Arthropod abundance and diversity in transgenic Bt soybean

Abstract

Before the commercialization of any insect-resistant genetically modified crop, it must be subjected to a rigorous premarket risk assessment. Here, possible effects of growing of transgenic Cry1Ac soybean on arthropod communities under field conditions were assessed for 2 yr and quantified in terms of arthropod community indices including the Shannon-Weaver diversity index, richness index, and dominance index. Our results showed no significant differences of diversity, richness, or dominant indices for Bt soybean compared with the recipient cultivar, conventional soybean, or sprayed conventional soybean. Conventional soybean treatment with insecticide had an adverse effect on the arthropod community after spraying, but arthropod community diversity recovered quickly. Bt soybean had no negative effect on the dominant distribution of subcommunities, including sucking pests, other pests, predators, parasitoids, and others except for lepidopteran pests. The dominance distribution of lepidopteran pests decreased significantly in Bt soybean because of the significant decrease in the numbers of Spodoptera litura (F.) and Ascotis selenaria Schiffermüller et Denis compared with the recipient cultivar. Our results showed that there were no negative effects of Cry1Ac soybean on the arthropod community in soybean field plots in the short term. © 2014 Entomological Society of America.