Range shifts are among the most conspicuous effects of global warming. Marked changes in distribution are recorded both for highly mobile species of insects, which are capable of flight, and wing-dimorphic species with predominantly short-winged individuals. One of these species is the bush-cricket Metrioptera roeselii, which occasionally produces long-winged individuals. However, there is little known about the locomotory behaviour of wing-dimorphic insects. Yet to be able to predict potential range shifts it is necessary to know the dispersal potential of macropters. Therefore, an experiment was conducted in which individually marked M. roeselii were released at four sites. Different movement parameters, such as daily movement, activity radius, dispersal range, net displacement and crowding rate, were calculated. The statistical analyses showed that the movement of long-winged and short-winged individuals did not differ, but the percentage of individuals that were not seen again was twice as high for long-winged bush-crickets. These results suggest that most of the long-winged individuals that were seen again did not fly; i.e., they had the same basic mobility as the short-winged individuals. However, the comparatively low number of long-winged individuals that were seen again suggests that at least some macropters are long-distance dispersers, which is relevant for the dispersal process. The comparison of sexes showed that males were significantly more mobile than females. This sex-specific locomotory behaviour in M. roeselii might depend on a complex series of social interactions and physiological conditions. and Dominik Poniatowski, Thomas Fartmann.
Macroptery is common in many species of Orthoptera, but the causes are still discussed. Besides the assumption that macroptery is genetically determined, there is evidence that wing dimorphism is induced by environmental factors, particularly population density. However, most of the research is on pest species. In contrast, knowledge of wing dimorphism in species that occur at low population densites is still poor. Our study aims to test how density actually affects macroptery. As model organisms we chose two bush-cricket species of the genus Metrioptera (Ensifera: Tettigoniidae): While long-winged M. roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822) occur regularly, macropterous M. brachyptera (Linnaeus, 1761) are rare and are never observed outside their mating habitat. Nymphs of populations from the range core of both species (340 individuals each) were reared in groups of three and six individuals per 500 cm3 box, and individually. Our analyses revealed that development of macropters was mainly affected by the initial rearing densities. Compared with those reared individually the number of macropters was significantly higher among individuals reared at medium and high densities. The percentage of macropterous individuals was about twice as high in M. brachyptera as in M. roeselii, and the development of macropters significantly differed between the two species. These findings lead to the conclusion that macropterism is mainly influenced by density stress in both bush-crickets. Genetically determined wing dimorphism is unlikely, otherwise the observed high numbers of long-winged individuals of M. brachyptera, which are very rare under natural conditions, would never have developed in the laboratory. Macropterous M. brachyptera may rarely be found in the field, but we argue that this is due to low natural densities and, accordingly, to rare exposure to density stress.
Whereas the classification of plant communities has a long tradition that of animal assemblages remains poorly developed. Here we propose a classification scheme for orthopteran communities based on regional "character species", "differential species" and "attendant species" at different levels of habitat complexity, which is also applicable to other insect groups. In this context there are three main points of special importance: (i) the geographical reference area, (ii) the hierarchical spatial level (e.g. habitat complex, habitat and microhabitat) and (iii) precise constancy criteria for the definition of character species and differential species. We develop this new approach using a study on orthopteran communites of central German semi-dry calcareous grasslands. Within this habitat, we describe seven structural types that are characterized by specific orthopteran communities. For the arrangement of the structural types several environmental parameters (e.g. height and density of vegetation) were collected. Orthopteran densities were sampled at 80 sites using a biocoenometer (box quadrat). Regional character species of semi-dry grasslands include Myrmeleotettix maculatus, Metrioptera brachyptera, Stenobothrus lineatus and Tetrix tenuicornis. Within this habitat, Chorthippus parallelus, Metrioptera roeselii, Omocestus viridulus, Pholidoptera griseoaptera and Tettigonia viridissima were designated as differential species for particular structural types. Furthermore, Tettigonia cantans and Tettigonia viridissima act as altitudinal differential species. Chorthippus biguttulus is the only attendant species with high constancy values in all structural types. This classification is a powerful tool for arthropod conservation, since it allows one to determine community completeness of very important and threatened habitats, like semi-dry calcareous grasslands.