Sustainable Management of Insect Herbivores in Grassland Ecosystems: New Perspectives in Grasshopper Control

Grasshoppers are insect herbivores common to grassland ecosystems worldwide. They comprise important components of biodiversity, contribute significantly to grassland function, and periodically exhibit both local and large-scale outbreaks. Because of grasshoppers' potential economic importance...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioscience 2006-09, Vol.56 (9), p.743-755
Main Authors: BRANSON, DAVID H, JOERN, ANTHONY, SWORD, GREGORY A
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Animal populations
Biodiversity
Biological diversity
Birds
Chemicals
Competition
Control
Economic importance
Ecosystems
Environmental economics
Epidemics
Food supply
Grasshoppers
grassland ecology
Grasslands
grazing management
habitat manipulation
habitats
Herbivores
insect pests
insect population dynamics
Insects
Management
Outbreaks
OVERVIEW ARTICLES
pest management
Population
population dynamics
prescribed burning
prevention of grasshopper outbreaks
R&D
Rangelands
Renewable resources
Research & development
s
Sustainability management
Sustainable development
sustainable pest management
United States
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Summary:Grasshoppers are insect herbivores common to grassland ecosystems worldwide. They comprise important components of biodiversity, contribute significantly to grassland function, and periodically exhibit both local and large-scale outbreaks. Because of grasshoppers' potential economic importance as competitors with ungulate grazers for rangeland forage, periodic grasshopper outbreaks in western US rangeland often elicit intervention over large areas in the form of chemical control. Available information combined with alternative underlying conceptual frameworks suggests that new approaches for sustainable management of grasshopper outbreaks in US rangeland should be pursued. There are many reasons to believe that approaches to grasshopper management that aim to reduce or prevent outbreaks are possible. These habitat manipulation tactics maintain existing ecological feedbacks responsible for sustaining populations at economically nonthreatening levels. Sustainable strategies to minimize the likelihood and extent of grasshopper outbreaks while limiting the need for chemical intervention are a rational and attainable goal for managing grasslands as renewable resources.
ISSN:0006-3568
1525-3244
DOI:10.1641/0006-3568(2006)56[743:SMOIHI]2.0.CO;2