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12 - Temporal dynamics and the spread of insect resistance transgenes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2013

By
Michael G. Bowler ,
Felix Breden  and
Colleen K. Kelly
Edited by
Colleen K. Kelly ,
Michael G. Bowler  and
Gordon A. Fox
Michael G. Bowler
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Felix Breden
Affiliation:
Simon Fraser University
Colleen K. Kelly
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Colleen K. Kelly
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Michael G. Bowler
Affiliation:
University of Oxford
Gordon A. Fox
Affiliation:
University of South Florida
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Summary

Introduction

Crops can be made resistant to pestiferous insects by genetic modification. The possibility that the modified genetic material may escape into a population of wild relatives is a threat looming over all such endeavours. Since insect infestations fluctuate from year to year, or over longer periods (locusts are an extreme example), the fitness of transgenes escaped from agriculture will be affected by this temporal dynamic and that is the subject of this chapter.

There are two ways in which genetically modified crops may pose a threat to the environment. The first is by spreading beyond arable land and simply outcompeting wild relatives by virtue of the insect resistance modification. The second is by hybridising with wild relatives so that the insect resistance transgene invades and transforms the wild population. The first is unlikely; crops are selected for yield and require tender loving care in order to thrive. The second threat is more insidious and has usually been addressed through population genetics. The role of ecological interactions has been comparatively neglected and the effect on relative fitness of temporal fluctuations in various factors, such as herbivore densities, falls into this category.

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Chapter
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Temporal Dynamics and Ecological Process , pp. 282 - 308
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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