|
|
![Contact Us -- webmaster[at]sidney.ars.usda.gov](images/l_contb4.gif){kind=small}
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). At the meeting,
USDA-ARS
Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory
participants agreed to develop, produce and distribute
a technology transfer
CD-ROM and associated web site containing information on grasshopper
management, biology and identification.
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. 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
an updated version of
CARMA decision support software.
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 regularly continues to incorporate new grasshopper management and outbreak information, is housed and maintained by the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Montana.
Representatives from USDA-ARS-NPARL, including David Branson, Dennis Fielding, Jerome Onsager (now retired), and former Research Leader Neal Spencer, organized 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.
Approximately 5,000 copies of the first edition of Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management have been requested and sent to individuals in 45 states and 72 countries. With the addition of several grasshopper identification keys, updated decision support software programs, grasshopper management information, and outbreak information on the web site a decision was made in early 2004 to produce a second edition of the CD-ROM, with support from USDA-APHIS.
Branson, David H. and Bethany Redlin (eds.). 2004. Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management. 2nd Edition. US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service.
Grasshoppers: Their Biology, Identification and Management (2nd Ed.) contains: (1) Several identification guides, keys and a naturalists guide to help identify grasshopper species throughout North America and to provide information on the biology and economic importance of individual species; (2) Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers by R. E. Pfadt (Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912) including fact sheets on 60 common grasshoppers; (3) A computer based key from USDA-APHIS enabling the identification of 58 common adult grasshopper species; (4) Grasshopper management information including practical grasshopper management guides from states and provinces, information on USDA-APHIS grasshopper control programs, using livestock grazing to prevent grasshopper outbreaks, environmental side-effects of grasshopper control, management-based grasshopper ecology information, and IPM and chemical control research reports; (5) 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; (6) Hopper 4.0, Carma 4.0 and LucidTM Key decision support software for rangeland grasshopper management; (7) New research on using grazing management to reduce grasshopper outbreaks; (8) New research on grasshopper control methods (RAATs) which reduce pesticide application rates, costs, and environmental concerns. The CD-ROM and website, which were produced by the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory in Sidney, Montana are a joint technology transfer project of the US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service, the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the University of Wyoming-Laramie.
