RESUMO
Van Klink et al (Reports, 24 April 2020, p. 417) argue for a more nuanced view of insect decline, and of human responsibility for this decline, than previously suggested. However, shortcomings in data selection and methodology raise questions about their conclusions on trends and drivers. We call for more rigorous methodology to be applied in meta-analyses of ecological data.
Assuntos
Água Doce , Insetos , Animais , HumanosRESUMO
The evolution of resistance in insect pests will imperil the efficiency of transgenic insect-resistant crops. The currently advised strategy to delay resistance evolution is to plant non-toxic crops (refuges) in close proximity to plants engineered to express the toxic protein of the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). We seek answers to the question of how to induce growers to plant non-toxic crops. A first strategy, applied in the United States, is to require Bt growers to plant non-Bt refuges and control their compliance with requirements. We suggest that an alternative strategy is to make Bt seed more expensive by instituting a user fee, and we compare both strategies by integrating economic processes into a spatially explicit, population genetics model. Our results indicate that although both strategies may allow the sustainable management of the common pool of Bt-susceptibility alleles in pest populations, for the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) one of the most serious pests in the US corn belt, the fee strategy is less efficient than refuge requirements.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Bactérias/genética , Toxinas Bacterianas/genética , Produtos Agrícolas/economia , Endotoxinas/genética , Proteínas Hemolisinas/genética , Controle de Insetos/métodos , Modelos Econômicos , Controle Biológico de Vetores/economia , Plantas Geneticamente Modificadas/parasitologia , Zea mays , Animais , Toxinas de Bacillus thuringiensis , Evolução Molecular , Controle de Insetos/economia , Modelos Genéticos , Mariposas/genética , Doenças das Plantas/parasitologia , Plantas Geneticamente Modificadas/genética , Sementes/genética , Estados Unidos , Zea mays/economia , Zea mays/genética , Zea mays/parasitologiaRESUMO
In this paper, we analyze the insect resistance management (IRM) plan put in place by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to delay the evolution of resistance to Bt corn in natural populations of the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner. This IRM plan is the most impressive mandatory IRM system ever developed. It forms a coherent whole and includes mandatory refuges, actions to increase growers' compliance and a program for monitoring the evolution of resistance. However, our analysis suggests that two components of this IRM plan are not entirely satisfactory: growers' compliance and monitoring of the evolution of resistance. Moreover, the implementation of these two components of IRM has been required of the registrants, whose incentives for IRM are probably lower than the social optimum. Our analysis suggests that alternatives to the IRM plan currently in place could improve these two components.