Rangeland Ecology & Management

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Heat Dosage and Oviposition Depth Influence Egg Mortality of Two Common Rangeland Grasshopper Species
Author
Branson, David H.
Vermeire, Lance T.
Publisher
Society for Range Management
Publication Year
2013-01-01
Body

Rangeland fire is a common naturally occurring event and management tool, with the amount and structure of biomass controlling transfer of heat belowground. Temperatures that grasshopper eggs are exposed to during rangeland fires are mediated by species-specific oviposition traits. This experiment examined egg mortality in two slant-faced grasshopper species with differing oviposition traits, namely Aulocara elliotti (Thomas) and Opeia obscura (Thomas). We hypothesized that A. elliotti egg mortality would increase with fire intensity because the shallow egg location below the soil surface would result in exposure to higher temperatures, and that the deeper O. obscura eggs would not be affected by fire intensity. Fire intensity did not significantly affect the mortality of O. obscura eggs, with very low mortality in all treatments. Fire intensity significantly affected mortality of A. elliotti eggs, which are laid in shallow egg pods with the midpoint of the egg clutch at a depth of ~0.825 cm. Aulocara elliotti egg mortality increased with higher levels of heat application, with 79% egg mortality in the 4 500 kg ha-1 heat treatment. Heat effects on A. elliotti egg mortality were similar to those previously observed for another shallow-egg-layingspecies. Limited research has examined if rangeland fires reduce population densities of specific economically important grasshopper species. The results from this experiment indicate that grasshopper species with the midpoint of the egg pod less than 1 cm below the surface are likely in general to be vulnerable to fire-induced egg mortality during rangeland fires. The Rangeland Ecology & Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020

Language
en
Resource Type
Text
Document Type
Journal Issue/Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.2111/REM-D-11-00187.1
Additional Information
Branson, D. H., & Vermeire, L. T. (2013). Heat dosage and oviposition depth influence egg mortality of two common rangeland grasshopper species. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 66(1), 110-113.
IISN
0022-409X
OAI Identifier
oai:repository.arizona.edu:10150/642694
Journal Volume
66
Journal Number
1
Journal Pages
110-113
Journal Name
Rangeland Ecology & Management
Keywords
Aulocara elliotti
bigheaded grasshopper
fire
grasslands
obscure grasshopper
Orthoptera