#4 :: Inside the nest

We generally think of wasps strictly as aggressive pests, but the truth is their communities and socially interractions are complex and fascinating. In episode 4, we travel to the University of Michigan to visit with Elizabeth Tibbetts, an Assistant Professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology program. Tibbets' research focuses on the social lives of wasps, and she helps us explore the wasp interactions we don’t often see and explains how wasps enforce “rules” and “laws” without police and courts.

What we learn is that wasps are agressive- two acts of aggression in the nest per minute when everything's cool- but they also lead complex lives that turn those nests into a social microcosm.

Extra-episodic nugget: Polistes dominulus nest in downtown Ann Arbor.

Guest editor: Dr. Rufus Issacs
Music: "Wasps ain't nothing to mess with" by Cichlid Joe, under Creative Commons license Non-commercial sampling plus 1.0..
More links: Elizabeth Tibbetts, wasp facial patterns, living with wasps, W.A.S.P.