Recently, the news about the locust plague has made people tense their nerves. Some people sighed: it is really the new crown that has not subsided, the locust plague has risen again, and 2020 is really not too quiet.
There are also many self-media rumors that the locust plague will spread all the way to the east and spread to the whole country.
Locust little science
Locusts, in fact, we commonly call "grasshoppers", there are more than 10,000 species in the world, And there are more than 1,000 kinds in China, but there are more than ten kinds of disasters.
The locust that is raging this time is the desert locust. The desert locust is a short-horned locust that inhabits the desert and is the most dangerous of the locust species. The desert locust is a major agricultural pest in the valleys and oases of tropical desert regions of Africa and Asia, and they have strong flight ability and strong fertility (they can reproduce up to five generations per year), and their size and food intake are large.
The graph originates from the network
The Kenyan government statement said: "A swarm of desert locusts can accommodate up to 150 million locusts per square kilometre. Swarms of locusts migrate with the wind and can cover 100 to 150 kilometers a day. An average swarm of locusts can destroy enough food in a day to feed 2,500 people. ”
Since January 2019, the desert locust swarm has flown over the Red Sea from the Arabian Peninsula to the Middle East and South Asia, causing serious harm to countries along the way and accumulating a large number of insect sources.
At present, locust swarms around the world have the characteristics of wide range, heavy incidence and severe situation in the later stage.
Countries in East Africa, West Asia and South Asia are suffering from a historical locust plague, with about 1.05 million acres of land already affected in Kenya. India suffered 5.55 million acres of farmland and lost more than 10 billion rupees. Somalia, Pakistan and other countries have declared a state of emergency to deal with locust plagues.
The map of the hidden locust swarm originates from the network
The probability of desert locusts harming our country is small
Kang Le, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and an ecologist and entomologist, believes that the desert locust will not pose a serious threat to China, and China is not a distribution area of the desert locust.
In history, China was the country that suffered the most from locust plagues in the world, and the scope and extent of the disasters were the highest in the world. However, the common locust species in China are "flying locusts", including East Asian flying locusts, Asian flying locusts and Tibetan flying locusts, rather than "desert locusts". "Flying Locust" and "Desert Locust" belong to different biological species.
The migration activities of desert locust locusts and adults need to meet temperatures of about 40 ° C and relative humidity of 60% to 70%. Considering the topography and climatic characteristics of China's border areas and the migration habits of desert locusts, China's border is blocked by the Kunlun Mountains and the Himalayas, and it is difficult for desert locusts to cross cold areas at high altitudes, and the threat to China is low.
Because the southern borders of Tibet and western Yunnan are bordered by desert locust-infested areas in Nepal and Myanmar, locusts may migrate into our country with the monsoon, but the chances of harm are small.
Another route is from South Asia through Bangladesh into China's Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, but Bangladesh is followed by a rainforest area, the changing environment is not conducive to their spawning, and the Yunnan-Guizhou region is not suitable for the habits of desert locusts.
The last route is to enter Central Asia first, passing through Kazakhstan and entering Xinjiang. This area was originally an area where locusts were active.
On the whole, the locust swarms in the spring occurrence areas migrate in the direction of India-Nepal-Myanmar-southern Tibet and western Yunnan. The largest spread area of the desert locust rampant is probably Myanmar, Nepal and India, and there is a certain danger in China's Yunnan region, but the probability of harm is very small.
Locust control practices in China
Some experts and technicians in China have put forward a comprehensive locust plague control strategy of "combining reform and treatment to eradicate locust infestation." At the same time, the population is controlled by biological control methods, and high-density locust-occurring areas are controlled in a timely manner by using chemical agents.
Among them, the biological control method includes the use of pink starlings, chickens, ducks, geese and eagles and other locust-eating animals for the treatment of the food chain, which has achieved remarkable results in China.
The Plant Protection and Plant Inspection Office of the Department of Crop Industry Management of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said that in recent years, China's locust monitoring and early warning and prevention and control capabilities have been continuously improved, the level of prevention and control technology belongs to the world's leading level, the reserve of locust prevention and equipment is sufficient, and the risk of large-scale outbreaks of locusts in China is very low.
At present, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is closely tracking the development of locust plagues abroad, and at the same time arranging for Yunnan, Tibet and other provinces and regions to strengthen the monitoring of locusts at the border to strictly prevent the harm of migration.
Source: Rumor Filter