Census Data of Populations of Some Leafhoppers (Auchenorrhyncha, Homoptera) of Acidic Grassland

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Abstract
Population ecology of a complex of leafhopper species associated with Holcus mollis and H. lanatus was examined for 6 yr. More detailed data were obtained for 12 generations of the bivoltine Errastunus ocellaris, the most abundant species in the study area. Life tables of 6 spp. [E. ocellaris, Dicranotropis hamata, Diplocelenus abdominalis, Elymana sulphurella, Deltocephalus coronifer and Zygina scutellaris] are given and mortality in the egg state was identified as the key factor in 5. The populations are labile and their levels are influenced by weather, state of food plant, natural enemies and dispersal. Effects of weather were greatly accentuated in the exceptionally dry and warm season of 1976, when the parched and stunted food plants failed to grow and to flower. Lability of species composition is associated with the readiness of some leafhopper species to colonize new breeding sites. Most of the identified mortality processes were density independent.