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Age Structure and Feeding of the Neotropical Grasshopper Cornops aquaticum (Bruner) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) on Water Hyacinth

  • Ecology, Behavior and Bionomics
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Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the variation in the age structure of Cornops aquaticum (Bruner) population and its relation to the host plant biomass and the feeding of the different age classes of this grasshopper on the water hyacinth Eichhornia crassipes along 2 years, in a Paraná River floodplain lake (Chaco, Argentina). Individuals of C. aquaticum were captured with a 70-cm diameter sweep and separated in nymphs A (instars I and II), nymphs B (instars III to VI), adult females, and adult males; host plant biomass was sampled using a ring with a 0.30-m2 diameter. Relative daily feeding of C. aquaticum population was calculated by multiplying the number of individuals captured per minute by the daily consumption by individual obtained in each age classes. We found that the age structure and the relative daily feeding of C. aquaticum varied between seasons and years. The highest values of grasshopper abundance, leaf biomass, and relative daily feeding of C. aquaticum population were observed in summer 2006. Plant biomass was directly correlated with nymph abundance and not correlated with adult abundance. Plant biomass available as refuge (leaves), food (laminas), and oviposition site (petioles) to C. aquaticum represented up to 62% of the total plant biomass. The results obtained in C. aquaticum show the importance of considering total plant biomass and plant biomass available for herbivores separately. Our study highlights the need to find an adequate method to estimate the density of C. aquaticum and other semiaquatic grasshoppers in the Paraná River floodplain involving different seasons, years, and water phases (rising and falling).

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Acknowledgments

This research is dedicated to the late Joachim U. Adis, who was involved in coordinating and discussing the Cornops studies in South America. We thank the editor and anonymous reviewers for comments on the manuscript. This work was funded by the HICWA Project of the Tropical Ecology Group of the Max-Planck Limnology Institute (Plön, Germany), PICT 12755 and PICT 2011-2160 of the FONCYT, and PIP 6316 of the CONICET (Argentina).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Ecología Aplicada del Litoral—CECOAL (CCT Nordeste-CONICET-UNNE), Ruta 5, km 2.5, 3400, Corrientes, Argentina

    M C Franceschini & A Poi

  2. Cátedra de Limnología (FACENA), Univ Nacional del Nordeste (UNNE), Corrientes, Argentina

    M C Franceschini & A Poi

  3. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores—CEPAVE (CCT La Plata-CONICET-UNLP), La Plata, Argentina

    M L de Wysiecki

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  1. M C Franceschini
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  2. M L de Wysiecki
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Correspondence to M C Franceschini.

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Edited by Kleber Del Claro – UFU

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Franceschini, M.C., de Wysiecki, M.L. & Poi, A. Age Structure and Feeding of the Neotropical Grasshopper Cornops aquaticum (Bruner) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) on Water Hyacinth. Neotrop Entomol 42, 344–350 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13744-013-0130-8

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