Heavy Livestock Grazing Promotes Locust Outbreaks by Lowering Plant Nitrogen Content

Cease, Arianne; Elser, James J.; Ford, Colleen F.; Hao, Shuai; Kang, Le; Harrison, Jon F.

doi:10.1126/science.1214433

Cited by 195 publications

(219 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…An earlier study reported decreased survival and growth when M. bivittatus nymphs were fed P-fertilized wheat (1.86%P) (Smith, 1960) and suggested that, perhaps counter-intuitively, P fertilizer could be a way to improve wheat crops and decrease pests. These results fit with a growing body of literature showing cases in nature where herbivores may not be N or P limited and that high levels of these nutrients can decrease growth and survival (Boersma and Elser, 2006;Cease et al, 2012;Simpson and Raubenheimer, 2012). On the lower end of the P diets, Smith (1960) reported that the low-P wheat (0.17%P) decreased survival relative to control wheat.…”

Section: Effects Of Dietary P On Growth Development and Survivalsupporting

confidence: 79%

Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

Cease

Fay

Elser

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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Comparisons of the carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (P) content of plants and insect herbivores suggests that P limitation and herbivore foraging to balance P intake could be common. However, the lack of synthetic diets for testing the effects of lower ranges of dietary P has been a major impediment to experimental assessment of the ecological importance of, and physiological responses to, P limitation for terrestrial herbivores. We manipulated dietary P content (%P) over its observed range in terrestrial foliage using artificial diets containing near-optimal content of other nutrients for the grasshopper Schistocerca americana. Over much of the ecologically relevant range, when consuming single diets over a lifetime, higher P stimulated growth rates and increased survival, with an optimal dietary %P of 0.25-0.50% when measured throughout development. Excessive dietary P (1%) reduced growth and survival. However, with only short-term (3 day) confinement to single diets, dietary P had no effect on food consumption or growth rates. During these short exposures, fifth (but not third) instar hoppers increased the proportion of P excreted relative to P assimilated as dietary P increased. Target experiments demonstrated that, when given a choice, grasshoppers select among foods to attain a P intake target of 0.6%. These data suggest that P limitation could be common for terrestrial insect herbivores and that they can exhibit ingestive and post-ingestive mechanisms to attain sufficient but not excessive P.

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Section: Effects Of Dietary P On Growth Development and Survivalsupporting

confidence: 79%

Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

Cease

Fay

Elser

et al. 2015

Journal of Experimental Biology

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“…Conflicting evidence is provided in Holmes et al (1979) who stated that some grasshopper species were more abundant in heavily grazed fields when compared with lightly grazed fields, while other species exhibited the opposite preference for infrequently grazed pastures with tall and dense vegetation. Cease et al (2012) also demonstrated that abundance of the locust Oedaleus asiaticus was promoted by heavy grazing in north Asian steppe grasslands by the lowering of plant nitrogen (N).…”

Section: The Effect Of Grazingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grazing and Orthoptera: a review

Gardiner¹

2018

JOR

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Orthoptera are an important biological component of grasslands as a crucial link in the food chain. Grazing, either by wild animals or livestock for human food production, exerts considerable influence on the Orthoptera of grasslands. For example, grazing prevents succession of open grasslands to scrub and forest, creates heterogeneity in sward height, and provides patches of bare earth through the action of livestock hooves breaking the vegetative cover. Grazing may also interact with other forms of grassland management such as burning to produce quite complex interactions which vary greatly between regions and Orthoptera species. Threats to grassland Orthoptera include overgrazing; conversely, abandonment of grazing can lead to the loss of open habitats vital to many species. It is important to have ungrazed areas to provide refuges for species negatively affected by grazing. Rotational management -moving domestic livestock between different pastures -will also allow a range of sward structures to develop over a landscape. The over-arching principle for grazing management should be to establish a heterogeneous sward with a range of sward heights and bare earth for oviposition/basking. In more extensive systems, patches of scrub can form habitat of woody vegetation for species such as bush crickets. The greatest diversity of habitats should provide the highest species richness.

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“…Vegetation has a key influence on grasshopper populations (Kang et al, 2007), and the degradation of grasslands can cause outbreaks of some locust species in the Eurasian steppe system (Cease et al, 2012). Agricultural activities may be responsible for an increase in the density of grasshoppers in Europe (Badenhausser & Cordeau, 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Agricultural Activities on Grassland Arthropods in Inner Mongolia

Sorgog¹,

Saito²,

Hironaka³

et al. 2012

ENRR

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Arthropod pest outbreaks are becoming more common in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, China, most likely due to the expansion of agriculture. The area of cropland has increased from 43,300 km 2 in 1949 to 76,300 km 2 in 2005. To understand the effects of agricultural activities on arthropod distribution, sweep net sampling was conducted in a natural grassland. We collected 1287 individuals belonging to 23 families and 9 orders of arthropods from 41 sites. We divided these samples into two guild types (predator and herbivore) and analyzed six groups (grasshoppers, herbivorous Coleoptera, herbivorous Hemiptera, Cicaddidae, Araneae, predatory Coleoptera) of them. Using a negative binomial regression analysis we analyzed the relationships between each group's sampled population size and measured environmental factors including pesticide application and mean temperature of the previous year, agricultural site, and vegetation condition. The best model for each group was determined using Akaike's information criterion. Grasshoppers showed a significant positive response to pesticide application and degraded vegetation, whereas spider (natural enemies of some insect pests) showed a negative response to these factors. The population of grasshoppers increased at sites where pesticides were applied, vegetation was degraded, and spider numbers were reduced. Other groups were not significantly correlated with pesticide application and degraded vegetation. Some of the environmental factors we studied promoted pests the following year. Our results also suggest that the current use of pesticides may not be effective for pest control and that alternative options should be considered in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.

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Heavy Livestock Grazing Promotes Locust Outbreaks by Lowering Plant Nitrogen Content

Cited by 195 publications

References 28 publications

Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

Dietary phosphate affects food selection, post-ingestive P fate, and performance of a polyphagous herbivore

Grazing and Orthoptera: a review

Influence of Agricultural Activities on Grassland Arthropods in Inner Mongolia

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