Effect of farming on population movements and acoustic behaviour of two bush crickets (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

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Abstract
Mature, singing adults of the bush crickets Platycleis intermedia (Serv.) and P. affinis Fieb. are normally separated in the field through differences in habitat preference. At some localities in southern France, nymphs and young adults of the two species occurred mixed together in herbaceous vegetation surrounding barley fields. Occasionally, there was acoustic interference between them, with modification of the song of P. intermedia. This was overcome by P. intermedia moving into the bushes and P. affinis into the barley. Cutting of the barley resulted in an invasion of the P. intermedia habitat by P. affinis so that there was further interspecific acoustic interference. Sheep grazing caused vegetation mosaics, which again created the conditions for acoustic interaction between the two species.