Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:07:25.445Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The nocturnal migration of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker) (Orthoptera: Acrididae): quantitative radar observations of a series of northward flights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

V. A. Drake  and
R. A. Farrow
V. A. Drake
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
R. A. Farrow
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, CSIRO, P.O. Box 1700, Canberra, A.C.T. 2601, Australia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Night migrations of insects above the surface boundary layer were studied by direct observations with an entomological radar, and by direct aerial sampling with a kite-borne net, in an area in New South Wales inhabited by large fledging populations of Chortoicetes terminifera (Wlk.). The aerial catches and radar echo-modulation observations suggested that the majority of migrants detected by the radar were locusts, and this conclusion was supported indirectly by light-trap catches and by observations of take–off at dusk. Night flights of locusts began at dusk with a mass take-off and continued on a diminishing scale until about midnight. Displacements were all approximately downwind and to the north, under the influence of a southerly airflow which prevailed throughout the six-day study period. A quantitative radar observation procedure was used to estimate locust aerial densities and migration rates, and to observe the variations of these quantities with height and time; typical and extreme values for all the principal migration quantities are presented. The flight paths of the locusts were estimated from radar observations of target tracks, and probable source areas at distances of up to 200 km to the south were identified; a major overflight which probably originated 150 km away was detected on one occasion. Northward movements of C. terminifera during anticyclonic conditions may help to explain how populations are redistributed in the periods between the long-range southward invasion movements for which this species is well-known.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 73 , Issue 4 , December 1983 , pp. 567 - 585
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Clark, D. P. (1969). Night flights of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera Walk., in relation to storms. — Aust. J. Zool. 17, 329–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D. P. (1971). Flights after sunset by the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walk.), and their significance in dispersal and migration. — Aust. J. Zool. 19, 159–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D. P. (1972). The plague dynamics of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera(Walk.). — pp. 275–287 in Hemming, C. F., Taylor, T. H. C. (Eds.). Proceedings of the international study conference on the current and future problems of acridology. London, United Kingdom, 6-16 July 1970. — 533 pp. London, Centre for Overseas Pest Research.Google Scholar
Clark, D. P., Ashall, C., Waioff, Z., Chinnick, L. (1969). Field studies on the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera Walk.) in the Channel Country of Queensland. — Anti-Locust Bull. no. 44, 101 pp.Google Scholar
Drake, V. A. (1981 a). Target density estimation in radar biology. — J. theor. Biol. 90 545–571.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drake, V. A. (1981 b). Quantitative observation and analysis procedures for a manually operated entomological radar. — Tech. Pap. Div. Ent. C.S.I.R.O. Aust. no. 19, 41 pp.Google Scholar
Drake, V. A. (1982). The CSIRO entomological radar: a remote-sensing instrument for insect migration research. — pp. 63–73 in Wisbey, L. A. (Ed.). Scientific instruments in primary production. — 181 pp. Melbourne, Australian Scientific Industry Association.Google Scholar
Drake, V. A. (1983). Collective orientation by nocturnally migrating Australian plague locusts, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker) (Orthoptera: Acrididae): a radar study. — Bull. ent. Res. 73, 679–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drake, V. A., Helm, K. F., Readshaw, J. L., Reid, D. G. (1981).Insect migration across Bass Strait during spring: a radar study–Bull. ent. Res. 71, 449–466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R. A. (1974). A modified light-trap for obtaining large samples of night-flying locusts and grasshoppers. — J. Aust. entomol. Soc. 13, 357–360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R. A. (1975). Offshore migration and the collapse of outbreaks of the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera Walk.) in south-east Australia. — Aust. J. Zool. 23, 569–595.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R. A. (1977). Origin and decline of the 1973 plague locust outbreak in central western New South Wales. — Aust. J. Zool. 25, 455–489.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R. A. (1979). Population dynamics of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker), in central western New South Wales. I. Reproduction and migration in relation to weather. — Aust. J. Zool. 27, 717–745.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R. A. (1982 a). Aerial dispersal of Scelio fulgidus (Hym.: Scelionidae), parasite of eggs of locusts and grasshoppers (Ort.: Acrididae). — Fntomophaga 26, 349–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R. A. (1982 b). Population dynamics of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker) in central western New South Wales. II. Factors influencing natality and survival. — Aust. J. Zool. 30, 199–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gewecke, M. (1972). Die Regelung der Fluggeschwindigkeit bei Heuschrecken und ihre Bedeutung für die Wanderflüge. — Verh. dt. zool. Ges. 65, 247–250.Google Scholar
Greenbank, D. O., Schaefer, G. W., Rainey, R. C. (1980). Spruce budworm (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) moth flight and dispersal: new understanding from canopy observations, radar, and aircraft. — Mem. entomol. Soc. Can. no. 110, 49 pp.Google Scholar
Hunter, D. M. (1981). Mass take–off after sunset in the Australian plague locust. — Australian Plague Locust Commission Annual Report Research Supplement. 1979–1980, 68–72.Google Scholar
Lambert, M. R. K. (1982). Laboratory observations on the flight activity of the plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker) (Orthoptera: Acrididae). — Bull. ent. Res. 72, 377–389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Neville, A. C. (1963). Daily growth layers for determining the age of grasshopper populations. — Oikos 14, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J. R. (1974). Radar observations of individual desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.) (Orthoptera, Locustidae)). — Bull. ent. Res. 64, 19–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riley, J. R., Reynolds, D. R. (1979). Radar-based studies of the migratory flight of grasshoppers in the middle Niger area of Mali. — Proc. R. Soc. (B) 204, 67–82.Google ScholarPubMed
Riley, J. R., Reynolds, D. R. (1983). A long-range migration of grasshoppers observed in the Sahelian zone of Mali by two radars. — J. Anim. Ecol. 52, 167–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaefer, G. W. (1976). Radar observations of insect flight. — pp. 157–197 in Rainey, R. C. (Ed.). Insect flight. — 287 pp. Oxford, Blackwell (Symp. R. ent. Soc. Lond. no. 7).Google Scholar
Symmons, P. M., McCulloch, L. (1980). Persistence and migration of Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in Australia. — Bull. ent. Res. 70, 197–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weis-fooh, T. (1956).Biology and physics of locust flight. II. Flight performance of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria). — Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 239, 459–510.Google Scholar