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INSECT BIOMASS IN AGRONOMIC CROPS AS FOOD FOR RING-NECKED PHEASANT CHICKS PHASIANUS COLCHICUS L.
Abstract
During 1979 and 1980, studies were conducted to evaluate insect food selection by two-week-old ring-necked pheasant chicks, Phasianus colchicus L. Field collected insects from bluegrass, oats understoried with sweetclover, and second year sweetclover were utilized. Chicks fed on significantly more (P = .01) larger insect species and this preference became more pronounced as chicks became satiated. Chicks tended to select slower moving insects such as Hemiptera. First year oats-sweetclover provided a ready source of insects for food. Second year sweetclover had abundant insects but many fed on succulent new growth more than 0.5 m above ground and may hve been unavailable to foraging chicks. A second study was conducted to determine biomass production of above ground feeding herbivorous insects in oats-sweetclover and second year sweetclover, and to compare standing crop biomass (SCB) of insects in all crops on an organic farm with those occurring on crops grown on adjacent conventional farms. Homoptera (Cicadellidae, Delphacidae, Aphididae) were the main source of herbivore biomass production in oats-sweetclover and oats (95% and 94% respectively). Homoptera (Aphididae) production from second year sweetclover comprised 37% of the total. Hemiptera and Lepidoptera contributed remaining percentage amounts. Comparison of insect SCB indicated no differences between farms for the same crops, but there were differences between crops. Corn, soybeans, and alfalfa contained significantly lower (P = .05) amounts of insect SCB than wheat, oats, sweetclover, and oats-sweetclover. Potential number of pheasant chicks each habitat could support was estimated. Ingestion of adult lady beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) by pheasant chicks was rare, but when occurring, elicited distress symptoms in the birds. Even with warning colors removed, by excision of elytra, lady beetles were still avoided. Similarly marked bean leaf beetles, Cerotoma trifurcata (Forster), were readily ingested, suggesting olfactory recognition is involved.
Subject Area
Entomology
Recommended Citation
WHITMORE, RUSSELL WILLIAM, "INSECT BIOMASS IN AGRONOMIC CROPS AS FOOD FOR RING-NECKED PHEASANT CHICKS PHASIANUS COLCHICUS L." (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8308792.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8308792