New Strategies in Locust Control

In the late eighties large-scale control operations were carried out to control a major desert locust upsurge in Africa. For the first time since the banning of organochlorine pesticides these operations relied mainly on non-persistent pesticides such as organophosphates and pyrethroids. The amount of pesticides sprayed and the area covered were probably the highest in the history of locust control and raised criticism with respect to efficacy, economic viability and environmental impact.

As a consequence, applied research into the problem was intensified, both at the national and the international level, with the goal of finding new and environmentally sound approaches and solutions to locust and grasshopper control. Emphasis was laid on developing new control agents and techniques.

Biology of desert locust and research priorities.- Evaluating recent locust research.- Ecology of Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål): observations in West Africa from 1990 to 1994.- Forecasting and modeling.- Desert locust forecasters’ GIS: a researchers’ view.- Swarms: A geographic information system for desert locust forecasting.- Mapping of desert locust habitats using remote sensing techniques.- Vertical-looking radar as a means to improve forecasting and control of desert locusts.- Forecasting the early-season eclosion of Oedaleus senegalensis in the Sahel: the role of remotely sensed rainfall data.- Biotic and abiotic factors affecting the population dynamics of the Senegalese grasshopper, Oedaleus senegalensis.- Modelling brown locust outbreaks in relation to rainfall and temperature.- Metapopulations of locusts and grasshoppers: spatial structures, their dynamics and early warning systems.- Forecasting seasonal dynamics of the Asiatic migratory locust using the Locusta migratoria migratoria ― Phragmites australis forecasting system.- Forecasting and modelling: Poster contributions.- The SGR biomodel: a synoptic model for surveillance and early warning specific to the desert locust over the whole of its distribution habitat.- Anti-locust early warning systems: recent experiences from eastern Africa.- Forecasting and modelling: Working group.- Results and recommendations of the working group Forecasting and modeling.- Control agents and methods.- Overview and challenges of new control agents.- Field investigations on Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål) adults, hoppers and hopper bands.- Persistence of benzoylphenylureas in the control of the migratory locust Locusta migratoria capito (Sauss.) in Madagascar.- Evaluation of insect growth regulators for the control of the African migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.), in Central Africa.- Field application of the juvenile hormone analogue fenoxycarb against hopper bands of Lacusta migratoria capito in Madagascar.- Locust Control with Metarhizium flavoviride: New approaches in the development of a biopreparation based on blastospores.- Metarhizium flavoviride: recent results in the control of locusts and grasshoppers.- Small-scale field trials with enlomopathogenic fungi against Locusta migratoria capito in Madagascar and Oedaleus senegalensis in Cape Verde.- Development of a mycoinsccticide for the Australian plague locust.- Melia volkensii: a natural insecticide against desert locusts.- Potential for Melia volkensii fruit extract in the control of locusts.- Field trials with neem oil and Melia volkensii extracts on Schistocerca gregaria.- Locust control by means of selective baiting.- Neurotransmitter-receptors as targets for new insecticides.- Control agents and methods: Poster contributions.- Mass production of Metarhizium flavoviride in submerged culture using waste products.- Field trails conducted on a biopesticide (Metarhizium flavoviride) for grasshopper control in Mali from 1992 to 1994.- LUBILOSA: a Joint Project for the biological control of locusts and grasshoppers in the Sahel.- Application of an oil-based formulation containing spores of an entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhizium flavoviride, against grasshoppers.- Biocontrol of locusts in Madagascar: developing indigenous pathogens.- Preliminary investigations on the combination of Metarhizium flavoviride blastospores with botanicals (neem, Melia volkensii) for biological locust control.- Sorosporella sp., a fungal pathogen of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria capito, in Madagascar.- The problem of a replacement for dieldrin.- Locust control with deltamethrin.- Carbosulfan, an effective new product for locust control.- Staurorhectus longicornis (Giglio Tos), a recently appearing pest species on pastures in the dry Chaco of Paraguay and semi-field tests for its control.- Mechanical control of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål, 1775).- Control agents and methods: Working groups.- Results and recommendations of the working group Control agents and Methods.- Results and recommendations of the working group Control agents and methods.- Chemoecology and semiochemicals.- Chemoecological studies reveal causes for increased population densities of Zonocerus (Orth.: Pyrgomorphidae) and offer new means for management.- Attraction and diurnal behaviour of the African pest grasshopper, Zonocerus variegatus (L.), at oviposition Sites.- Potential for the use of semiochemicals against Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.).- Alternative Strategy and tactics for the management of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.).- Pheromones in Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.): the present situation.- Chemoecology and semiocheniicals: Poster contribution.- Electrophysiological studies of Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.) with volatile compounds.- Environmental impact.- Environmental effects of locust control: state of the art and perspectives.- Side-effects of locust control on beneficiai arthropods: research approaches used by the Locustox project in Senegal.- Side-effects of the insect growth regulator triflumuron on spiders.- Side-effects of insecticides on non-target arthropods in Burkina Faso.- Susceptibility of target acridoids and non-target organisms to Metarhizium anisopliae and M. flavoviride.- Effects of anti-locust insecticides in surface waters in the Sahel: a summary of five years of research.- Environmental impact: Poster contributions.- Diflubenzuron and locust control in south-western Madagascar: relative abundance of non-target invertebrates following barrier treatment.- Impact of deltamethnn on the parasitic locust fly, Wohlfahrtia pachytyli.- The dissipation of certain insecticides in the environment of the Sahel.- Environmental impact: Working group.- Results and recommendations of the working group Environmental impact.- Economics of locust control and crop loss assessment.- Economics of desert locust control.- Yield losses on pearl millet panicles due to grasshoppers: a new assessment method.- Comparison of the costs of barrier and blanket treatments using insect growth regulators in Madagascar.- Economics and practicalities of migratory locust hopper band control using barriers of insect growth regulator.- Management strategies.- Desert locust control strategies.- Can we prevent desert locust plagues?.- Proaction: strategic framework for today’s reality.- Towards an integrated strategy for the control of the desert locust.- Control of the desert locust: strategy, organisation and means.- Strategy for controlling the desert locust in Mauritania.- Grasshopper control in Siberia: strategies and perspectives.- Management strategies: Poster contribution.- A new approach to the control of Rhammatocerus schistocercoides (Rehn, 1906) in Brazil.- Management strategics: Working groups.- Results and recommendations of the working group Management strategics.- Results and recommendations of the working group Management strategies.