Locust Swarms and Plagues are disasters in the making as they devastate and entire years crop yield in minutes. As human populations increase there are more mouths to feed and a locust swarm can upset the already difficult task and balance to keep up. Especially in places like Africa. It is for this reason that another think tank has taken up this issue online and is contemplating how the locusts use sound to swarm and what types of thermal signatures they create. One think tanker Mr. Warren Powers states with regards to Sound and thermal signatures of swarms; I suspect there is a signature sound image that is produced by swarms of locusts that is different from that of a swarm of bees. That audio signature is related to wing size, body density, quantity, wing speed and area, elevation, swarm speed and trajectory and other physical components; possibly even individual body temperatures. I would very much agree or even of hornets when they swarm. Each of these species are superstars in their own right. On the bee side of things, if we could enhance their abilities by using sound they use and providing them a boost, then we could perhaps increase their efficiency in pollination and drive crop yields to unbelievable numbers and thus more food is grown, with less water, in less time on less acres. Wow. So lets not only look at the problematic situation for locust plagues devastating the countryside, as I see a really good thing to help the bees do their mission, which indeed helps human kind, with superior crop yields. Additionally this might counteract the problems with the pathogen hurting their larva. Warren states; There are ways to measure each of these physical characteristics of the swarm of locusts for example. Infrared video shows the thermal dynamics associated with a swarm. Indeed and it is for this reason that perhaps we need to do further research on how the insects are doing what they do and use that to help them or in the case of Locust Plagues, get them to stop devastating human crops? I hope you will consider all this in 2006. |
