Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T14:57:58.394Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Laboratory studies of the effects of reduced prey choice caused by Bt plants on a predatory insect

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2007

T.H. Schuler ,
A.J. Clark ,
S.J. Clark ,
G.M. Poppy ,
C.N. Stewart Jr  and
I. Denholm
T.H. Schuler*
Affiliation:
Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK
A.J. Clark
Affiliation:
Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK
S.J. Clark
Affiliation:
Biomathematics Unit, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK
G.M. Poppy
Affiliation:
Division of Biodiversity and Ecology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO16 7PX, UK
C.N. Stewart Jr
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA
I. Denholm
Affiliation:
Plant and Invertebrate Ecology Division, Rothamsted Research, Harpenden, AL5 2JQ, UK
*
*Fax: +44 1582 760981 E-mail: Tanja.Schuler@bbsrc.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Crops transformed to express Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins can cause close to 100% mortality of certain target pest species. This study assessed the effect of target pest reduction on the predatory insect Chrysoperla carnea (Stephens) in the presence of alternative prey. Numbers of lacewings recovered from Bt oilseed rape (cultivar Oscar, event O52) did not differ significantly from numbers of lacewings recovered from conventional oilseed rape in cage experiments with the target pest Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus) and the non-target pest Myzus persicae (Sulzer) when aphid densities were high. However, significantly fewer lacewings were recovered from Bt plants as aphid densities were lowered. Lacewing weights were not affected by plant type.

Keywords

Transgenic plantsbiosafetyChrysoperla carneaMyzus persicaePlutella xylostellaBrassica napus
Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 95 , Issue 3 , June 2005 , pp. 243 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2005

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carozzi, N.B. & Koziel, M.G. (1997) Advances in insect control: the role of transgenic plants. London, Taylor & Francis.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dutton, A., Klein, H., Romeis, J. & Bigler, F. (2002) Uptake of Bt-toxin by herbivores feeding on transgenic maize and consequences for the predator Chrysoperla carnea. Ecological Entomology 27, 441–447.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eigenbrode, S.D., Kabalo, N.N. & Stoner, K.A. (1999) Predation, behavior, and attachment by Chrysoperla plorabunda larvae on Brassica oleracea with different surface waxblooms. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 90, 225–235.Google Scholar
Head, G., Brown, C.R., Groth, M.E. & Duan, J.J. (2001) Cry1Ab protein levels in phytophagous insects feeding on transgenic corn: implications for secondary exposure risk assessment. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 99, 37–45.Google Scholar
Hilbeck, A., Baumgartner, M., Fried, P.M. & Bigler, F. (1998) Effects of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis corn-fed prey on mortality and development time of immature Chrysoperla carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Environmental Entomology 27, 480–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meier, M.S. & Hilbeck, A. (2001) Influence of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis corn-fed prey on prey preference of immature Chrysoperla carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae). Basic and Applied Ecology 2, 35–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Obrycki, J.J., Losey, E.J., Taylor, O.R. & Jesse, L.C.H. (2001) Transgenic insecticidal corn: beyond insecticidal toxicity to ecological complexity. Bioscience 51, 353–361.Google Scholar
Potting, R.P.J. & Poppy, G.M. & Schuler, T.H. (1999) The role of volatiles from cruciferous plants and pre-flight experience in the foraging behaviour of the specialist parasitoid Cotesia plutellae. Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 93, 87–95.Google Scholar
Raps, A., Kehr, J., Gugerli, P., Moar, W.J., Bigler, F. & Hilbeck, A. (2001) Detection of Cry1Ab in phloem sap of Bacillus thuringiensis corn and in the non-target herbivores Rhopalosiphum padi (Homoptera: Aphidae) and Spodoptera littoralis (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Molecular Ecology 10, 525–533.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuler, T.H., Denholm, I., Jouanin, L., Clark, S.J., Clark, A.J. & Poppy, G.M. (2001) Population-scale laboratory studies of the effect of transgenic plants on non-target insects. Molecular Ecology 10, 1845–1853.Google Scholar
Schuler, T.H., Potting, R.P.J., Denholm, I., Clark, S.J., Clark, A.J., Stewart, C.N. & Poppy, G.M. Jr (2003) Tritrophic choice experiments with Bt plants, the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) and the parasitoid Cotesia plutellae. Transgenic Research 12, 351–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stewart, C.N. Jr, Adang, M.J., All, J.N., Raymer, P.L., Ramachandran, S. & Parrott, W.A. (1996) Insect control and dosage effects in transgenic canola containing a synthetic Bacillus thuringiensis cryIAc gene. Plant Physiology 112, 115–120.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed