Impacts of locust feeding on interspecific relationships and niche of the major plants in Inner Mongolia grasslands

Abstract

Oedaleus decorus asiaticus (O. asiaticus), the dominant species of steppe locust, plays a crucial role in driving the dynamic changes of the grassland ecosystem. However, there are a limited number of studies on the impact of locust feeding on the relationship of the major plants in the species community. This study has employed the Shannon-Wiener index, Pianka index, and the maximum information coefficient (MIC) to assess the impact of O. asiaticus feeding on the community structure and interspecific relationships in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. The chosen indices measured niche breadth, niche overlap, and interspecies correlation. The topological network structure between the main species was further analyzed. The results indicated that: 1) locust gnawing expands the niche width of major species and increases the niche overlap index of food-loving species; 2) the feeding of locusts reduces the overall correlation between species but increases the interspecific relatedness between food-loving species and other species. 3) the number of links in the species topological network structure is reduced due to locust gnawing.

Keywords

• Oedaleus decorus asiaticus
• Interspecific relationship
• Maximum information coefficient
• Niche
• Topology network