Ecological energetics of Central European grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Summary Biomass and energy budgets and food utilization efficiencies of laboratory and wild populations of three Central European grasshopper species, Chorthippus parallelus (Zetterstedt), C. biguttulus (L.), and Gomphocerus rufus (L.), were studied between 1979 and 1984. Larval consumption is relatively low in C. biguttulus (C=4.3 kJ/ind.) compared with C. parallelus and G. rufus (4.9 kJ/ind.). In the adult phase (maturity) consumption rates of C. biguttulus and G. rufus (6.9 kJ/ind.) are similar, but higher in C. parallelus (7.3 kJ/ind.). The energy content decreases from the egg (23.2–24.3 J/mg dw) and body tissue (22.1–23.2 J/mg dw) to faeces (16.6–18.1 J/mg dw). The energy contents of faeces differ significantly between the species, indicating different rates of food conversion (on Dactylis glomerata). On average, the assimilation rates are about 30%, slightly lower in G. rufus. Approximate digestibility (A/C) ranges from 28.2 (G. rufus) to 35.7 (C. biguttulus) without great differences between larvae and adults. In contrast, the efficiency of conversion of ingested food (P/C) differs significantly between larval (10–11) and adult stages (3.4–3.6), and so to a much higher degree does the efficiency of conversion of digested food (P/A), from 30.3–33.5 in the larval to 9.5–14.9 in the adult period. Based on 5-year (C. parallelus) and 2-year studies (G. rufus) of the population dynamics and life tables, the energy budgets of wild populations were calculated and summarized into diagrams. Depending on the annually fluctuating densities, in both populations about 1%–2% of net primary production was consumed, and another 5%–9% was cut and dropped. The proportion of production of the grasshopper populations (body tissue) used for egg production differs in C. parallelus (28%) and G. rufus (44%). The energy cycling owing to energy storage in the living eggs amounts to 2%–3% of the total energy consumed by the population. The results are compared with the available data for grasshoppers in the literature.