Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1972 The cologE ical Impact of Common and Coastal Bermudagrasses, Cynodon Dactylon (L.) Pers., on Populations of the Grasshoppers Dichromorpha Viridis (Scudder) and Melanoplus Femurrubrum (Deg.). Walter Carl Roddy Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Roddy, Walter Carl, "The cE ological Impact of Common and Coastal Bermudagrasses, Cynodon Dactylon (L.) Pers., on Populations of the Grasshoppers Dichromorpha Viridis (Scudder) and Melanoplus Femurrubrum (Deg.)." (1972). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 2372. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/2372 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. 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Silver prints of "photographs" may be ordered at additional charge by writing the Order Department, giving the catalog number, title, author and specific pages you wish reproduced. 5. PLEASE NO TE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 I 73-21,120 RODDY, Walter Carl, 1944- THE ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF CCMMON AND COASTAL BERMUDAGRASSES, CYNODON DACTYLON CL.) PERS., ON POPULATIONS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS DICHROMORPHA VIRIDIS (SCUDDER) AND MELANOPLUS FEMURRUBRUM----- (DeG.). The Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, Ph.D., 1972 Entomology University Microfilms, A XEROX Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFLIMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED THE ECOLOGICAL IMPACT OF COMMON AND COASTAL BERMUDAGRASSES, CYNODON DACTYLON (L.) PERS., ON POPULATIONS OF THE GRASSHOPPERS DICHROMORPHA VIRIDIS (SCUDDER) AND MELANOPLUS FEMURRUBRUM (PEG.). A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillm ent of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of Entomology by Walter Carl Roddy B.S., Lamar University, 1966 M .S ., Louisiana State University, 1968 December, 1972 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author wishes to thank his ma|or professor, Dr. L. D. Newsom and Drs. S. D. Hensley, C. D. Steelman, H. B. Boudreaux, and Clair Brown for their guidance, advice, and encouragement in the researching and preparation of this dissertation. Thanks are also expressed to Dr. D. W . Newsom, Head of the Depart­ ment of Horticulture for the use of his department's facilities; to Mr. Dawson Johns, director, for the use of the facilities on the North Louisiana H ill Farm; and to Mr. E. A. Epps, director of the Wilson Feed and Fertilizer Laboratories, for analysis o f grass samples. The author also wishes to thank his wife, Jane, whose never ending encouragement and careful proof-reading aided in the preparation of this dissertation. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................. iv ABSTRACT............................................................................................................................. vi INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 1 REVIEW OF LITERATURE....................................... 2 SECTION I - GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT...................................................... 4 Method and Materials ................................................................................... 4 Results .................................................................................................................. 7 SECTION II - PREFERENCE STUDIES........................................................................ 18 Method and Materials ................................................................................... 18 Results .................................................................................................................. 23 D IS C U S S IO N ...................................................................................................................... 38 CONCLUSIONS............................................................................................................... 50 SUMMARY........................................................................................................................... 51 BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................................. 53 A P P E N D IX ............................................................................................................................. 56 V IT A ....................................................................................................................... 117 • • • mi LIST OF TABLES Table Page I. Mortality of M. femurrubrum and D. viridis nymphs reared on four diets in the laboratory ........................................................................................... 10 II. Mean duration in days of M . femurrubrum and D. viridis second, third, fourth, and fifth instars and adult stage reared in the la b o ra to ry .................................................................................................................. 12 III. Mean weight in milligrams of M. femurrubrum and D. viridis nymphs and adults reared on four diets in the laboratory .......................... 14 IV. The efficiency of conversion of four diets by M . femurrubrum and D. viridis in the laboratory ......................................................................... 15 V. Percent Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN) of the four diets fed to D. viridis and M . femurrubrum during laboratory tests ..................... 17 V I. Preferences for cellucotton squares soaked in aqueous and acetone extracts of coastal and common Bermudagrasses by D. viridis and M . femurrubrum ...................................................................................................... 28 V II. Mean number of grasshoppers feeding on flats of coastal and common Bermudagrasses growing in the greenhouse ......................................29 V III. Mean number of grasshoppers feeding on coastal Bermudagrass or coastal Bermudagrass and weeds ........................................................................ 30 IX. Mean number of grasshoppers feeding on common or common Bermudagrass and weeds ....................................................... 31 X. Mean number of grasshoppers feeding on coastal Bermudagrass and weeds versus common Bermudagrass ................................................................. 32 X I. Mean number of grasshoppers feeding on common Bermudagrass and weeds versus coastal Bermudagrass .......................................................... 33 iv Table Page XI,I. Mean number of grasshoppers feeding on coastal Bermudagrass and weeds or on common Bermudagrass and weeds ............................................. 34 X III. Analysis of coastal and common Bermudagrass for protein fiber, and shear strength .................................................................................................. 35 XIV. The mean estimated weekly population of D. viridis and M. femurrubrum on coastal and common Bermudagrass. Homer, Louisiana, 1968 ...................................................................................................... 36 XV. Theoretical change in M. femurrubrum populations