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Welcome to Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management is a joint technology transfer project of the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (through the Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Montana), the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the University of Wyoming-Laramie. Background This website and its companion CD are an outgrowth of a meeting held in Phoenix, AZ Sept. 23-24, 1999 between representatives of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). The primary purpose of the meeting was to discuss a proposal by USDA-ARS-Northern Plains Agricultural Lab participants to develop a CD-ROM and associated web site containing information on grasshopper management, biology and identification. At the meeting, ARS participants agreed to develop, produce and distribute this technology transfer product, incorporating ideas and materials from APHIS representatives and others interested in the project. All participants of the meeting agreed that publication of the remaining two chapters of the APHIS Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management User Handbook (GHIPM User Handbook) (Technical Bulletin No. 1809) was crucial to the projects' success and needed to be included on the CD-ROM. APHIS representatives also agreed that incorporating the GHIPM User Handbook on the cost effective CD-ROM would allow a much wider distribution of this important product. Subsequently, APHIS representatives offered to complete not only the Handbook, but also another monograph growing out of the GHIPM project, The North Dakota Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management Demonstration Project (Technical Bulletin No. 1891). APHIS representatives offered to provide an additional monograph, Field and Economic Evaluation of Operational Scale Reduced Agent and Reduced Area Treatments (RAATs) for Management of Grasshoppers on South Dakota Rangeland, 1997-1999. The GHIPM User Handbook was a collection of non technical information from the eight-year Grasshopper IPM project, a cooperative project between APHIS and the following organizations: USDA-ARS, Economic Research Service, Forest Service, and Extension Service (now known as the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service); the U.S. Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and National Park Service; and the US Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Pesticide Programs; State departments of agriculture; land-grant colleges; grazing associations; and private industry. Jeffrey Lockwood
and Robert E. Pfadt, both with the University of Wyoming in Laramie
joined the collaborative project later and provided information
on grasshopper identification, Reduced Agent and Area Treatments
(RAATS), and The cooperative nature of this project has ensured development of one of the most comprehensive sources of information on grasshopper biology, identification and management, useful for researchers, extension agents, ranchers, land managers and the general public alike. The Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management website, which will regularly continue to incorporate new grasshopper research information, is housed and maintained by the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Montana. Representatives from USDA-ARS-NPARL, including Jerome Onsager (now retired), David Branson, Dennis Fielding, and then-lab Research Leader Neal Spencer, are credited with organizing the joint agency meeting leading to the development of Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management. Others participating in the Phoenix meeting included: MaryAnn Hines, USDA-APHIS, Riverdale, MD, Stephen Knight, USDA-APHIS, Riverdale, MD, Jim Berry, USDA-APHIS, Phoenix, AZ, Nelson Foster, USDA-APHIS, Phoenix, AZ, Robert T. Staten, USDA-APHIS, Phoenix, AZ, William Kemp, USDA-ARS, Logan, UT, and Bethany Redlin, USDA-ARS, Sidney, MT. Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management contains the latest research in grasshopper management, identification, ecology and control tactics, including: APHIS’ Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management User Handbook This handbook provides practical information on biological and chemical control methods; range management techniques; and environmental impacts. It incorporates decision support tools and an overview of grasshopper ecology, outbreaks and modeling. Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers This handy guide provides an overview of grasshopper biology, anatomy, populations and life cycles. It also shows how to survey and collect grasshoppers. Grasshopper Species Fact Sheets This collection of 56 species fact sheets features distribution maps and color photographs for each species, as well as information on their economic importance, identification and biology. Grasshopper Identification Tools Identification guides, keys, and photographs to help identify over 90 species of grasshoppers. While there are more than 400 known species of grasshoppers in the Western United States, only about two dozen are considered pest species and a few are beneficial. Decision Support Software for Rangeland Grasshopper Management Hopper 4.0 and CARMA 3.3 computer software provide advice on the best course of action when dealing with grasshopper outbreaks on rangeland. New Grazing Management Research The latest preventative grasshopper management research on using grazing management to reduce the intensity and duration of grasshopper outbreaks. New Grasshopper Chemical Control Methods (RAATs) The latest techniques for reducing application rates and costs up to 50% by alternating untreated swaths with treated swaths. RAATs maintains effective grasshopper control and reduces environmental impact. New Integrated Pest Management Research Includes: South Dakota RAATs Demonstration Project Report, North Dakota IPM Demonstration Project Report, Preventative Grasshopper Management Brochure Additional Information Includes: Keyword index, Research Updates, Grasshopper hazard maps, USDA-ARS grasshopper research bibliography (1918-Present), Links to related sites. Branson, David H. and Bethany Redlin (eds.). 2001. Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. CD-ROM AbstractGrasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management contains: (1) Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management User Handbook (USDA-APHIS Technical Bulletin Number 1809) which provides practical information on biological and chemical control methods; range management techniques; and environmental impacts. The handbook incorporates decision support tools and an overview of grasshopper ecology, outbreaks and modeling; (2) Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers by R. E. Pfadt (Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912) including fact sheets on 56 common grasshoppers; (3) Grasshoppers (Acrididae) of Colorado: Identification, Biology and Management by J. L. Capinera and T. S. Sechrist (Colorado State University Experiment Station Bulletin 584S); (4) Hopper 4.0 and Carma 3.3 decision support software for rangeland grasshopper management; (5) New research on using grazing management to reduce grasshopper outbreaks; (6) New research on grasshopper control methods which reduce pesticide application rates, costs, and environmental concerns; (7) Additional grasshopper management information. The CD-ROM is a joint technology transfer project of the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (through the Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Montana), the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the University of Wyoming-Laramie. This web site and its companion CD were developed by representatives with USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory. If you have questions regarding either product, or just have an interest in the work of the lab as a whole, contact us at the following numbers (phone, fax and e-mail) or at the following addresses (postal and Internet): USDA-ARS Northern
Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory Telephone: 406-433-2020 General e-mail:
info@sidney.ars.usda.gov For information regarding grasshopper research at the site, contact these current USDA-ARS grasshopper management scientists or go to the following web page: http://www.sidney.ars.usda.gov/grasshopper/research/index.html David Branson Dennis Fielding Stefan Jaronski Greg Sword |
