Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) communities respond to fire, bison grazing and weather in North American tallgrass prairie: a long-term study

  • Community Ecology
  • Published:
Oecologia Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Because both intrinsic and extrinsic factors influence insect population dynamics, operating at a range of temporal and spatial scales, it is difficult to assess their contributions. Long-term studies are ideal for assessing the relative contributions of multiple factors to abundance and community dynamics. Using data spanning 25 years, we investigate the contributions of weather at annual and decadal scales, fire return interval, and grazing by bison to understand the dynamics of abundance and community composition in grasshopper assemblages from North American continental grassland. Each of these three primary drivers of grassland ecosystem dynamics affects grasshopper population and community dynamics. Negative feedbacks in abundances, as expected for regulated populations, were observed for all feeding guilds of grasshoppers. Abundance of grasshoppers did not vary in response to frequency of prescribed burns at the site. Among watersheds that varied with respect to controlled spring burns and grazing by bison, species composition of grasshopper assemblages responded significantly to both after 25 years. However, after more than 20 years of fire and grazing treatments, the number of years since the last fire was more important than the managed long-term fire frequency per se. Yearly shifts in species composition (1983–2005), examined using non-metric multidimensional scaling and fourth-corner analysis, were best explained by local weather events occurring early in grasshopper life cycles. Large-scale patterns were represented by the Palmer Drought Severity Index and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). The NAO was significantly correlated with annual mean frequencies of grasshoppers, especially for forb- and mixed-feeding species. Primary grassland drivers—fire, grazing and weather—contributing both intrinsic and extrinsic influences modulate long-term fluctuations in grasshopper abundances and community taxonomic composition.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3a, b
Fig. 4a, b
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Andrewartha HG, Birch LC (1954) The distribution and abundance of animals. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbehenn RV, Chen Z, Karowe DN, Spickard A (2004) C3 grasses have higher nutritional quality than C4 grasses under ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2. Global Change Biol 10:1565–1575

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa P, Schultz JC (eds) (1987) Insect outbreaks. Academic Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky GE, Joern A (1995) Regulation of grassland grasshoppers: differing dominant mechanisms in time and space. In: Cappucino N, Price PW (eds) Novel approaches for the study of population dynamics: examples from insect herbivores. Academic Press, New York, pp 359–386

    Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky GE, Slade JB (1995) Dynamics of two Montana grasshopper populations: relationships among weather, food abundance and intraspecific competition. Oecologia 101:383–396

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Belovsky GE, Slade JB (2000) Insect herbivory accelerates nutrient cycling and increases plant production. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 97:14412–14417

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berryman AA (1999) Principles of population dynamics. Thornes, Cheltenham

    Google Scholar 

  • Biondini ME, Steuter AA, Hamilton RG (1999) Bison use of fire-managed remnant prairies. J Range Manage 52:454–461

    Google Scholar 

  • Branson DH (2005) Effects of fire on grasshopper assemblages in a northern mixed-grass prairie. Environ Entomol 34:1109–1113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Branson DH, Joern A, Sword GA (2006) Sustainable management of insect herbivores in grassland ecosystems: new perspectives in grasshopper control. BioScience 56:743–755

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brook BW, Bradshaw CJA (2006) Strength of evidence for density dependence in abundance time series of 1198 species. Ecology 87:1445–1451

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell JB, Arnett WH, Lambley JD, Jantz OK, Knutson H (1974) Grasshoppers (Acrididae) of the Flint Hills native tallgrass prairie in Kansas. In: Station AR (ed) vol. 19. Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kans.

  • Capinera JC (1987) Population ecology of rangeland grasshoppers. In: Capinera JC (ed) Integrated pest management on rangeland: a shortgrass perspective. Westview Press, Boulder, Colo., pp 162–182

    Google Scholar 

  • Capinera JC, Horton DR (1989) Geographic variation in effects of weather on grasshopper infestation. Environ Entomol 18:8–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Chase J, Belovsky GE (1994) Experimental evidence for the included niche. Am Nat 143:514–527

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL (2000) Disturbance frequency and community stability in native tallgrass prairie. Am Nat 155:311–325

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Blair JM, Steinauer EM (1998) Modulation of diversity by grazing and mowing in native tallgrass prairie. Science 280:745–747

