Locations of Desert Locust (Schistocerca gregaria) Egg-laying Sites and Associated Soil Parameters (2017-2021)

Understanding the thresholds of influencing parameters that favours the habitability of dangerous pests like desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) can aid in early detection and eradication using control operations. In this study, we retrieved the preferential soil conditions like sand-silt-clay percentage, sand texture and soil moisture at surface and sub-surface level for egg-laying by desert locust. Towards this, monthly bulletins disseminated by Food and Agriculture Organisation under Locust Watch program were used to identify 172 locations during 2017-2020. Extracted sand-silt-clay percentage at this 172 locations using SoilGrids 2.0 from WoSIS database facilitated by International Soil Reference and Information Centre. Similarly, soil moisture conditions were retrieved at all the sampled locations from Level 4 data products of Soil Moisture Active Passive mission.