02/28/05 Researcher follows Mormon crickets

Many Idaho farmers and ranchers have been battled Mormon crickets in recent years and there's every expectation that they'll be doing the same thing again this spring. An ecologist with the Agricultural Research Service, Greg Sword wanted to know why the crickets form such huge bands. SWORD "We found that there is just a remarkable cost of not being in a group. Those who were removed from the group suffered 50 to 60 percent predation where as everyone that we left in the band survived with no problem and this was just over the course of two days." So breaking up the band someway may help reduce their numbers. How did Sword follow the crickets in his Colorado study? By using radio transmitters glued to the backs of a Mormon crickets. SWORD "Its about a fourth of the crickets body weight or so and we get about a half mile range on the transmitter. It works very well. We rarely if ever lose an insect except when a predator gets it and kills it." Sword says they still don't know what causes the massive outbreaks of insects but drought does play a role. Sword says by using GPS they found that some Mormon crickets travel up to two kilometers a day. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott