Effects of daylength and hopper density on reproductive traits in a Japanese population of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria L.

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Abstract

The effects of photoperiod, temperature and rearing density on the rate of sexual maturation were studied to clarify the life cycle strategy in a bivoltine population of Locusta migratora L. in Japan. The time required for 50% of females to start oviposition was longer at a longer photoperiod when they were crowded as hoppers and isolated as pairs of adults. Crowding combined with long days suppressed sexual maturation. This suppression appears related to migratory activity. When exposed to short days, crowded locusts deposited eggs shortly after adult emergence, preparing the species for overwintering in the egg stage. In locusts isolated as hoppers and adults, the reproductive suppression occurring at an intermediate photoperiod was less intense than at a long photoperiod. Field-collected solitary locusts kept as pairs under laboratory and outdoor conditions showed a conspicuous seasonal variation in the pre-oviposition period. The estimated amount of heat experienced during the pre-oviposition period was relatively small at the beginning and the end of the growing season, and large in mid-summer when locusts encountered intermediate daylengths and high temperatures. This control of sexual maturation is temperature-compensated because locusts in the second generation did not show any marked delay in oviposition in a cool year. These responses appear related closely to phase polymorphism and voltinism.

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    Present address: Ikari Engineering Center, Ikari Co. Ltd, Akanehama 1-12-3, Narashino, Chiba 275, Japan.

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