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Locusts and other migratory grasshoppers are transboundary pests. Monitoring and control, therefore, involve a complex system made up of social, ecological, and technological factors. Researchers and those involved in active management are calling for more integration between these siloed but often interrelated sectors. In this paper, we bring together 38 coauthors from six continents and 34 unique organizations, representing much of the social-ecological-technological system (SETS) related to grasshopper and locust management and research around the globe, to introduce current topics of interest and review recent advancements. Together, the paper explores the relationships, strengths, and weaknesses of the organizations responsible for the management of major locust-affected regions. The authors cover topics spanning humanities, social science, and the history of locust biological research and offer insights and approaches for the future of collaborative sustainable locust management. These perspectives will help support sustainable locust management, which still faces immense challenges such as fluctuations in funding, focus, isolated agendas, trust, communication, transparency, pesticide use, and environmental and human health standards. Arizona State University launched the Global Locust Initiative (GLI) in 2018 as a response to some of these challenges. The GLI welcomes individuals with interests in locusts and grasshoppers, transboundary pests, integrated pest management, landscape-level processes, food security, and/or cross-sectoral initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scelio fulgidus ( Crawford) is a widely distributed egg endoparasitoid of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera ( Walker) that can cause high levels of host mortality in some locust outbreak situations. We assessed S. fulgidus parasitism from 23 locust egg bed sites in the New South Wales Riverina over a sequence of three host generations during the 2010-2011 C. terminifera plague cycle. Parasitism was locally variable but relatively high in each generation, with >90% egg parasitism during the summer 2010 host generation, exceeding previously reported data. There was evidence to support facultative diapause of up to one-third of S. fulgidus larvae in host eggs laid during March- May, with temporal change in proportions similar to diapause incidence in host eggs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scelio fulgidus ( Crawford) is a widely distributed endoparasitoid in the eggs of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera ( Walker), that can exert considerable influence on locust population dynamics. The present study quantifies S. fulgidus longevity from different seasonal histories at five day/night temperature regimes in the laboratory. Longevity was sensitive to temperature, and means ranged from 5 days to 28 days in males and from 10 days to 33 days in females at 35/20°C and at 15/0°C (day/night), respectively. There was no significant difference in the longevity of S. fulgidus sampled from different seasonal populations, or those from host diapause eggs exposed to 15°C in soil for 100 days before hatching. These data report the average longevity of S. fulgidus at different day/night temperature regimes and considerably increase the previously reported individual maximum longevity for the species. The effects of temperature on wasp longevity may have important host-parasitoid implications at different times of the year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]