Eco Invertebase© and Arthrofilter©: Selecting non-target species for testing GM crops

Most legislation governing GMOs explicitly mentions preserving ecosystem function. This includes natural regulation of pests by parasitoids and predators. Consequently, appropriate pre-release assessment of GM crop impacts on non-target organisms (NTOs) and the biological control function they provide is vital. This may include testing the GM crop or its expressed novel proteins on selected NTOs. Obviously not all the organisms in any receiving ecosystem can be tested and a species selection process is required. Once the species most likely to be at risk are identified, further decisions must be made about how to test for adverse effects, and practical issues, such as the availability of a standard laboratory bioassay or satisfactory surrogate species, may come into play. For countries where arthropod fauna associated with the crop are well-known and for transgene traits that are well-understood (e.g. Bt toxins), established pesticide NTO testing systems can provide a valuable basis for selecting test species for GM crops. Elsewhere it can be helpful to begin with as wide a knowledge of the fauna on the crop as possible and then apply a series of “filters” based on pre-determined selection criteria to develop a short-list of species. Here we describe a database format for compiling information on arthropod fauna in crops (Eco Invertebase©) and a series of queries (Arthrofilter©) that can be applied to derive a subset of species which may be suitable for non-target testing. The use of these tools for GM crop risk assessment in New Zealand and Europe will be discussed.