Build it and they will come: grasshoppers check-in to a grassland bee hotel

By

Gardiner, Tim
Fargeaud, Kimberley

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2018-10-3

Original Publication

Journal of orthoptera research : JOR

Volume

27

Series / Issue

Issue: 2

Pages

159--161

Subjects

Acrididae , Biodiversity , bug hotel , Conservation , urban

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

Philadelphia, Penn Orthopterists' Society 1992-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/jor.27.28385

 

Abstract

A five-floor bee hotel was constructed using wooden pallets in an area of urban grassland in Ipswich, United Kingdom. Within one month of construction, two grasshopper species were observed using the hotel, with nymphs in shaded, uncut grass at the base, while adults were observed on all five floors and the roof. On the fourth floor, a stridulating field grasshopper, Chorthippusbrunneus, was sighted on two separate occasions. Further research is required to determine whether bee hotels may be an effective ‘shade’ refuge for grasshoppers in open grassland, while also providing an effective platform for stridulation.