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Chinese Journal of Biological Control ›› 2022, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (6): 1459-1472.DOI: 10.16409/j.cnki.2095-039x.2022.03.010

• RESEARCH REPORTS • Previous Articles    

Diversity of Grassland Grasshoppers and Responses to Environmental Factors in Ningxia

MA Zhining1,2, YU Hongqian3, WANG Ying2, ZHU Mengmeng2, ZHANG Rong2, JIA Yanxia1, WEI Shuhua2   

  1. 1. School of Agriculture, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China;
    2. Institute of Plant Protection, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Yinchuan 750002, China;
    3. Institute of Forestry and Grassland Ecology, Ningxia Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Science, Yinchuan 750002, China
  • Received:2021-10-16 Published:2022-12-16

Abstract: This study is aimed to clarify the grasshopper species composition, diversity and responses to biotic and non-biotic factors such as natural enemies, vegetation, soil and climate in four important grasslands in Ningxia. The grasslands are temperate meadow grassland, temperate grassland, temperate desert grassland, and temperate steppe desert. The diversity of grasshoppers, natural enemies and insects were analyzed through the number of species, the number of individuals, the diversity index, the dominance index, the richness index, and the uniformity index. The responses of the dominant species and diversity of grassland locusts to the biotic and non-biotic factors, such as natural enemies, vegetation, soil, and climate were further analyzed. The results showed that the individuals of grassland locusts and natural enemies collected and identified were 743 and 3592, respectively, and species were 27 and 24, respectively. The species and individuals of locusts and natural enemies occurred on temperate grassland were the most, with species number of 23 and 21 and population size of 432 and 1682, respectively. The number of species and population size of locusts and natural enemies were the least in temperate steppe deserts, with 8 and 7 species for locusts and natural enemies, respectively, and individuals of 34 and 132 for locusts and natural enemies, respectively. The dominant species of locusts are Chorthippus albonemus, Calliptamus abbreviatus and Oedaleus asiaticus. The dominant natural enemy species are Pterostichus gebleri, Carabus brandti and Pseudotaphoxenus brevipennis. The richness indexes of temperate grassland were significantly higher than those of the other three types in the grassland locust community, the whole insect and natural enemy community. The diversity index and richness index of grasshoppers were significantly positively correlated with the diversity index and richness index of natural enemies, but significantly negatively correlated with the dominance index of natural enemies. There was significant positive correlation between the population size of the grasshoppers C. abbreviates and O. asiaticus and the natural enemy P. gebleri. The occurrence of C. albonemus was significantly positively correlated with gramineae vegetation coverage, height, biomass, compositae coverage, biomass, frequency, height, soil saturation water holding capacity, capillary moisture capacity, field water capacity, capillary porosity, total porosity, organic matter, alkaline nitrogen, altitude, and precipitation, but significantly negatively correlated with soil bulk density, pH, average temperature, and highest temperature.

Key words: grasshoppers, diversity, environmental factors, climate, soil, plant, response

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