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| Titel |
An analysis of the contrasting fates of locust swarms on the plains of North America and East Asia |
| VerfasserIn |
G. Yu, X. Ke, H. D. Shen, Y. F. Li |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1726-4170
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Biogeosciences ; 10, no. 3 ; Nr. 10, no. 3 (2013-03-04), S.1441-1449 |
| Datensatznummer |
250018134
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/bg-10-1441-2013.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
Prior to ~1880 AD locust swarms periodically raged across
both the North American Plains (NAP) and East Asian Plains (EAP). After this
date, locust outbreaks almost never recurred on the NAP but have continued
to cause problems on the EAP. The large quantities of pesticides used in the
major agriculture regions of the NAP in the late 1870s have been suggested as
a possible reason for the disappearance of locust outbreaks in this area.
Extensive applications of modern, i.e. more effective, chemical pesticides
were also used in the granary regions of the EAP in the 1950s in an effort
to reduce pest outbreaks. However, locust swarms returned again in many
areas of China in the 1960s. Therefore, locust extinction on the NAP still
remains a puzzle. Frequent locust outbreaks on the EAP over the past 130 yr
may offer clues to the key factors that control the disappearance of
locust outbreaks on the NAP.
This study analysed the climate extremes and monthly
temperature–precipitation combinations for the NAP and EAP, and found that
differences in the frequencies of these climate combinations resulted in the
contrasting locust fates in the two regions: restricting locust outbreaks in
the NAP but inducing such events in the EAP. Validation shows that severe
EAP locust outbreak years were coincidental with extreme climate-combination
years. Therefore, we suggest that changes in frequency, extremes and trends
in climate can explain why the fate of locust outbreaks in the EAP was
different from that in the NAP. The results also suggest that, with present
global warming trends, precautionary measures should be taken to make sure
other similar pest infestations do not occur in either region. |
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