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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
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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

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