SREL Reprint #2145

Corresponding development of plant and phytophagous orthopteran communities during southeastern old-field succession

W.H. Cross1, W.M. Cross2, P.R. Jackson3, P.M. Dixon4, and J.E. Pinder, III4

1U.S. Department of Agriculture, ARS, Boll Weevil Research Laboratory, Mississippi State, Mississippi 39762
2116 Forest Hill Drive, Starkville, Mississippi 39759
3U.S. Department of Energy, Savannah River Operations Office, Aiken, South Carolina 29801
4Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Drawer E, Aiken, South Carolina 29801

Abstract: Data are summarized from several previous studies to show (1) that the median number of phytophagous orthopteran species increases through the early stages of old-field succession in South Carolina, and (2) that this increase is largely due to the addition of orthopterans with mandibular morphologies that indicate feeding on parallel-veined grass leaves. The later addition of graminivorous orthopterans to the community coincides with the later invasion of grasses.

SREL Reprint #2145

Cross, W.H., W.M. Cross, P.R. Jackson, P.M. Dixon, and J.E. Pinder, III. 1997. Corresponding development of plant and phytophagous orthopteran communities during southeastern old-field succession. The American Midland Naturalist 137:188-193.

This information was provided by the University of Georgia's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory (srel.uga.edu).