Journal or Publishing Institution: Cornell University Press
Author(s): Jesse, L.C. and Obrycki, J.J.
Article Type: Book
Record ID: 1155
Text: Recent data on the effects of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn pollen on larvae of the monarch butterfly and the black swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes, two butterfly species that occur on plants within and adjacent to cornfields in the midwestern United States, have been used by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a reassessment of regulatory decisions and the re-registration of transgenic Bt corn hybrids (EPA 2000; Wraight et al., 2000; Hellmich et al., 2001; Oberhauser et al., 2001; Pleasants et al., 2001; Sears et al., 2001; Stanley-Horn et al., 2001; Zangeri et al., 2001). This EPA reassessment was in response to the laboratory study by Losey and coworkers (1999) which demonstrated that monarch larvae ingested Bt corn pollen when they were placed on milkweed leaves covered with pollen and that consumption of this pollen caused increased mortality. Similarly, we found that monarch larvae suffer increased mortality when exposed to levels of Bt (Events Bt11 and 176) corn pollen and another material from two types of transgenic corn. Bt11 and 176, they are likely to encounter in the field (Jess and Obrycki, 2000). Anthers, plant structures that release pollen, are typically shed during the anthesis and contain higher levels of Bt toxins than the pollen itself (Jesse and Obrycki, 2000; Hellmich et al., 2001)…
Citation: Jesse, L.C. and Obrycki, J.J., 2004. Survival of experimental cohorts of monarch larvae following exposure to transgenic Bt corn pollen and anthers. In Eds. Oberhauser, K.S., and Solensky, M.J. The Monarch Butterfly: Biology and Conservation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press: 69–75.
