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MOLECULAR GENETIC APPROACHES TO PEST AND NONTARGET POPULATION MONITORING
Citation:
Stolz, U. MOLECULAR GENETIC APPROACHES TO PEST AND NONTARGET POPULATION MONITORING. Presented at Conference on Development of Strategic Monitoring Programs for Ecological Impact from Plant-Incorporated Protectants, Arlington, VA, August 3-5, 2004.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this task is to develop genetic methodologies for evaluating and decreasing ecological risks posed by genetically modified crops (GPRA goal 4.5.2). This research has the following primary aims:
measurement of population genetic parameters for target pest populations in order to inform pest resistance management models genetic analysis of resistance/tolerance to Bt-toxin in laboratory pest strains to investigate the genetic basis of Bt resistance development of molecular genetic indicators of exposure of nontarget organisms to Bt toxins development and evaluation of a genetic monitoring program for establishing population trends and probable impacts for non-target populations near GM-crop fields.
Description:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has interest in a number of applications of genetic monitoring methodologies. Genetic monitoring in agroecosystems can provide valuable environmental information regarding both traditional and novel pesticides. One group of pesticides of particular interest is plant incorporated protectants (PIPs), which are genetically modified (GM) plants that express insecticidal proteins (e.g., Bt corn and Bt cotton). It has been argued that PIP crops have the potential to cause population or ecosystem-level changes through a number of mechanisms (Ervin et al. 2003). These changes include rapid resistance evolution in pest populations, ecological harm caused by transgenes from GM crops escaping into close relatives via crop-relative interbreeding, and negative effects on non-target organisms. Regulatory agencies such as the EPA and USDA have evaluated the environmental risks of PIP crops and judged them acceptable. However, additional data would help to support both regulatory confidence as well as public confidence in the long term environmental safety of PIPs. Because empirical data to support assessments of long term ecological risks of PIPs is an immediate need of the EPA, I believe applications of genetic monitoring for examining the long term ecological effects of PIPs should be developed as soon as possible.