A Simulation Model of Locust Migratory Behaviour

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Abstract
A computer simulation model was developed for a migration of Schistocerca gregaria. The locusts were reported to have reached the UK in 1954 and were described by Rainey (1963) who concluded from meteorological evidence and current locusts reports that they originated in northwest Africa. The model follows the same basic assumptions that, while migratory motion in locusts is maintained behaviorally, displacement is attributed almost entirely to transport in wind systems (Rainey, 1951). Laboratory estimates of flight performance from the literature were inadequate to define the distribution of performance in the field. A dummy variable, equivalent to ground speed, was used to compare the effects of different distributions of flight performance. Response surfaces were defined for combinations of parameters and varied qualitatively and quantitatively with different distributions of flight performance. The effect of downwind orientation was investigated and it affected the flight performance but in no simple way.