Desert locust gregarization: a conceptual kinetic model
| dc.contributor.author | Hassanali, Ahmed | |
| dc.contributor.author | Magzoub, Bashir O. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Njagi, Peter G. N. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Ely, Sidi Ould | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2013-05-17T12:10:00Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2013-05-17T12:10:00Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2009-01-09 | |
| dc.description | DOI:10.1665/1082-6467(2005)14[223:DLGACK]2.0.CO;2 pp.223-226 | en_US |
| dc.description.abstract | A better understanding of the mechanisms that underlie phase transformation in a solitarious desert locust population is an important prerequisite for the development of a quantitative gregarization model and for predicting locust outbreaks. Two types of processes are involved: 1) clustering at diminishing spatial scales, which brings dispersed locusts together and which, in patchy micro-environments with a concentrated food resource, gives rise to nuclei of pheromone-emitting, gregarizing insects; and 2) recruitment processes which promote the horizontal spread of gregarious traits from such nuclei. Because of the heterogeneity of typical breeding habitats and divergent behavior of the 2 phases of the insect, there is a dynamic interplay between the forces of crowd formation and those of dispersal. All the key steps in the course of phase change are reversible and for successful development of a viable gregarious population, all must proceed at optimal pace toward the gregarious phase. The process resembles a chemical transformation that involves a series of reversible sequential steps and may, likewise, be treated as a series of equilibria. Such a conceptual model may constitute a useful framework for quantitative studies in desert locust primary breeding areas and in the development of a predictive gregarization model. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.citation | Journal of Orthoptera Research 09/2009; DOI:10.1665/1082-6467(2005)14[223:DLGACK]2.0.CO;2 pp.223-226 | en_US |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/6809 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Journal of Orthoptera Research | en_US |
| dc.title | Desert locust gregarization: a conceptual kinetic model | en_US |
| dc.type | Article | en_US |