Desert Locust Stopped by Tibetan Highlands during the 2020 Upsurge

Desert locust is an important pest to agriculture. In 2019–2020, a major upsurge originated in the southern Arabian Peninsula and gradually spread east Africa, then south-west Asia, as far Pakistan India, even reaching Nepal, resulting agricultural losses. For first time, few swarms entered Tibet. Using field observations experiments, we studied their path Tibetan plateau behavior at these very high altitudes. The locusts moved up valleys from low-lying areas (1700 m) much higher elevations (5400 m). low temperatures humidity put them under severe stress; activities were limited, they did not survive long or produce local offspring. It clear that high-altitude environmental conditions Himalayan mountains provided natural barrier limited northward expansion of desert populations.