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Smith MD (2006) Scale-dependent interaction of fire and grazing on community heterogeneity in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 87:2058–2067

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Collins SL, Steinauer EM (1998) Disturbance, diversity, and species interactions in tallgrass prairie. In: Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Hartnett DC, Collins SL (eds) Grassland dynamics: long-term ecological research in tallgrass prairie. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 140–156

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempster JP (1963) The population dynamics of grasshoppers and locusts. Biol Rev 38:490–529

    Google Scholar 

  • Dempster JP, McLean IFG (eds) (1998) Insect populations: in theory and practice. Kluwer, Dordrecht

  • Dennis B, Taper M (1994) Density dependence in time series observations of natural populations: estimation and testing. Ecol Monogr 64:205–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Denno RF, McClure MS (eds) (1983) Variable plants and herbivores in natural and managed systems. Academic Press, New York

  • Dray S, Legendre P (in review) Linking species traits to environmental characteristics: the fourth-corner problem revisted. Ecology

  • Evans EW (1984) Fire as a natural disturbance to grasshopper assemblages of tallgrass prairie. Oikos 43:9–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans EW (1988a) Community dynamics of prairie grasshoppers subjected to periodic fire: predictable trajectories or random walks in time? Oikos 52:283–292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans EW (1988b) Grasshopper (Insecta:Orthoptera:Acrididae) assemblages of tallgrass prairie: influences of fire frequency, topography and vegetation. Can J Zool 66:1495–1501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans EW, Rogers RA, Opfermann DJ (1983) Sampling grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridide) on burned and unburned tallgrass prairie: night trapping vs. sweeping. Environ Entomol 12:1449–1454

    Google Scholar 

  • Fielding DJ, Brusven MA (1990) Historical analysis of grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) population responses to climate in southern Idaho, 1950–1980. Environ Entomol 19:1786–1791

    Google Scholar 

  • Gage SH, Mukerji MK (1977) A perspective of grasshopper population distribution in Saskatchewan and interrelationship with weather. Environ Entomol 6:469–479

    Google Scholar 

  • Gage SH, Mukerji MK, Randell RI (1976) A predictive model for seasonal occurence of three grasshopper species in Saskatchewan (Orthoptera: Acrididiae). Can Entomol 108:245–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenland D, Goodin D, Smith RC (eds) (2005) Climate variability and ecosystem response at LTER sites. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Gutierrez AP (1996) Applied population ecology. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Halkka A, Halkka L, Halkka O, Roukka K, Pokki J (2006) Lagged effects of North Atlantic Oscillation on spittlebug Philaenus spumarius (Homoptera) abundance and survival. Global Change Biol 12:2250–2262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hallett TB, Coulson EA, Clutton-Brock TH, Pemberton JM, Grenfell B (2004) Why large-scale climate indices seem to predict ecological processes better than local weather. Nature 430:71–75

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hartnett DC, Fay PA (1998) Plant populations: patterns and processes. In: Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Hartnett DC, Collins SL (eds) Grassland dynamics: long-term ecological research in tallgrass prairie. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 81–100

    Google Scholar 

  • Heidorn TJ, Joern A (1984) Differential herbivory on C3 versus C4 grasses by the grasshopper Ageneotettix deorum (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Oecologia 65:19–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewitt GB (1985) Review of factors affecting fecundity, oviposition, and egg survival of grasshoppers in North America. In. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, p 35

  • Hurell JW, Kushnir Y, Otterson G, Visbeck M (2003) An overview of the North Atlantic Oscillation. In: The North Atlantic Oscillation: climatic significance and environmental impact. Geophysical Monograph 134. American Geophysical Union, pp 1–35

  • Joern A (2004) Variation in grasshopper (Acrididae) densities in response to fire frequency and bison grazing in tallgrass prairie. Environ Entomol 33:1617–1625

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joern A (2005) Disturbance by fire frequency and bison grazing modulate grasshoper assemblages in tallgrass prairie. Ecology 86:861–873

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joern A, Behmer ST (1998) Impact of diet quality on demographic attributes in adult grasshoppers and the nitrogen limitation hypothesis. Ecol Entomol 23:174–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Joern A, Gaines SB (1990) Population dynamics and regulation in grasshoppers. In: Chapman RF, Joern A (eds) Biology of grasshoppers. Wiley, New York, pp 415–482

