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1 October 2010 An Experimental Analysis of Grasshopper Community Responses to Fire and Livestock Grazing in a Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie
David H. Branson, Gregory A. Sword
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Abstract

The outcomes of grasshopper responses to both vertebrate grazing and fire vary across grassland ecosystems, and are strongly influenced by local climactic factors. Thus, the possible application of grazing and fire as components of an ecologically based grasshopper management strategy must be investigated in regional studies. In this study, we examined the effects of grazing and fire on grasshopper population density and community composition in a northern Great Plains mixed-grass prairie. We employed a large-scale, replicated, and fully-factorial manipulative experimental design across 4 yr to examine the separate and interactive effects of three grazing systems in burned and unburned habitats. Grasshopper densities were low throughout the 4-yr study and 1 yr of pretreatment sampling. There was a significant fire by grazing interaction effect on cumulative density and community composition, resulting from burned season long grazing pastures having higher densities than unburned pastures. Shannon diversity and grasshopper species richness were significantly higher with twice-over rotational livestock grazing. The ability to draw strong conclusions regarding the nature of species composition shifts and population changes in the presence of fire and grazing is complicated by the large site differences and low grasshopper densities. The results reinforce the importance of long-term research to examine the effects of habitat manipulation on grasshopper population dynamics.

© 2010 Entomological Society of America
David H. Branson and Gregory A. Sword "An Experimental Analysis of Grasshopper Community Responses to Fire and Livestock Grazing in a Northern Mixed-Grass Prairie," Environmental Entomology 39(5), 1441-1446, (1 October 2010). https://doi.org/10.1603/EN09378
Received: 29 December 2009; Accepted: 1 June 2010; Published: 1 October 2010
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KEYWORDS
fire
livestock grazing
Orthoptera
population dynamics
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