Summary
In the article “For Locusts, Overgrazed Land Is a Treat” Main explores the threat posed by locust to farmers. The article points out that in the year between 2003 and 2005, swarms of locust destroyed crops in West Africa thus causing a harvest loss estimated at $ 2.5 billion. According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, about $400 million was used to bring the locust menace under control. Usually, it takes time for a community to recover from a locust invasion even after the attack has been contained and without warning, the locust may invade again eating every plant they get (Main, 2012).
Main tells a story of Arianne Cease, a Peace Corps volunteer who witness a terrible locust invasion while working in Senegal. Cease was so frustrated to witness the subsistence farmers setback caused by the locust that she decided to change careers. At Arizona State University, she enrolled for a doctoral program in order to study and understand locusts better. Cease’s objective according to Main was to have a deeper understanding about the diet and ecology of Chinese grasshoppers, scientifically known as Oedaleus asiaticus (Main, 2012).
Ms. Cease went about studying this grasshopper species nutritional requirement by keeping them in two separate outdoor sections. One section or plot was well fertilized while the other was grazed heavily by sheep. The former plot which was heavily fertilized contained plants that were rich in nitrogen which is a nutrient element required for protein synthesis while the latter plot contained vegetations that were nitrogen deficient (Main, 2012).
In her study, Cease found that grasshoppers fed on nitrogen deficient vegetation thrived well by having high survival frequency rate and growing faster than those fed on nitrogen rich vegetations. These findings were contrary to Cease’s and other researcher’s expectations. These findings linked land overgrazing to the emergence of grasshopper swarms. This study therefore revealed that this grasshopper species prefer nitrogen or protein deficient vegetations as compared to other species. These findings challenged the popular argument that grasshoppers are limited by nitrogen or protein levels in plants. To confirm these findings, Cease performed lab experiments (Main, 2012).
Main asserts that reducing nitrogen content of the grass through grazing provides insects with a better niche to increase and form swarms. Elser, a co-author of this study opines that knowledge of this relationship is essential in improving land management practices that can lead to locusts menace reduction. These practices may include, practicing animal grazing rotations or fertilizing vegetations to prevent grasshoppers from multiplying. Although according to Elser, this approach may not be ideal due to the world’s concern over nitrogen surface runoff from fertilizers, it is preferable to the careless insecticide spraying which might not be effective during locust outbreaks (Main, 2012). Adult grasshoppers in a day are known to eat a mass equivalent to their weight in plant mater and a small swarm can eat a vast land of plants. Although preventive measures have improved over the years, early intervention measures are necessary.
Similarity
The article is similar to the class lecture on ecology since it explores the balance be various components of the ecosystem. The article highlights the relationship between locust species and their impact on plants population. The different aspects of species population, community ecosystem and habitat are brought to the fore through a critical consideration of locust and plant relationship. The vegetations or plants which are eaten by locusts represent the producers of the ecosystem while the locusts represent the consumers. The over-dependence on plants by grasshoppers is studied and from the harvest loss estimated into billions, it is evident that the locusts are a threat to the habitat.
From this article, the difference between species, population, habitat and ecosystem is brought out clearly. The kind of relationship depicted is predation since the locusts attack vegetation yet the vegetation does not benefit in any way. The reproduction and nutritional behavior of grasshoppers was studied and it revealed that they thrived well in nitrogen deficient plants. Although not all aspects of an ecosystem are highlighted in this article, the producers which supports all other aspects is depicted to be in danger of extinction Like in any ecosystem, a system of conservation is required in order to balance the various components of the ecosystem. This serves to protect one or more component from overdependence by another. The researchers point that land conservational practices that might reduce grasshopper swarms in order to avoid overdependence on plants are necessary.
The article can thus be said to highlight the dangers of overdependence of one species by another and if conservational measures are not taken in time, the species is in danger of extinction. It is with the knowledge that the article shows measures that were taken to curb the locust invasion. In West Africa, the locusts are estimated to have caused harvest loss of at least $ 2.5 billion and a further $400 million to bring the locust threat under control.
Reference
Main, D. M. (2012). Environment. Retrieved 2012, from The New York Times. Web.