    Google Scholar 

  • Joern A, Mole S (2005) The plant stress hypothesis and variable responses by blue grama grass (Bouteloua gracilis) to water, mineral nitrogen, and insect herbivory. J Chem Ecol 31:2069–2090

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson DL, Worobec A (1988) Spatial and temporal computer analysis of insects and weather: grasshoppers and rainfall in Alberta. Mem Entomol Soc Can 146:33–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Kaufman DW, Kaufman GA, Fay PA, Zimmerman JL, Evans EW (1998) Animal populations and communities. In: Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Hartnett DC, Collins SL (eds) Grassland dynamics. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 113–139

    Google Scholar 

  • Kemp WP, Dennis B (1992) Density dependence in rangeland grasshoppers. Oecologia 96:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Blair JM, Briggs JM, Collins SL, Hartnett DC, Johnson LC, Towne EG (1999) he keystone role of bison in North American tallgrass prairie. BioScience 49:39–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Hartnett DC, Collins SL (eds) (1998) Grassland dynamics: long-term ecological research in tallgrass prairie. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Knapp AK, Seastedt TR (1998) Introduction: grasslands, Konza Prairie, and long-term ecological research. In: Knapp AK, Briggs JM, Hartnett DC, Collins SL (eds) Grassland dynamics: long-term ecological research in tallgrass prairie. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 3–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Legendre P, Galzin R, Harmelin-Vivien ML (1997) Relating behavior to habitat: solutions to the fourth-corner problem. Ecology 78:547–562

    Google Scholar 

  • Likens GE (ed) (1988) Long-term studies in ecology: approaches and alternatives. Springer, New York

  • Lima M, Keymeyer JE, Jaksic FM (1999) ENSO-driven rainfall variability and delayed density dependence cause rodent outbreaks in western South America: linking demography and population dynamics. Am Nat 153:476–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lima M, Merritt JF, Bozinovic F (2002) Numerical fluctuations in the northern short-tailed shrew: evidence of nonlinear feedback signatures on population dynamics and demography. J Anim Ecol 71:159–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JA (1993) Environmental issues involved in biological control of rangeland grasshoppers (Orthopter: Acrdididae) with exotic agents. Environ Entomol 22:503–518

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JA (1997) Grasshopper population dynamics: a prairie perspective. In: Gangwere SK, Muralirangan MC, Muralirangan M (eds) The bionomics of grasshoppers, katydids and their kin. CAB International, New York, pp 103–128

    Google Scholar 

  • Logan JA, Powell JA (2001) Ghost forests, global warming, and the mountain pine beetle. Am Entomol 47:160–172

    Google Scholar 

  • Logan JD, Wolesensky W, Joern A (2006) Temperature-dependent phenology and predation in arthropod systems. Ecol Model 196:471–482

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magnuson JJ (1990) Long term ecological research and the invisible present. BioScience 40:495–501

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCune B, Grace JB (2002) Analysis of ecological communities. MJM Software Design, Gleneden Beach

    Google Scholar 

  • Merritt JF, Lima M, Bozinivic F (2001) Seasonal regulation in fluctuating small mammal populations: feedback structure and climate. Oikos 505–514

  • Meyer CK, Whiles MR, Charleton RE (2002) Life history, secondary production, and ecosystem significance of acridid grasshoppers in annually burned and unburned tallgrass prairie. Am Entomol 48:40–49

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerji MK, Gage SH (1978) A model for estimating hatch and mortality of grasshopper egg populations based on soil moisture and heat. Ann Entomol Soc Am 71:183–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Mukerji MK, Gage SH, Randell RL (1977) Influence of embryonic development and heat on population trend of three grasshopper species (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in Saskatchewan. Can Entomol 109:229–236

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mukerji MK, Randell RL (1975) Estimation of embryonic development in populations of Melanoplus sanguinipes (Fabr.) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in the fall. Acrida 4:9–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Mulkern GB, Pruess KP, Knutson H, Hagen AF, Campbell JB, Lambley JD (1969) Food habits and preferences of grassland grasshoppers of the north central Great Plains. Agricultural Experiment Station, North Dakota State University, Fargo, p 32

