Trigger for locust swarms found
February 8th 2009 03:23
From BBC News - Science and Environment
Locust swarms 'high' on serotonin
29 January 2009
By James Morgan
It is one of nature's most radical transformations - the moment a crowd of harmless desert locusts begins to swarm into a devastating plague.
Now scientists from the UK and Australia say they have discovered the trigger - the brain chemical serotonin.
The molecule is best known in humans as a target of anti-depressant drugs.
The discovery could lead to new control strategies for the pests, which plague 20% of the world's land, they write in Science journal.
Continue reading here.
Here is an article about desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria). There are other species as well. Locusts belong to the grasshopper family Acrididae.
Locust swarms 'high' on serotonin
29 January 2009
By James Morgan
It is one of nature's most radical transformations - the moment a crowd of harmless desert locusts begins to swarm into a devastating plague.
Now scientists from the UK and Australia say they have discovered the trigger - the brain chemical serotonin.
The gregarious (left) and solitary (right) modes of the desert locust. From BBC News - Science and Environment
The molecule is best known in humans as a target of anti-depressant drugs.
The discovery could lead to new control strategies for the pests, which plague 20% of the world's land, they write in Science journal.
Continue reading here.
Here is an article about desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria). There are other species as well. Locusts belong to the grasshopper family Acrididae.
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