Endemic grasshopper species distribution in an agro-natural landscape of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

Adu-Acheampong, Samuel; Samways, Michael J.; Landmann, Tobias; Kyerematen, Rosina; Minkah, Richard; Mukundamago, Mukundi; Moshobane, Claude M.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2017.04.037

Cited by 15 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Some other animal groups that can be used as biondicators within the concession are insects such as grasshoppers (Hao, Wang, Cease, & Kang, 2015;Adu-Acheampong, Bazelet, & Samways, 2016, Adu-Acheampong et al, 2017, dragonflies (Lee Foote & Rice, 2005;Acquah-Lamptey, Kyerematen, & Owusu, 2013), butterflies (Maes & Van Dyck, 2005;Bonfantti, Di Mare, & Giovenardi, 2009, Van Dyck, Van Strien, Maes, & Van Swaay, 2009Hiyama, Taira, Sakauchi, & Otaki, 2018) and ants (Majer, Orabi, & Bisevac, 2007, Coelho, Fernandes, Santos, & Delabie, 2009. Insects are mainly used as indicators of environmental degradation as well as bioindicators of the wellbeing of ecosystems (Acquah-Lamptey et al, 2013, Kyerematen, Owusu, Acquah-Lamptey, Anderson & Ntiamoa-Baidu, 2014aKyerematen, Kaiwa, Acquah-Lamptey, Adu-Acheampong & Andersen, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Butterfly Diversity: An Indicator for Environmental Health within Tarkwa Gold Mine, Ghana

Kyerematen¹,

Adu-Acheampong²,

Acquah-Lamptey³

et al. 2018

ENRR

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Many human societies, rely on proceeds from mining of metals and fossil fuels for income generation as well as resource supplies from biodiversity. However, these mining activities are in conflict with and threaten the sustainable utilisation and conservation of biodiversity. We used butterflies, a known bioindicator species as surrogates to measure the level of change in vegetation within Tarkwa Gold Mines (TGM) in Ghana. Butterfly assemblages were sampled within the concession and characterised in terms of diversity indices and vegetation type. Transect counts, aerial netting and charaxes trapping were employed to assess butterfly assemblages. Results showed that although there were high records of degraded forest and savanna indicator species, the fairly high presence of deep forested species also shows that some forested areas within the concession are still in good condition. Recommendations are made to maintain forest blocks to serve as refugia for butterflies and urge management to institute measures to restore old and abandoned mined sites. We also recommend policy makers to enact laws that will ensure that, mining organisations lay down plans for sustainable mine operations and biodiversity conservation before being granted licenses to operate in Ghana.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Butterfly Diversity: An Indicator for Environmental Health within Tarkwa Gold Mine, Ghana

Kyerematen¹,

Adu-Acheampong²,

Acquah-Lamptey³

et al. 2018

ENRR

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“…Rainfall emerged as the least important variable for desert locust breeding suitability. However, Adu-Acheampong and co-authors 15 revealed that desert locust eggs could remain undeveloped for years but start to hatch with the onset of rainfall. This is perhaps because rainfall contribution is somehow already captured by the soil moisture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Locust (desert locust and grasshopper) outbreak prediction and monitoring can be modelled using ecological niches (EN) approaches 15,16 . A category of EN models apply machine learning algorithms that correlate a set of environmental conditions (e.g., bio-climatic variables) to species presence and absence records to predict its suitable habitats 17 .…”

Section: Openmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prediction of breeding regions for the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria in East Africa

Kimathi

Tonnang

Subramanian

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Desert locust outbreak in east Africa is threatening livelihoods, food security, environment, and economic development in the region. the current magnitude of the desert locust invasion in east Africa is unprecedented and has not been witnessed for more than 70 years. Identifying the potential breeding sites of the pest is essential to carry out cost-effective and timely preventive measures before it inflicts significant damage. We accessed 9,134 desert locust occurrence records and applied a machine-learning algorithm to predict potential desert locust breeding sites in east Africa using key bio-climatic (temperature and rainfall) and edaphic (sand and moisture contents) factors. ten days greenness maps from February 2020 to April 2020 were overlaid in model outputs to illustrate the temporal evolution of breeding site locations. this study demonstrated that vast areas of Kenya and Sudan, north eastern regions of Uganda, and south eastern and northern regions of South Sudan are at high risk of providing a conducive breeding environment for the desert locust. our prediction results suggest that there is need to target these high-risk areas and strengthen ground surveillance to manage the pest in a timely, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly manner.

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“…A further consideration is the dynamics of the landscape, which change over time, with, for example German grasshopper diversity strongly associated with community succession of alluvial pine woodland and steppe grasslands (Fartmann et al, 2012;Helbing et al, 2014). The passing of time also leads to changes in spatial differences in vegetation and soil, including in the agro-natural landscape of the CFR (Adu-Acheampong et al, 2016, 2017. Such spatio-temporal and habitat quality differences have an effect on grasshopper life stages, which require different resources at different development times e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Grasshoppers were selected for this study because they are known to be good indicators of change in the environment, especially in a landscape consisting of different vegetation patches (Hao et al, 2015;Adu-Acheampong et al, 2016, 2017. While it would not be surprising that highly-mobile, food-generalist species will be of lesser conservation concern than those of low-mobility and a more restricted diet, we hypothesize that the two trait groups will be moved further apart as a result of landscape transformation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traits and land transformation change the fortunes of grasshopper generalists vs. specialists in a biodiversity hotspot

Adu-Acheampong

Samways

2019

Biosys. divers.

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Understanding the link between species traits and how they use various elements in a heterogeneous agro-natural landscape is essential for conservation planning. Land-use and season affect the availability of resources for herbivorous insects such as grasshoppers. Also, the level at which these herbivores utilise these resources on the landscape depend on their traits. We focus here on the Cape Floristic Region biodiversity hotspot, which is rich in both endemic plants and narrow-range grasshoppers. We assessed dispersion patterns and abundance of the grasshopper species across the agro-natural mosaic, while specifically focusing on species traits and how they change over two seasons (spring and summer). We found that land-use and species traits played major roles in grasshopper spatial dispersion across the landscape, with season a highly significant variable. Not surprisingly, highly mobile, generalist feeders were abundant and widely dispersed across the landscape. Importantly however, this was especially the case in late season, when they could take advantage of high plant productivity in the vineyards. In contrast, low mobility, specialist feeders were limited to occupying only natural fynbos vegetation in both seasons. Generally, the highly mobile generalists benefitted in two ways: occupation of transformed areas, and receiving a population boost late season. This was not the case for the low-mobility specialists, which were doubly disadvantaged: not able to move far, and lacking their specific host plants in the transformed areas. From a conservation perspective, our results indicate the importance of improving functional connectivity using natural fynbos for conservation of the endemic specialists, while the generalists can largely look after themselves across this agro-natural mosaic.

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Endemic grasshopper species distribution in an agro-natural landscape of the Cape Floristic Region, South Africa

Cited by 15 publications

References 41 publications

Butterfly Diversity: An Indicator for Environmental Health within Tarkwa Gold Mine, Ghana

Butterfly Diversity: An Indicator for Environmental Health within Tarkwa Gold Mine, Ghana

Prediction of breeding regions for the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria in East Africa

Traits and land transformation change the fortunes of grasshopper generalists vs. specialists in a biodiversity hotspot

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