Introduced ecosystem engineers are expected to have extensive ecological impacts on a broad range of resident biota by altering the physical–chemical structure of ecosystems. Livestock that are potentially important introduced ecosystem engineers in grassland systems could create and/or modify habitats for native plant-dwelling insects. Yet, there is little knowledge of how insects respond to engineering effects of introduced livestock. To bridge this gap, we tested how domestic sheep affects the behavior and abundance of a native grasshopper Euchorthippus unicolor at both low (11.8 ± 0.4 plant species per plot) and high (19.8 ± 0.5 plant species per plot) diversity sites. Results found grasshoppers shifted their resting and feeding locations from the upper to the intermediate or low layers of vegetation, and fed on more plants species following livestock engineering effects. In the low plant diversity habitats, grazing caused grasshoppers to increase switching frequency, spend more time searching for host plants, and reduce time spent feeding, but had opposite effects on all the three behaviors in the high-diversity habitats. Moreover, grazing engineering effects on behavioral changes of grasshoppers were potentially related to their abundance. Overall, this study highlights native insect species’ behavior and abundance in responses to introduced ecological engineers, and suggests that ecosystem engineers of non-native species have strong and important impacts extending beyond their often most obvious and frequently documented direct ecological effects.

引入的生态系统工程师有望通过改变生态系统的物理化学结构，对广泛的生物群落产生广泛的生态影响。可能是重要的引入草原系统的生态系统工程师的牲畜可以创建和/或修改本地植物栖居昆虫的栖息地。然而，关于昆虫如何对引入的牲畜的工程效应作出反应的知识很少。为了弥合这种差距，我们测试了家养绵羊如何影响本地蚱hopper Euchorthippus unicolor的行为和丰度在低（每块地11.8±0.4种植物）和高（每块地19.8±0.5种植物）多样性站点上。结果发现，蝗虫的休息和觅食位置从上层植被转移到了中层或下层植被，并在牲畜工程学影响下以更多种类的植物为食。在植物多样性低的生境中，放牧使蝗虫增加开关频率，花更多的时间寻找寄主植物，并减少了进食时间，但对高多样性生境的所有三种行为产生了相反的影响。此外，放牧工程对蚱behavior行为变化的影响可能与其数量有关。总体而言，这项研究着重介绍了本地昆虫物种对引进的生态工程师的反应和丰富程度，