Undergraduate Research & Scholarships

Ashley Brown

Effects of Temperature and Diet on Grasshopper Migration

Mountains create extreme environments where temperature and food availability change with elevation, potentially altering grasshopper migration. This project aims to understand how temperature and diet affect flight performance while quantifying the energetic cost of flight. By manipulating these factors, we can determine how environmental conditions across mountains shape migration patterns. Because the migratory grasshopper is a widespread agricultural pest, identifying these thresholds will help predict shifts in its dispersal and their ecological implications, including effects on crop systems.

 

Message To Sponsor

Thank you very much to all of the donors that allowed students like me to explore research. My work would not be possible without you, and I am forever grateful to have been given this generous opportunity.