A critique of “Preventive control and desert locust plagues”

Symmons, P. M.

doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2009.04.012

Cited by 19 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…As the relationship between desert locust and soil moisture (rain or runoff) is perceived clearly for solitarious hoppers and not – or less clearly – for transiens hoppers, the focus of surveys should be on the solitarious phase for quick location of any gathering population which may become transiens and hence be potentially dangerous. Waiting for gregarious populations to occur, as advocated by some (Symmons, ), ignores the increasingly effective and precise detection capabilities offered by modern satellite imagery. These techniques would be less useful for gregarious populations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The risk of destructive large swarms can be effectively managed by the application of a preventive strategy based on the monitoring of outbreak areas (Magor et al, 2008;Sword et al, 2010). This strategy, recommended as early as 1960 (FAO, 1968(FAO, , 1972Hafraoui & McCulloch, 1993;Krall et al, 1997;van Huis et al, 2007;Magor et al, 2007), continues to be the subject of criticism and discussion on the best timing of control operations (Joffe, 1995;Symmons, 2009). However, prevention remains the current strategy and its implementation is a probable factor in the reduction in the frequency, duration, and magnitude of invasions (Lecoq, 2001(Lecoq, , 2003Magor et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Importance of solitarious desert locust population dynamics: lessons from historical survey data in Algeria

Lazar

Piou

Doumandji-Mitiche

et al. 2016

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a major pest and well known in its gregarious phase. However, it is not well understood during recession periods, when the solitarious phase populations are discrete. Nonetheless, these populations are at the origin of the invasions when ecological conditions become favourable. This lack of knowledge of the solitarious phase individuals impedes effective preventive management of this pest. Archive data collected in Algeria from 1980 to 2011 were used to analyse solitarious population dynamics across the Algerian Sahara where some outbreak areas are located that play a major role in the invasion process. The results confirm previous empirical observations on solitarious population dynamics. First, a clear difference could be documented between the northern and southern Saharan regions of Algeria concerning the locust dynamics and the impact of environmental conditions. The importance of runoff was clear to create suitable habitats over a long period and to very distant places from rainy areas. Second, a link, on an annual basis, between green vegetation and presence of solitarious locusts was found. Third, statistical relationships between various locations demonstrated a clear regional dynamics. Our study confirmed the importance of migrations of solitarious populations among Algerian regions and more generally within the recession area of this species. The operational implications of these findings are multiple. First, they confirm the need of a flexible and scalable preventive system during the year, from 1 year to another and with a clear distinction between the northern and southern Saharan areas of Algeria. Second, they also confirm the necessity for the inclusion of wadis and soil moisture estimations from remote sensing in geographic information systems for preventive management. And third, they clearly illustrate the importance to target solitarious locusts for more efficient preventive survey operations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Importance of solitarious desert locust population dynamics: lessons from historical survey data in Algeria

Lazar

Piou

Doumandji-Mitiche

et al. 2016

Entomologia Exp Applicata

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“…As a result, locust outbreaks-the dramatic increases in population sizes which translate in spectacular hopper band movements and swarm flights-still often remain "unexpected," and the current locust management strategy remains inefficient, costly, and unsustainable. 15,22 The main reason for this is that the areas of initial locust aggregations (gregarization "hot-spots") are usually scattered over a vast and sparsely populated territory. For the desert locust, the area of incipient gregarizations (the so-called recession area) covers 16 million km 2 , which is roughly equal to the areas of the United States and Australia combined.…”

Section: Locust Outbreaks: Always Unexpected and Unpredictable?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…14 However, despite an important progress in this direction, remote sensing alone cannot solve all locust problems, and the pest still can get out of control, as was illustrated by the desert locust upsurge 2003-2005. 15,22,23,28 Furthermore, this tool is currently applied to the practice of locust monitoring and management to only two abovementioned species, S. gregaria and Ch. terminifera and, to a very limited extent, to L. migratoria.…”

Section: Other Locustsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although certain progress has been made recently toward locust outbreak prevention, current locust control strategies are still essentially curative, consisting of large-scale applications of broad-spectrum insecticides to locust infestations. [11][12][13][14][15] There is a growing concern over the environmental impacts of locust control programs. [16][17][18][19][20] Since many locusts inhabit desert and semidesert areas in developing countries, management of these pests is largely dependent on donors' geopolitical interests, availability of funds, stakeholder inputs, and numerous other socioeconomic aspects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Locusts and remote sensing: a review

Latchininsky

2013

J. Appl. Remote Sens

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A dozen species of locusts (Orthoptera: Acrididae) are a major threat to food security worldwide. Their outbreaks occur on every continent except Antarctica, threatening the livelihood of 10% of the world's population. The locusts are infamous for their voracity, polyphagy, and capacity for long-distance migrations. Decades of research revealed very complex bioecology of locusts. They exist in two, inter-convertible and density-dependent states, or "phases." Despite the evident progress in understanding locust behavior, our ability to predict and manage locust outbreaks remains insufficient, as evidenced by locust plagues still occurring during the 21st century. One of the main reasons is that locusts typically inhabit remote and scarcely populated areas, and their distribution ranges often spread across continents. This creates tremendous obstacles for locust population monitoring and control. Traditional ground locust surveys are inadequate to address the enormous spatial scale of the locust problem in a limited window of time dictated by the pest's development. Remote sensing (satellite information) appears a promising tool in locust monitoring. Satellite data are increasingly used for monitoring and forecasting two locust species, the desert and the Australian plague locust. However, applications of this geospatial technology to other locust species remain rare. © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.

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Importance of human capital, field knowledge and experience to improve pest locust management

Gay

Trumper

Lecoq

et al. 2021

Pest Management Science

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BACKGROUND: A poorly organised risk management system may dysfunction when used. The consequences can be dramatic for those supposed to be protected. Since the 1960s, preventive control strategies, with field officers as living memory, have been developed to monitor locusts. Preserving their experience of past plagues is consequently essential. Wrong use of their knowledge can disrupt the whole management chain. We explored these conditions using a multi-agent model representing a preventive system. We simulated how the field teams' tendency to repeatedly visit past outbreak areas (hotspots) by allocating them an attraction weight can help in preventing plagues. RESULTS: When field teams' attention remained constant over time, there was dramatic decrease in the number of plagues, with increasing interest in hotspots, as long as interest was less than 2.5 times more than elsewhere. When the field teams were only attentive during recession times, plagues were better controlled using a low weight for hotspots. The spatial structure of hotspot distribution had an effect: the more frequent and the bigger the hotspots, the lower the optimal hotspot weighting needed to reduce plagues. CONCLUSION: Orienting surveys towards hotspots particularly during recession times reduces plagues. The spatial structure of locust habitats may influence the way they are managed. Habitats located outside the multiple hotspots of species such as the desert locust should be visited more frequently than those with only one hotspot, such as the South American locust. The decline/loss of the field officers' experience highlights the need to save, capitalise and disseminate this knowledge.

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A critique of “Preventive control and desert locust plagues”

Cited by 19 publications

References 5 publications

Importance of solitarious desert locust population dynamics: lessons from historical survey data in Algeria

Importance of solitarious desert locust population dynamics: lessons from historical survey data in Algeria

Locusts and remote sensing: a review

Importance of human capital, field knowledge and experience to improve pest locust management

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