Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert
The desert locust, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, is a major migratory pest that causes substantial agricultural damage. Flying adult swarms disperse widely during the daytime, but they densely roost on plants at night. Swarm control operations are generally conducted during the daytime,...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2020-12-01
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| Series: | Agronomy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/12/1923 |
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| author | Koutaro Ould Maeno Sidi Ould Ely Sid’Ahmed Ould Mohamed Mohamed El Hacen Jaavar Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah Ebbe |
| author_facet | Koutaro Ould Maeno Sidi Ould Ely Sid’Ahmed Ould Mohamed Mohamed El Hacen Jaavar Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah Ebbe |
| author_sort | Koutaro Ould Maeno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The desert locust, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, is a major migratory pest that causes substantial agricultural damage. Flying adult swarms disperse widely during the daytime, but they densely roost on plants at night. Swarm control operations are generally conducted during the daytime, but night-time control is a significant potential alternative. However, the night-roosting behavior of swarms is poorly understood. We determined night-roosting plant preferences of migrating sexually immature swarms of <i>S. gregaria</i> at four different sites in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania during winter. The night-roosting sites were divided into two types based on presence or absence of large trees. Swarms tended to roost on the largest trees and bushes at a given site. Swarms used medium-sized plants when large trees were not locally available, but the same medium-sized plant species were hardly used when large trees were available. Plant choice influenced roosting group size—large locust groups roosted on larger plants. Night-roosting locusts rarely fled from approaching observers. These results suggest that swarms of <i>S. gregaria</i> exhibit plasticity in their utilization patterns of night-roosting plants depending on the plant community encountered and they selectively use larger plants. We propose that this predictable plant-size dependent night-roosting can be used to particularly ease locust swarm control and to generally adopt anti-locust night control strategy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:16:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b45627892bae4a2982c03e6df6b3e7b0 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4395 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T14:16:52Z |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Agronomy |
| spelling | doaj.art-b45627892bae4a2982c03e6df6b3e7b02023-11-20T23:44:09ZengMDPI AGAgronomy2073-43952020-12-011012192310.3390/agronomy10121923Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara DesertKoutaro Ould Maeno0Sidi Ould Ely1Sid’Ahmed Ould Mohamed2Mohamed El Hacen Jaavar3Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah Ebbe4Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS), Livestock and Environment Division, Ohwashi 1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8686, JapanCentre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA), Nouakchott 665, MauritaniaCentre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA), Nouakchott 665, MauritaniaCentre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA), Nouakchott 665, MauritaniaCentre National de Lutte Antiacridienne (CNLA), Nouakchott 665, MauritaniaThe desert locust, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, is a major migratory pest that causes substantial agricultural damage. Flying adult swarms disperse widely during the daytime, but they densely roost on plants at night. Swarm control operations are generally conducted during the daytime, but night-time control is a significant potential alternative. However, the night-roosting behavior of swarms is poorly understood. We determined night-roosting plant preferences of migrating sexually immature swarms of <i>S. gregaria</i> at four different sites in the Sahara Desert in Mauritania during winter. The night-roosting sites were divided into two types based on presence or absence of large trees. Swarms tended to roost on the largest trees and bushes at a given site. Swarms used medium-sized plants when large trees were not locally available, but the same medium-sized plant species were hardly used when large trees were available. Plant choice influenced roosting group size—large locust groups roosted on larger plants. Night-roosting locusts rarely fled from approaching observers. These results suggest that swarms of <i>S. gregaria</i> exhibit plasticity in their utilization patterns of night-roosting plants depending on the plant community encountered and they selectively use larger plants. We propose that this predictable plant-size dependent night-roosting can be used to particularly ease locust swarm control and to generally adopt anti-locust night control strategy.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/12/1923aggregationdensity-dependent phase polyphenismmigrationnight-roosting site choice<i>Schistocerca gregaria</i> |
| spellingShingle | Koutaro Ould Maeno Sidi Ould Ely Sid’Ahmed Ould Mohamed Mohamed El Hacen Jaavar Mohamed Abdallahi Ould Babah Ebbe Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert Agronomy aggregation density-dependent phase polyphenism migration night-roosting site choice <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i> |
| title | Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert |
| title_full | Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert |
| title_fullStr | Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert |
| title_full_unstemmed | Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert |
| title_short | Adult Desert Locust Swarms, <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i>, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert |
| title_sort | adult desert locust swarms i schistocerca gregaria i preferentially roost in the tallest plants at any given site in the sahara desert |
| topic | aggregation density-dependent phase polyphenism migration night-roosting site choice <i>Schistocerca gregaria</i> |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/10/12/1923 |
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