HopperWiki:About
For millennia, Orthoptera have shaped ecosystems, influenced human livelihoods, and challenged agriculture and conservation efforts. With nearly 30,000 described species spanning diverse habitats, they play crucial ecological roles as herbivores, prey, and bioindicators of environmental change. Despite their significance, access to comprehensive, up-to-date information about these insects remains fragmented. Taxonomic references, ecological studies, management strategies, and conservation resources are scattered across institutions, journals, and unpublished reports—many locked behind paywalls or hidden in archives. The Global Locust Initiative (GLI) at Arizona State University is addressing this challenge through HopperWiki, an open-access, community-driven platform designed to serve as a global knowledge repository for Orthoptera. Inspired by AntWiki.org and built on the taxonomic framework of the Orthoptera Species File, HopperWiki aims to enhance visibility and accessibility for the global community by centralizing access to species profiles, management guides, identification tools, ecological findings, conservation resources, and more. Beyond biology, HopperWiki bridges disciplinary divides by compiling outbreak bulletins, pest management strategies, standard operating procedures, and socio-economic perspectives on Orthoptera. It fosters collaboration by connecting stakeholders—researchers, conservationists, policymakers, and industry professionals—through a directory of organizations and expert profiles.
You can help
Though still in its early stages, HopperWiki already offers an expanding collection of species descriptions, identification guides, technical reports, training manuals, media articles, and more. Special topic pages showcase interdisciplinary contributions, and expert profiles highlight research, publications, and professional work, incorporating the GLI Network to amplify visibility and collaboration. HopperWiki complements GLI’s private, professional network, HopperLink, which provides an online space for researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders to share and discuss their work, events, news, and more. We hope the project will grow in usefulness to a diverse range of stakeholders—including researchers, non-profits, farmers, industry professionals, policymakers, and the general public—by facilitating informed decision-making, enhancing transparency, and preserving institutional knowledge. We invite interested individuals to contribute expertise, refine content, and share resources. Your involvement is critical to making HopperWiki a lasting and authoritative resource for the global Orthoptera community. Join us in shaping a more accessible, comprehensive, and collaborative future for Orthoptera research and management! HopperWiki has been supported with feedback or funding from partners like the Orthoptera Species File (OSF), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the NSF Behavioral Plasticity Research Institute (BPRI).
Anyone who can vouch for any area of expertise in the broad themes surrounding locust and grasshopper biology and management—or just demonstrates enthusiasm to begin learning—is more than welcome to reach out and receive an editing account—we'd love to have you!
- Make a HopperWiki editing account: Click on the "Request account" link in the top right corner of the wiki.a
- Follow the step to create your log in and password
- Familiarize yourself with the existing HopperWiki resources and format basics of Wiki format and coding (resources below)
- Jump in!
HopperWiki editing guidelines
HopperWiki governance
Management team
Rick Overson ([email protected]) and Mira Ries ([email protected]) are the creators and currently the administrators and moderators of HopperWiki. If you have any questions about how to contribute to the project please reach out at any time.
HopperWiki expert contributors
The following individuals have dedicated time and contributed resources to make HopperWiki better for the community.
HopperWiki student contributors
We are grateful to our student contributors who have given their time to add content to HopperWiki!
-
Sharika Kapur
Global Locust Initiative
Undergraduate Worker -
Thao Tran
Global Locust Initiative
Undergraduate Worker -
Surya Chaitanya Buse
Global Locust Initiative
Undergraduate Worker -
Phoenix Pulver
Global Locust Initiative, Arizona State University
Undergraduate Researcher -
Raida Shamim
Global Locust Initiative
Undergraduate Worker -
Fanny Sanchez Villarreal
Global Locust Initiative, School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, Arizona State University
Undergraduate Worker
Current challenges in locust and grasshopper management and how HopperWiki can help
Locusts are a special type of grasshopper that have strikingly different phenotypic forms or “phases”, depending on their environment. At low population densities, locusts remain in the solitarious phase, well camouflaged and behaving like a typical grasshopper. The gregarious phase emerges under crowded conditions and is characterized by color changes, aggregation, and swarming. Scientists call this ability of locusts to respond to their environment “phase polyphenism”.[1][2] Of the two forms, only the gregarious poses a serious threat to global food security.
Locust outbreaks are an inherently transdisciplinary challenge that demands coordination across socioeconomic, cultural, political, and ecological landscapes. Because of this, these insects are at the center of a complex social-ecological-technological system (SETS).[3] [4] Their swarms connect stakeholders across large geographical areas, and over extended and variable time periods. In certain countries, managing locusts and grasshoppers is an annual task. While species like the desert locust, migratory locust, and South American locust experience extended recession periods lasting years or even decades, followed by sudden population surges that lead to swarms, migration, and significant crop losses.[5]
Locust outbreaks are extreme, occur sporadically, are difficult to predict and track, and extend across many ecological and cultural contexts.[6] Many of these outbreaks disproportionately affect some of the poorest areas in the world where subsistence farmers are have to respond to many other emerging climate-change threats. Wherever they land, swarms cause 80–100% crop losses. The last major locust plague (2019–2021) cost almost $250 M USD to control. [7] Over two million ha were treated with pesticides across East Africa and Southwest Asia, suppressing the swarms but bringing other costs to human and environmental health.
