Grasshopper as
a Pest Information Platform for Education and Extension |
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| There has been an extensive amount of research
on the impact grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) on forage grasses.
Over the past 25 years, this research has been embodied in a number
of evolving models, which collectively form an IPM program for controlling
grasshoppers. Hopper Version 4 combines three submodels (RanchMod,
HopMod, and RangeMod) to estimate rangeland productivity, soil moisture,
livestock prices, accessibility and cost of alternative forages, effectiveness
and timing of treatments, and grasshopper numbers and compositions.
APHIS has also conducted surveys to document the distributions of
grasshoppers and the efficacy of treatment regimes. |
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| At present, Hopper is
a desktop, DOS-based program that has been modified for use with
Windows 2000 and XP operating systems. Due to lost code and legacy
issues, the current desktop program is not a long-term, viable solution
for distributing information about the rangeland management of grasshoppers.
While the computer version of the program may be dated, the contents
of the Hopper program are still valuable. Accordingly, there is
an important need to evaluate and update the current Hopper program,
and to integrate surveying and modeling activities into an effective
decision support platform for managing grasshoppers. |
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