Chrotogonus trachypterus Blanchard is an active grasshopper on farms in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iran, in high populations and is one of the most important pests of vegetables, alfalfa, early growth stages of Gramineae and many crops. Chemical pesticides have harmful effects on the environment and human health; therefore, the use of natural insecticides derived from plants play significant role in pest management because of lower costs, lack of environmental pollution and protection of human health. In this study, lethal effect of Citrullus colocynthis fruit extract was evaluated on the Ch. trachypterus grasshopper under controlled laboratory conditions (at a temperature of 24±2°C, relative humidity of 75±5%, and photoperiod of 16: 8) in a completely randomized design with three replications. The plant was collected from its natural habitat around the city of Iranshahr, Iran, and then dried in the shade. The extraction was performed using methanol. The results obtained from experiments showed significant increase in mortality of tested insects after 24 hours with increasing concentrations of plant extracts. The effect of this extract with concentrations of 10, 20, 25, 35 and 40 milligrams per milliliter were tested on adult Ch. trachypterus grasshoppers. The highest mortality rate (87.50%) was found at a concentration of 40 milligrams per milliliter and the lowest mortality rate (23.33%) was observed at concentrations of 10 milligrams per milliliter. The mortality rate elevated with increasing concentration in all treatments. The LC 50 value for C. colocynthis plant on adult grasshopper was calculated 18.58 milligrams per milliliter.
Species-rich grasslands formed by local ecotypes of native species provide numerous ecosystem services both in rural areas as well as urban grasslands. Nonetheless, their area is still too small, making grasslands one of the most frequently restored habitats. Successful restoration requires high-quality seed material, which is expensive and often not easy to acquire. In this study, we tested the potential of seeds accidentally collected during the mowing of a semi-natural grassland for grassland restoration. We tested seed purity, species composition, and germination capability in both laboratory and field conditions. Ninety percent of the collected material consisted of pure seeds of numerous species. Their germination capability was relatively low but still sufficient for successful grassland restoration under a typical seed density/mass per unit area seeding ratio. The germination capacity was the highest in the first two weeks after sowing and increased with overwintering seed storage. The results suggested that the seeds could be successfully used for species-rich grassland restoration. In terms of advantages, the seed mixture had a low cost and contained native species seeds representing local ecotypes. In terms of disadvantages, there was a relatively low amount of seed material and an inability to plan the time of seed harvesting. Thus, the use of the accidentally collected seeds can be considered an effective but rather ad hoc solution.
Urban grasslands are usually managed as short-cut lawns and have limited biodiversity. Urban grasslands with low-intensity management are species rich and can perform numerous ecosystem services, but they are not accepted by citizens everywhere. Further, increasing and/or maintaining a relatively high level of plant species richness in an urban environment is limited by restricted plant dispersal. In this study, we examined the connectivity of urban grasslands and prioritized the grassland patches with regard to their role in connectivity in an urban landscape. We used high-resolution data from a land use system to map grassland patches in Wrocław city, Silesia, southwest Poland, Central Europe, and applied a graph theory approach to assess their connectivity and prioritization. We next constructed a model for several dispersal distance thresholds (2, 20, 44, 100, and 1000 m), reflecting plants with differing dispersal potential. Our results revealed low connectivity of urban grassland patches, especially for plants with low dispersal ability (2–20 m). The priority of patches was correlated with their area for all dispersal distance thresholds. Most of the large patches important to overall connectivity were located in urban peripheries, while in the city center, connectivity was more restricted and grassland area per capita was the lowest. The presence of a river created a corridor, allowing plants to migrate along watercourse, but it also created a barrier dividing the system. The results suggest that increasing the plant species richness in urban grasslands in the city center requires seed addition.
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