During an outbreak, there is an outpouring of resources and motivation directed toward emergency campaigns that protect crops and grazing lands. However, once pest populations are reduced, the problem is quickly forgotten. Over time, resources are redirected toward other issues, local expertise and knowledge erode, and organizational capacity breaks down. Eventually, environmental conditions that are favorable to locusts return and another outbreak occurs, often catching stakeholders by surprise who are once again left scrambling to mount an emergency management campaign. This vicious cycle of locust/grasshopper management has been repeated throughout history [8] [6] and is one of the core challenges HopperWiki has set out to address.
HopperWiki sets out to remedy this situation by making the myriad stakeholders, organizations, and the continuing resources developed by them, more visible and accessible globally, while circumventing language and pay-wall barriers that often limit their efficacy in sustainable management.[9] HopperWiki aims to be a co-created global repository for orthopteran insects (e.g. locusts, grasshoppers) with a particular focus on the complex themes surrounding the sustainable management of those species which impact human livelihoods. It is currently hosted by the Global Locust Initiative at Arizona State University.
By creating a repository of information, both biological and administrative–detailing the organizations involved, their management strategies, and history. HopperWiki helps to retain institutional knowledge, increase transparency, and provide substrate for decision-making tools, which may contribute to more efficient and prepared responses in the future. Additionally, while there are thousands of academic papers published on pest Orthoptera species, most of them remain behind paywalls making them inaccessible to many people in locust affected countries.[9] Not only is information often inaccessible it is often written in confusing jargon, buried in out of date websites, and/or scattered across sources making it difficult to find specific information like identification guides, control manuals, and reports.
Pest management is part of a complex ecological system and wikis specialize in linking many topics in an intuitive method. For this reason, we see HopperWiki as a key resource to get needed information out from behind paywalls and serve as an archive of information written by diverse voices in an accessible style and in various languages. It provides a directory of organizations for those seeking collaboration, expert advice, or references to past management strategies.
Interested in becoming more involved?
Join the Global Locust Initiative Network
Hopperwiki FAQ
Who are the intended users of HopperWiki?
- Non-profits
- Researchers
- Journalists
- Entrepreneurs
- Students
- Farmers/Producers
- Extension Agents
- Policy makers
- Government agencies
- Intergovernmental Organizations
- General public
Why do we need HopperWiki when there's already Wikipedia?
Wikipedia's crowd-sourced efforts fueled by the tireless work of myriad volunteers have been massively successful at providing an almost unthinkable scope of encyclopedic knowledge to the world. However, much of the information that is critically needed by the community of orthopteran researchers and managers to would be much too nuanced and extensive for Wikipedia. Additionally, Wikipedia generally frowns on biographies of persons who are still living, which doesn't allow for mapping the critical human/social aspects of locust management (a main goal of HopperWiki). That being said, HopperWiki seeks to act as "connective tissue" by interlinking content across Wikipedia and other online information repositories in meaningful ways.
HopperWiki guidelines on generative AI (ChatGPT)
Generative AI like Chat GPT is a powerful tool that can translate languages, generate content, code, and edit prose. We support using AI in this context but expect that an expert should always vouch for the content created or edited with generative AI.
Acknowledging HopperWiki
To help track HopperWiki’s impact, if you use materials found on this site for a research or technical publication, please include HopperWiki in your acknowledgments. Even better, submit this form and tell us what you think.
References
- ↑ Uvarov BP (1966) Grasshoppers and Locusts, Vol. 1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Pener MP (1983) Endocrine aspects of phase polymorphism in locusts. In Invertebrate Endocrinology, edited by Downer RGH and Laufer H (Eds.), 1: Endocrinology of Insects. Alan R. Liss New York 379–394 pp.
- ↑ Ostrom E (2007) A diagnostic approach for going beyond panaceas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. U.S.A. 104: 15 181–187. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0702288104
- ↑ McPhearson T, Cook EM, Berbés-Blázquez M, Cheng C, Grimm NB, Andersson E, Barbosa O, Chandler DG, Chang H, Chester MV, Childers DL, Elser SR, Frantzeskaki N, Grabowski Z, Groffman P, Hale RL, Iwaniec DM, Kabisch N, Kennedy C, Markolf SA, Matsler AM, McPhillips LE, Miller TR, Muñoz-Erickson TA, Rosi E, Troxler TG (2022) A social-ecological-technological systems framework for urban ecosystem services. One Earth 5: 505–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2022.04.007
- ↑ (Ries et al. 2024) Global perspectives and transdisciplinary opportunities for locust and grasshopper pest management and research
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Therville C, Anderies JM, Lecoq M, Cease A (2021) Locusts and People: Integrating the Social Sciences in Sustainable Locust Management. Agronomy 11: 951. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11050951
- ↑ FAO (2022) Desert locust upsurge – Progress report on the response in the Greater Horn of Africa and Yemen, September–December 2021. Rome.
- ↑ Gay P, Lecoq M, Piou C (2019) The limitations of locust preventive management faced with spatial uncertainty: exploration with a multi-agent model. Pest Management Science 76: 1094–1002. https://doi.org/10.1002/ps.5621
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Mekonnen A, Downs C, Effiom EO, Razafindratsima O, Stenseth NC, Chapman CA (2021) What costs half a year’s pay for African scholars? Open access. Nature 596: 189–189. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02173-7