Paper Wasp Species Polistes fuscatus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Tracks Urban Lead (Pb) Levels More than Polistes dominula

Authors

• Lindsey R. Kemmerling, University of Minnesota, Twin CitiesFollow
• Anna L. Lovat, University of Minnesota, Twin CitiesFollow
• Allison A. Hanka, University of Minnesota, Twin CitiesFollow
• Emilie C. Snell-Rood, University of Minnesota, Twin CitiesFollow

Document Type

Peer-Review Article

Abstract

Lead (Pb) is a persistent, toxic pollutant with widespread but inequitably distributed impacts, especially for humans in urban areas. The impacts of lead pollution on other organisms is largely unknown, even as they commonly experience exposure to lead alongside humans. We tested hypotheses regarding the lead concentrations of paper wasps across a gradient of pollution relative to soil and human lead levels, and correlations with wasp body condition. We collected two species of paper wasp across an urban gradient of lead pollution: Polistes fuscatus (Fabricius) (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), native to our study location, and Polistes dominula (Christ), nonnative to our study location, and measured their lead concentrations and the lead concetration in soil where they were collected. We also used human blood lead data at the census tract spatial scale to test correlations between human lead levels and wasp lead across the pollution gradient. We used measures of wing size and wing symmetry to test correlations between lead levels and wasp body condition. We found positive correlations between wasp lead concentrations and soil lead for both species. We found that the nonnative species, P. dominula, had relatively high lead concentrations across all census tracts, likely due to their increased productivity and foraging activity; the native species, P. fuscatus, tracked the gradient of elevated lead in humans across the urban landscape with higher lead concentrations in the census tracts where humans had the highest lead levels. Wing size and symmetry were poor indicators of wasp developmental stress across the urban levels of lead exposure. While our species comparison was limited to two species, it suggests that urban wildlife experience urban pollutants alongside humans, but at different rates depending on the species and an individual’s location. Humans and other species are constantly exposed to pollutants in urban areas, but not equally, as we provide further evidence for here.

Recommended Citation

Kemmerling, Lindsey R.; Lovat, Anna L.; Hanka, Allison A.; and Snell-Rood, Emilie C. 2026. "Paper Wasp Species Polistes fuscatus (Hymenoptera: Vespidae) Tracks Urban Lead (Pb) Levels More than Polistes dominula," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 59 (1)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22543/0090-0222.2608
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol59/iss1/8