  • Mysterud A, Stenseth NC, Yoccoz NG, Ottersen G, Langvatn R (2003) The response of terrestrial ecosystems to climate variability associated with the North Atlantic Oscillation. In: Hurrell JW, Kushnir Y, Ottersen G, Visbeck M (eds) The North Atlantic oscillation: climatic significance and environmental impact, vol 134. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C., pp 235–262

    Google Scholar 

  • Ovadia O, Schmitz OJ (2004) Weather variation and trophic interaction strength: sorting the signal from the noise. Oecologia 140:398–406

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pfadt RE (1994) Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers. University of Wyoming, Agricultural Experiment Station

  • Pinder JE III, Jackson PR (1988) Plant photosynthetic pathways and grazing by phytophagous Orthopterans. Am Midl Nat 120:201–211

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinder JE III, Kroh GC (1987) Insect herbivory and photosynthetic pathways in old-field ecosystems. Ecology 68:254–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Plumb GE, Dodd JL (1993) Foraging ecology of bison and cattle on a mixed prairie: implications for natural area management. Ecol Appl 3:631 - 643

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Price PWaMDH (1995) Novelty and synthesis in the development of population dynamics. In: Price NCaPW (ed) Population dynamics: new approaches and synthesis. Academic Press, San Diego, Calif., pp 389–412

    Google Scholar 

  • Rambo JL, Faeth SH (1999) Effect of vertebrate grazing on plant and insect community structure. Conserv Biol 13:1047–1054

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • [RDCT] R Development Core Team (2006) R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL http://www.R-project.org

  • Richardson SJ, Press MC, Parsons AN, Hartley SE (2002) How do nutrients and warming impact on plant communities and their insect herbivores? A 9-year study from a sub-Arctic heath. J Ecol 90:544–556

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Royama T (1992) Analytical population dynamics. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitz OJ (1997) Press perturbations and the predictability of ecological interaction in a food web. Ecology 78:55–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmitz OJ (2006) Predators have large effects on ecosystem properties by changing plant diversity, not plant biomass. Ecology 87:1432–1437

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitz OJ, Sokol-Hessner L (2002) Linearity in the aggregate effects of multiple predators in a food web. Ecol Lett 5:168–172

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stamp NE (1993) A temperate region view of the interaction of temperature, food quality and predators in caterpillar foraging. In: Stamp NE, Casey TM (eds) Caterpillars: ecological and evolutionary constraints on foraging. Chapman & Hall, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Stenseth NC, Mysterud A, Ottersen G, Hurrell JW, Chan KS, Lima M (2002) Ecological effects of climate fluctuations. Science 297:1292–1296

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Towne EG, Hartnett DC, Cochran RC (2005) Vegetation trends in tallgrass prairie from bison and cattle grazing. Ecol Appl 15:1550–1559

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Turchin P (2003) Complex population dynamics: a theoretical/empirical synthesis. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.

    Google Scholar 

  • White TCR (1993) The inadequate environment: nitrogen and the abundance of animals. Springer, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

Konza Prairie is partly owned by the Nature Conservancy and managed by the Division of Biology at Kansas State University (KSU) though the KPBS. Many individuals contributed to the development and maintenance of the Konza Prairie grasshopper database over the 25 years of its existence, especially E. W. Evans, B. Danner, and A. Kuhl. We also are indebted to A. Kula and G. Towne for early discussions of the Konza LTER database. S. Dray (University of Lyon, France) and J. Higgins (KSU Department of Statistics) assisted with statistical analyses. S. Dray, J. Apple, S. Parsons and two anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. Research was supported by the NSF LTER Program at KPBS, NSF DEB0456522, and NSF EPS0553722 (Ecological Forecasting). This is publication 07–247-J from the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station. This research was conducted in accordance with the laws of Riley County, Kansas.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    Jayne L. Jonas & Anthony Joern

Authors
  1. Jayne L. Jonas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anthony Joern
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jayne L. Jonas.

Additional information

Communicated by Oswald Schmitz.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

(DOC 41 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jonas, J.L., Joern, A. Grasshopper (Orthoptera: Acrididae) communities respond to fire, bison grazing and weather in North American tallgrass prairie: a long-term study. Oecologia 153, 699–711 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0761-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-007-0761-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation