Locust

Rating:
Summary: A Fun Insect Whodunit
Review: Before I read this book, I had heard of the great locust swarms of the 19th century, mostly from reading Laura Ingalls Wilder. I had not realized that swarms of the Rocky Mountain locust no longer flew and that the insect was now believed to be extinct. This book has great stories on the experiences of the victims of locust swarms. The second half takes up the question of why the locusts are gone. It's a good example of a scientist's life and how progress gets made in science. Much of the research was done by taking insect samples from melting glaciers. (If you're not convinced yet that global warming is changing the climate, this is a good book for you.) The pace of the book drags in spots, but overall it is a fascinating tale.

Rating:
Summary: A Plague of Locusts
Review: Dr Lockwood has written a very readable and carefully detailed biography of the encounter of the pioneers with the Rocky Mountain Locust and the modern day entomologists' investigations of its dissappearance. He lays out a good case for the most recent hypothesis for the 'Extinction' of the migratory form of M. spretus. He also lays the groundwork for us to accept that M. spretus is still with us. His paragraphs about describing something as a PROCESS rather than an object is an epiphany that many people will never have. Also valuable and which rings true is his dicussion about how science gets done and how its as much tied to ego as it is to data. He also alludes to the stagnation now currently found in many sciences.

One thing he misses is comparing the locust to other "plagues" seen in North America that are gone - the huge bison herds, the huge passenger pigeon flocks, the huge prairie fires, huge salmon runs, etc - the North American continent used to run at a much higher energy state than it now does.

Dr Lockwoods book falls in with other Natural History investigations that introduced a new paradigm - of which the best example is the Imbries' "Ice Ages: Solving the Mystery" that popularizes a new theory while describing the challenges that led to its acceptance.

Rating:
Summary: What's a Labrum?
Review: Edmund Burke wrote, "Nothing tends so much to the corruption of science than to suffer it to stagnate; these waters must be troubled, before they can exert their virtues" at the beginning of this book. In the book, WHY ENGLAND SLEPT, Churchill was quoted when describing the 1930s as the "years the locusts have eaten." This book explains in detail what he meant. Afterwards, in total chaos and bewilderment, as to 'what hit me'

In the Bible (book of Exodus) are stories about plagues of locusts. But I had no idea of the enormity of this problem in U. S. history. Jeffrey Lockwood uses this common insect to tell the story of a nation in transition from a most unique perspective, seen as a possible divine punishment. In 1876, Congress declared the locust as 'the single greatest impediment to the settlement of this country.'

Swarms of this hungry insect swept across from Texas to the Dakotas, Iowa to California, devastating farms and turned noon 'into dusk', so vast and aggressive were they in destroying crops. The farmers were thought to be morally weak to have such havoc attack their lands, causing a national crisis.

Religion did indeed play an important part in trying to deal with the 'sixth plague'; the Bible provided a source of insight into this problem but was ambiguous. In ancient times, starlings appeared to devour these pests in Asia Minor. Learning this pleased me as the newcomers to Knoxville (downtown dwellers) started a campaign this summer to get rid of starlings in the decorative, small park. They inserted a large, artificial owl in a tree (hid from view) with terrible screeches to scare away all birds in the area. My friendly blue jays flew away home, returned to their natural habitat.

Locust swarms tend to move around. About every seven years, we hear their loud sounds, mating calls? One insect can leave behind 99 eggs. There have been legal controversies concerning these (are they creatures of God or the devil?) locust plagues and religious disagreements.

They appear as a whirling, glittering eerie cloud which leaves a desolate wilderness behind consuming all vegetation, kinda like a dust storm in a swarm strong enough to rustle the cornstalks they consume and fast enough to lift a yellow-brown cloud of soil. In the introduction, he tells of an actual attack by locusts on a farm in Nebraska in 1875, which left total devastation. When a locust infestation became a national crisis, a commission's findings started the field of entomology, launching 'a golden era of discovery.'

Jeffrey Lockwood wrote an earlier 'bug' book, GRASSHOPPER DREAMING. In this volume, he seems to see the locust and grasshopper as the same menace. Because of his work with the Rocky Mountain locust which had simply 'vanished' and he set out to discover why, he wrote for 'American Entomologist' about the locusts' demise. It was used in 'Orion,' 'Wild Earth,' and 'High Country News' earning the 2002 John Burroughs Award.

After further research, it turned into a book-length project. He was swamped with source material, historical insights, biographies, political debates, religious significance, even insect remains and information about glaciers. Many 'experts' from a dozen states and Canada shared their expertise with him. He has another book called PRAIRIE SOUL about people, environment, and religion in the form of essays.

There are still yearly 'locust plagues' in Africa with red species who can destroy a whole year's work in a matter of minutes. Theirs prefer palm and olive trees, basil, grape leaves, and grass. In the lower part of Israel, near Egypt and Jordon, some workers consider these insects a 'delicacy.' They are warned to grill them until they turn yellow, turning them to cook well done.
Why didn't the folks out West try that? Maybe Jeffrey Lockwood knows, but forgot to inform us.

Rating:
Summary: Solving an Ecological Whodunit
Review: It is, according to entomologist Jeffrey A. Lockwood, "perhaps the greatest ecological mystery of modern times." Lockwood has studied the mystery for years, undergone grueling mountain expeditions to get evidence, compiled a solution to it, and had his solution accepted by his peers; it might be, therefore, that he has a slightly exalted sense of just how great the mystery is. But in _Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier_ (Basic Books), he has set the matter clearly for non-specialists, and has shown how he made his convincing answer to "What killed off the locusts?" You may never have wondered about this particular ecological question, but Lockwood's detailed, multi-faceted, and fascinating book provides a refreshing look at entomological and agricultural history, at how field and research science is done, and how evolution works in mysterious ways.

The impression the locusts made on pioneers in the nineteenth century cannot be overstated. They darkened the sky and ate any crops down to stubble, fed on clothes, and gnawed even the handles of farm implements. There was nothing that could be done. Of course there were religious appeals to remove the plague, and inchoate government plans to help the starving farmers. Eventually the federal government did set up programs to investigate the swarms scientifically, and huge amounts of data were collected, but it did not do a great deal of good in the short term. The farmers wanted to get rid of the locusts then and there. There were many methods of locust control, including a horse-drawn flamethrower. Finally, but through none of these efforts, the locusts vanished forever. Entomologists have thought about this for more than a century, and some interesting hypotheses have been forwarded, each reviewed here, each eventually unsatisfactory.

Lockwood's solution was from evidence gathered, among other places, high in Wyoming ridges, in the glaciers. There are very few locusts pinned in collections, but after much grueling effort he and his team found them encased in glacial ice. Before finding full bodies, they were able to do some identification by looking at the remains of mouth parts, which are distinct in grasshopper and locust species. For exact identification, though, bodies with intact penises had to be found. The penises of grasshoppers and locusts display many grooves, hooks, and curlicues that ensure that the key of the male fits only into the lock borne by a female of the same species, so a penis is the best way to know exactly what species one is dealing with. Lockwood's solution, which is too interesting to be revealed in detail here, involves some fascinating aspects of the locusts, which were in one form in their home nesting ground but developed a different body type for the migratory (swarming) phase when the home got crowded. Lockwood also drew upon the lessons we are learning from the Monarch butterfly, which also has a now-endangered home in Mexico from which it sends out migrating waves. Lockwood's whodunit is beautifully organized and clearly written to tell an esoteric story which he has in many ways fitted into larger ecological, historical, and social frameworks, and in doing so he convinces a reader of a larger importance than just the loss of one species.

Rating:
Summary: Solving an Ecological Whodunit
Review: It is, according to entomologist Jeffrey A. Lockwood, "perhaps the greatest ecological mystery of modern times." Lockwood has studied the mystery for years, undergone grueling mountain expeditions to get evidence, compiled a solution to it, and had his solution accepted by his peers; it might be, therefore, that he has a slightly exalted sense of just how great the mystery is. But in _Locust: The Devastating Rise and Mysterious Disappearance of the Insect that Shaped the American Frontier_ (Basic Books), he has set the matter clearly for non-specialists, and has shown how he made his convincing answer to "What killed off the locusts?" You may never have wondered about this particular ecological question, but Lockwood's detailed, multi-faceted, and fascinating book provides a refreshing look at entomological and agricultural history, at how field and research science is done, and how evolution works in mysterious ways.

