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POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING TO BIOENGINEERED CROPS
Citation:
Glaser*, J A. POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS OF REMOTE SENSING TO BIOENGINEERED CROPS. Presented at ORD/OPTS Seminar Series, Washington, DC, October 15, 2003.
Impact/Purpose:
To inform the public
Description:
Crops bioengineered to contain toxins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are subject to regulatory scrutiny by USEPA under the FIFRA legislation. The agency has declared these crops to be "in the public good" based on the reduced use of pesticides required for management of these crops. Hence they are environmental assets that are valued for crop protection having significant human health and ecological protection features in contrast to typical broad spectrum chemical pesticides. From a sustainability perspective, it is important to protect these crops so that society can enjoy long useful lifetimes for these new forms of biotechnology. The major threat to extended crop lifetimes is the development of resistance toward the crop in pest populations for which the crop protects. Detection and monitoring of resistance development becomes crucial to avoid any premature crop loss due to pest resistance. The crop acreage for Bt corn is about 20 million acres in recent years for the US. Any realistic attempt to sample such a large area for pest resistance is difficult and probably beyond the timeliness and cost that can be economically expected to be borne for resistance management. A new approach to this problem that uses remotely sensed imagery will be discussed. The remote sensing evaluation is coordinated with research efforts leading to the development of new detection technology and standardization of more established detection technology that are important to the ability to sample for resistance at the field level. Simulation models for pest resistance prediction have been used to portray possible lifetime for these crops and to develop management options to lengthen their useful lifetimes. Verification and validation of the predictive strengths of the models are important to the understanding the utility of these models to assist bioengineered crop management. Data derived from remote sensing imagery of bioengineered crops could significantly assist the verification of these simulation models. The research program designed to achieve these objectives is built from EPA interagency research alliances with USDA and NASA.