The influence of Acridoidea on the primary production of a meadow (field experiment)

Andrzejewska, Lucyna; Wójcik, Zdzisława

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Title: The influence of Acridoidea on the primary production of a meadow (field experiment)

Abstract:

This is an attempt at assessing the influence of phytophagous grasshoppers (Acridoidea) on the primary production of a meadow. Grounds for assessment were as follows: 1) losses in plant biomass due to feeding by grasshoppers, defined in a field experiment; 2) dynamics of density and biomass of grasshoppers determined in the meadow; 3) daily consumption by grasshoppers examined under laboratory conditions.Losses in plant biomass were found to depend on the density of the insects, the time at which they fed and the properties of the plant cover and species of plants on which they feed. The density of insects has a particularly great effect on extent of losses in plant biomass caused not by the insects feeding, hut by destruction of the plants.

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