An Excerpt of Locust:
The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier

Lockwood, Jeffrey A.

doi:10.1093/ae/50.4.222

Cited by 36 publications

(50 citation statements)

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“…Estimating extinction risk simply from the extent of habitat lost could severely underestimate the vulnerability of migratory species. For example, the Rocky Mountain grasshopper Melanoplus spretus collapsed from some 15 trillion individuals to extinction because habitat loss was concentrated into a small region in which the species contracted during dry years [11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migratory connectivity magnifies the consequences of habitat loss from sea-level rise for shorebird populations

et al. 2013

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Sea-level rise (SLR) will greatly alter littoral ecosystems, causing habitat change and loss for coastal species. Habitat loss is widely used as a measurement of the risk of extinction, but because many coastal species are migratory, the impact of habitat loss will depend not only on its extent, but also on where it occurs. Here, we develop a novel graph-theoretic approach to measure the vulnerability of a migratory network to the impact of habitat loss from SLR based on population flow through the network. We show that reductions in population flow far exceed the proportion of habitat lost for 10 long-distance migrant shorebirds using the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. We estimate that SLR will inundate 23-40% of intertidal habitat area along their migration routes, but cause a reduction in population flow of up to 72 per cent across the taxa. This magnifying effect was particularly strong for taxa whose migration routes contain bottlenecks-sites through which a large fraction of the population travels. We develop the bottleneck index, a new network metric that positively correlates with the predicted impacts of habitat loss on overall population flow. Our results indicate that migratory species are at greater risk than previously realized.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migratory connectivity magnifies the consequences of habitat loss from sea-level rise for shorebird populations

et al. 2013

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“…During the 1800s, this species was an intermittently serious pest, but it has not been seen since the last specimens were collected in Manitoba in 1902 (see Vickery and Kevan 1985 for a good historical review). Lockwood (2004) showed how human disruption of mountain valleys frequented by M. spretus when their populations were low was a key factor responsible for the extinction of this species.…”

Section: Overview Of Arthropods Found On Canada's Grasslandsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Introduction to the grasslands and grassland arthropods of Canada

Shorthouse¹,

Larson²

2010

Arthropods of Canadian Grasslands (Volume 1): Ecology and Interactions in Grassland Habitats

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Abstract. Grasslands are areas dominated by grasses and herbaceous vegetation and with few or no trees. They are generally open and contiguous and are widely distributed across Canada from the Yukon to eastern Ontario. The largest grasslands are those of the Prairies Ecozone, which extends from the Canada-United States border in a triangle from the western edge of Alberta to the eastern edge of Manitoba. This ecozone comprises the northern extension of the Great Plains of North America. This chapter provides an overview of the geography and biota of the Canadian Prairies Ecozone.Canada's prairies were covered by several continental glaciations that resculptured the surface topography and kept biotic communities in a state of flux. Thus, the current grasslands of the Canadian prairies are the product of environmental stresses, including a varied continental climate, low and variable precipitation, fire, and biotic pressures such as grazing by herbivores. The arthropods that developed here are mostly species that are tolerant of environmental changes.The first humans to arrive on the Central Plains about 10,000 years ago were low-impact hunter-gatherers. Europeans arrived about 150 years ago with technological agriculture and quickly settled throughout the prairies. The once extensive native grasslands were reduced to small fragments, and alien species now dominate or occur in most regions. Most of the arthropod fauna seems to have survived these radical changes, probably due to its members being widely distributed and adapted to unstable and stressful environments.Insects, spiders, and mites are the most diverse and abundant animals in native grasslands, are important in the functioning of grassland ecosystems, and occupy a wide array of niches. Grassland insects in Canada are adapted to cold winter temperatures, a short summer growing season, drought, and strong winds. Grasshoppers are particularly well adapted to grasslands.Résumé. Les prairies sont des zones dominées par les graminées et d'autres plantes herbacées, et où les arbres sont rares ou absents. Elles sont généralement dégagées et contigües, et sont largement réparties au Canada, du Yukon à l'est de l'Ontario. Les plus vastes se trouvent dans l'écozone des prairies qui s'étend en triangle au nord de la frontière américaine, de la limite occidentale de l'Alberta à la limite orientale du Manitoba. Cette écozone est un prolongement vers le nord des prairies herbagères des grandes plaines d'Amérique du Nord. Ce chapitre présente un aperçu de la géographie et des biotes de cette écozone.Les prairies canadiennes ont traversé plusieurs périodes de glaciation continentale qui ont modifié leur topographie et stimulé l'évolution des communautés biotiques. Leur état actuel est le produit de divers facteurs de stress environnemental, y compris un climat continental varié, un régime de précipitations faibles et variables, les incendies et des pressions biotiques comme le broutage par les herbivores. La faune d'arthropodes qui caractértise la région sont surtout de...

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“…It is fascinating that locust plagues gradually disappeared and almost never recurred in the NAP (Lockwood and DeBrey, 1990;Lockwood, 2004;Chapco and Litzenberger, 2004), while on the EAP locust swarms have occurred continuously up until present (Chen, 2000;Wu et al, 2006). The locust outbreaks on the western and eastern plains of the Pacific have exhibited very different outcomes (Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An analysis of the contrasting fates of locust swarms on the plains of North America and East Asia

Ke²,

Shen³

et al. 2013

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Prior to ~1880 AD locust swarms periodically raged across both the North American Plains (NAP) and East Asian Plains (EAP). After this date, locust outbreaks almost never recurred on the NAP but have continued to cause problems on the EAP. The large quantities of pesticides used in the major agriculture regions of the NAP in the late 1870s have been suggested as a possible reason for the disappearance of locust outbreaks in this area. Extensive applications of modern, i.e. more effective, chemical pesticides were also used in the granary regions of the EAP in the 1950s in an effort to reduce pest outbreaks. However, locust swarms returned again in many areas of China in the 1960s. Therefore, locust extinction on the NAP still remains a puzzle. Frequent locust outbreaks on the EAP over the past 130 yr may offer clues to the key factors that control the disappearance of locust outbreaks on the NAP. This study analysed the climate extremes and monthly temperature–precipitation combinations for the NAP and EAP, and found that differences in the frequencies of these climate combinations resulted in the contrasting locust fates in the two regions: restricting locust outbreaks in the NAP but inducing such events in the EAP. Validation shows that severe EAP locust outbreak years were coincidental with extreme climate-combination years. Therefore, we suggest that changes in frequency, extremes and trends in climate can explain why the fate of locust outbreaks in the EAP was different from that in the NAP. The results also suggest that, with present global warming trends, precautionary measures should be taken to make sure other similar pest infestations do not occur in either region.

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An Excerpt of Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Migratory connectivity magnifies the consequences of habitat loss from sea-level rise for shorebird populations

Migratory connectivity magnifies the consequences of habitat loss from sea-level rise for shorebird populations

Introduction to the grasslands and grassland arthropods of Canada

An analysis of the contrasting fates of locust swarms on the plains of North America and East Asia

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