UNIVERSITE DE BOURGOGNE THÈSE Yongbo LIU - Université de ...
UNIVERSITE DE BOURGOGNE THÈSE Yongbo LIU - Université de ...
UNIVERSITE DE BOURGOGNE THÈSE Yongbo LIU - Université de ...
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population more able to spread to neighboring populations. Because the advantage of insect-<br />
resistant pl ants i ncreases un<strong>de</strong> r ha rsh c onditions, i t i s likely t hat r esistant pl ants w ould<br />
dominate t he popul ation a nd t hat t he popul ation w ould e volve f rom 0 t o 100 % r esistant<br />
within a short time. Letourneau and Hagen (2009) have found that B. rapa plants (including<br />
those protected and exposed to Bt -susceptible herbivores) produced more seeds in disked soil<br />
or field margins than in natural v egetation. If this population were to spread into disturbed<br />
habitats, the fate of adjacent wild populations could quickly <strong>de</strong>pend on the prevalence of the<br />
invading insect-resistant plants.<br />
Implication for the invasion of transgenic volunteers into wild populations<br />
The current study shows that sufficient simulated herbivory <strong>de</strong>creases plant fitness, showing<br />
that h ealthy p lants h ave a cl ear co mpetitive a dvantage. T his ad vantage v aried w ith t he<br />
percentage of resistant p lants i n t he popul ation, and w as m ore obvi ous un<strong>de</strong>r l ow r esource<br />
availability than when resources were high. In addition, the interaction between herbivory and<br />
competition ha d a n a dditive e ffect on pl ant f itness. H owever, pl ants had t he a bility f or<br />
compensatory growth f ollowing i njury b y h erbivory. Low c ompetition a nd s ufficient<br />
resources support regrowth in semi-natural environments. Thus, at the final equilibrium (i.e.<br />
resistance gene f ixed i n a popul ation) ve getative a nd reproductive p roduction of wild<br />
populations was not significantly altered. The overall productive output of the pure resistant<br />
population w as t he s ame as t he i nsect-attacked pure popul ation ( Figure 3.8), m eaning t hat<br />
changing t he popul ation f rom s usceptible t o i nsect-resistant w ould not r esult i n di fferent<br />
<strong>de</strong>mographic k inetics. T herefore, t hese results s uggest t hat, al though i nsect-resistant p lants<br />
can inva<strong>de</strong> and completely replace wild susceptible populations, which still is one of major<br />
concerns on c ommercial r elease o f t ransgenic crops, t here will be no change t o t he pl ant<br />
community e quilibrium due t o t he i ntrinsic c hange i n t he B. j uncea <strong>de</strong>mography, unl ess<br />
herbivorous insects switch to another species. This could result in more resources available in<br />
the habitat for the insect-resistant species.<br />
Acknowledgements<br />
This work was supported by a PhD joint fellowship between France and China (CNOUS, No.<br />
20072315) and a fund from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(NSFC grant<br />
No. 30970432).<br />
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