The impression the locusts made on pioneers in the nineteenth century cannot be overstated. They darkened the sky and ate any crops down to stubble, fed on clothes, and gnawed even the handles of farm implements. There was nothing that could be done. Of course there were religious appeals to remove the plague, and inchoate government plans to help the starving farmers. Eventually the federal government did set up programs to investigate the swarms scientifically, and huge amounts of data were collected, but it did not do a great deal of good in the short term. The farmers wanted to get rid of the locusts then and there. There were many methods of locust control, including a horse-drawn flamethrower. Finally, but through none of these efforts, the locusts vanished forever. Entomologists have thought about this for more than a century, and some interesting hypotheses have been forwarded, each reviewed here, each eventually unsatisfactory.

Lockwood's solution was from evidence gathered, among other places, high in Wyoming ridges, in the glaciers. There are very few locusts pinned in collections, but after much grueling effort he and his team found them encased in glacial ice. Before finding full bodies, they were able to do some identification by looking at the remains of mouth parts, which are distinct in grasshopper and locust species. For exact identification, though, bodies with intact penises had to be found. The penises of grasshoppers and locusts display many grooves, hooks, and curlicues that ensure that the key of the male fits only into the lock borne by a female of the same species, so a penis is the best way to know exactly what species one is dealing with. Lockwood's solution, which is too interesting to be revealed in detail here, involves some fascinating aspects of the locusts, which were in one form in their home nesting ground but developed a different body type for the migratory (swarming) phase when the home got crowded. Lockwood also drew upon the lessons we are learning from the Monarch butterfly, which also has a now-endangered home in Mexico from which it sends out migrating waves. Lockwood's whodunit is beautifully organized and clearly written to tell an esoteric story which he has in many ways fitted into larger ecological, historical, and social frameworks, and in doing so he convinces a reader of a larger importance than just the loss of one species.

Rating:
Summary: Locust, Schmocust!
Review: This book was interesting, but it kind of bogged down in the middle where the author goes on & on & on about the government's failure to help out the settlers who got clobbered by the locust's depradations and about who blamed who about the locust's appearance on the prairie. The parts about his search for the Rocky Mt. Locust were very interesting as well as the parts where he discussed the insect & its life-cycle. A good editor could have pared this book down by at least 50 pages and that would have been a good thing. I recommend that you read it, but be prepared to skim a bit when the going gets dull.

Rating:
Summary: Mystery solved
Review: This is an interesting tale about the apparent extinction of the Rocky Mountain Locust, which so devastated the farms of the early settlers of the American West.

Lockwood begins his tale with a rather exhausting recitation of the first hand accounts of the Locust swarms, and the impact they had on the pioneers. This was, we quickly learn, horrifying and almost unbelievable to modern ears. The helplessness and despair, starvation and economic ruin! Lockwood's account is to this reader, at least, could have been a little shorter--I got to the "enough awready" stage pretty soon. But it does set the stage for the question (which I had wondered about myself): what happened to them? Why haven't they recurred over the last century? Might they come back?

Lockwood, as a young professional entomologist, was unhappy with previous explanations and decided to try to answer this question with as much certainty as he could, using real data and a little less speculation. He relates the historical hypotheses in some detail, showing the reader their inadequacies in a pretty convincing way. A nice approach is that he provides lots of biographical detail of the earlier entomologists who were concerned with the mystery, which livens up the tale too. By the time he got to his own explanation, I was ready for it, and was pretty well convinced to boot.

I especially appreciated the way he consistently tried to get quantitative about various aspects of the problem. He doesn't just say that the swarms were awful big, but calculates that the biomass at times was as large as all the buffalo in the West. There are numbers here. I like that.

I was interested to read about his expeditions to find remnants of the swarms on glaciers, his trials with getting funding and published, and the passion he has for his subject. I was a little amused by the sympathy he develops for the locust, which sometimes even veers toward a mystical reverence for them, and a regret for their passing. Not many pioneers felt that way, I think.

The twist at the very end of the book was quite startling to me. I wonder, will anyone follow up on it?

The book is a little long-winded to some, perhaps, but I appreciated the thoroughness with which he approached the work, and found it to be quite fascinating, and thought his work to be something of a triumph. I was satisfied.