蜂黄蜂个体面部学习的地理变异基于可塑性而不是局部遗传适应

不同物种的地理范围内的信号和接收器响应通常有所不同。有效的通信需要信号和接收器响应之间的匹配，因此人们对维持这种联系的发展机制很感兴趣。两种潜在的机制是信号和接收者响应之间的遗传协方差以及可塑性，即个体根据伴侣的表型调整其表型。在这里，我们测试了可塑性如何影响马蜂个体面部识别的地理差异。先前的研究表明，来自美国密歇根州（MI）的 P. fuscatus 具有用于个体识别的可变面部模式，而来自美国宾夕法尼亚州中部（PA）的 P. fuscatus 缺乏可变的面部模式，无法学习个体同种。我们通过实验改变了饲养环境，因此黄蜂要么与自己的种群一起饲养，要么与来自两个种群的黄蜂一起饲养在一个共同的花园中。然后，我们测试了黄蜂学习和记住个体同种面孔的能力。与之前的工作一致，与 MI 黄蜂一起饲养的 MI 黄蜂擅长学习同种面孔，而与 PA 黄蜂一起饲养的 PA 黄蜂则无法学习同种面孔。然而，在共同花园中饲养的 MI 和 PA 黄蜂在个体面部学习方面具有相似的中等能力。这些结果表明马蜂的个体面部学习具有高度可塑性并且对社会环境有反应。接收器响应的可塑性可能是调节非性别信号系统中地理差异的常见机制，并且可能在维持地理可变通信系统中信号和接收器响应之间的联系方面发挥作用。