Initial impact of a soil disturbance technique (disc harrowing) on Orthoptera in a grass heath in Breckland, UK

By

Gardiner, Tim

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2020-9-14

Original Publication

Journal of orthoptera research : JOR

Volume

29

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

127--131

Subjects

Acrididae , bare earth , bush-crickets , Conservation , Grasshoppers , heathland , Tettigoniidae

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Philadelphia, Penn Orthopterists' Society 1992-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.29.51900

 

Abstract

On a Breckland grass heath in eastern England, soil disturbance methods such as disc harrowing employed to benefit endangered plants such as tower mustard, Arabis glabra, could also create exposed ground for localized insects, specifically the mottled grasshopper, Myrmeleotettix maculatus. Orthoptera of disc-harrowed strips on a grass heath at Santon Warren in Norfolk, UK, were monitored in 2018 and 2019. Data analysis focused on two target species, field grasshopper, Chorthippus brunneus, and M. maculatus, which are likely to respond positively to the creation of early successional habitat. Of the two species, M. maculatus was found in significantly high abundance on the disc-harrowed strips, whereas C. brunneus was not. The species richness of Orthoptera did not appear affected by harrowing, although three species at this location (lesser marsh grasshopper, Chorthippus albomarginatus, long-winged conehead, Conocephalus fuscus, and Roesel’s bush-cricket, Roseliana roeselii) need taller vegetation than was present on the disc-harrowed strips.