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Grasshopper Ecology
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Management Based Grasshopper Ecology Information

The information in this section summarizes ecological insights relevant to integrated pest management (IPM) activities on rangeland and all of the following links are from the IPM Handbook.  These articles describe the relationships between grasshoppers and vegetation, grasshopper outbreaks and weather patterns, habitat manipulation to reduce grasshopper outbreaks, population regulation in grasshoppers and grasshopper outbreaks.

Grasshoppers and Vegetation

Relationships Between Grasshoppers and Vegetation Communities - Anthony Joern, William P. Kemp, Gary E. Belovsky, and Kevin O’Neill

Important links exist between grasshoppers and the vegetation community. Vegetation communities provide the backdrop against which all grasshopper activities occur and determine the availability and distribution of all resources required by grasshoppers. A summary of the insights relevant to integrated pest management (IPM) activities on rangeland.

Host Plant Quality and Grasshopper Populations - Anthony Joern

Understanding how grasshopper populations respond to food availability and quality may contribute critical components to models predicting outbreaks.

Environmental Factors That Affect Plant Quality - Anthony Joern

Answers to how grasshopper food resources vary in time and space will provide important insights to aid in both forecasting grasshopper population change and formulating appropriate management strategies.

Nutritional Needs of Grasshoppers and Control of Feeding - Anthony Joern

Grasshopper Outbreaks and Weather Patterns

Recognizing and Managing Potential Outbreak Conditions - G. E. Belovsky, J. A. Lockwood, and K. Winks

Understanding the ecological processes and events that produce these outbreaks is necessary for pest managers to be able to forecast outbreak events and design better management strategies.

Grasshopper Communities and Methodology - Anthony Joern

Grasshopper Population Regulation - G. E. Belovsky

Variability in the response to weather suggests that grasshopper populations may respond to other factors that are correlated with weather and not to the weather directly (for example, the abundance and nutritional value of food, the cover providing protection from predators, diseases, etc.).

Population and Habitat Regulations

Grasshoppers-Plus and Minus: The Grasshopper Problem on a Regional Basis and a Look at Beneficial Effects of Grasshoppers - G. E. Belovsky, A. Joern, and J. Lockwood

Grasshopper Habitat Manipulation - G. E. Belovsky, M. A. Brusven, D. J. Fielding, and L. Manske

Habitat manipulations have not been adequately investigated as a viable pest-management strategy for grasshoppers, but manipulations may have great potential to reduce grasshopper-caused damage with fewer negative impacts on the environment.