. Spring 2004, GEO seminar
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biological invasions IGERT
 
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Regulatory Frameworks: Potential Invasiveness of Genetically Engineered Crops in the USA and International Centers of Biodiversity
 

Spring Quarter 2004

Join us as we take a broad look at the implementation of GE crop regulations around the world. Through a public series of outstanding speakers from the U.S. and abroad and an in-depth seminar, we will analyze various frameworks' success in preventing invasiveness, considering the challenges and risks posed by this technology.

Course details:

  • Instructors: Paul Gepts (plgepts@ucdavis.edu)
    and Steve Brush (sbbrush@ucdavis.edu)
  • 2 credits, ECL 298/CRN 59731 or IAD 290-04/CRN 68645;
    meets in 3001 PES with exceptions noted below.
  • Students are responsible for attending the public seminars, doing weekly readings, and participating in discussion. Grades based on participation and weekly journal entries.

Syllabus and readings:

Speaker information and readings (as .pdf files, unless otherwise specified). The public seminar will be at 2:10-3:00pm in 3001 PES unless otherwise specified; class discussion will be 1:30-2:30pm in 3001 PES.

speaker seminar discussion
Norman Ellstrand
Department of Botany and Plant Sciences
University of California, Riverside		 F, 9 April
11am, 1022 LSA		 F, 9 April
“When Transgenes Wander, Should We Worry?”
readings:
  1. Ellstrand NC. 2001. When transgenes wander, should we worry? Plant Physiology 125:1543-1545. © 2004 by the American Society of Plant Biologists
  2. Ellstrand NC. 2003. Going to "Great Lengths" to Prevent the Escape of Genes that Produce Specialty Chemicals. Plant Physiology. 132:1770-1774. © 2004 by the American Society of Plant Biologists
  3. additional reading (not required): Ellstrand, NC 2003. Dangerous Liaisons? When Cultivated Plants Mate with Their Wild Relatives. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
 
Lareesa Wolfenbarger
Department of Biology
University of Nebraska		 Th, 15 April F, 16 April
“Long-term ecological impacts of widely adopted transgenic crops on grassland communities: consequences for conservation priorities in the Midwestern United States”
readings:
  1. Wolfenbarger and Phifer 2000, © 2004 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science
 
Bill Muir
Department of Animal Sciences
Purdue University		 F, 23 April
11am, 1022 LSA		 F, 23 April
“Generalized Methods of Risk Assessment Based on Evolutionary Fate of the Transgene”
readings:
  1. Howard et al., PNAS 2004 © 2004 by the National Academy of Sciences
  2. Muir & Howard 2002 © 2002 by Kluwer Academic Publishers
  3. Muir & Howard 2001 © 2001 by the American Society of Naturalists
  4. Muir and Howard, 1999 © 1999 by the National Academy of Sciences
 
Paul Thompson
Department of Agricultural Economics
Michigan State University		 Th, 29 April F, 30 April
“Environmental Values and Environmental Risk: the Case of Transgenic Crops”
readings:
  1. GM crops: balancing predictions of promise and peril, Frontiers in Ecology 2004 (will be distributed in class)
  2. Value Judgments and Risk Comparisons. The Case of Genetically Engineered Crops
  3. P.B. Thompson, "Food and Agricultural Biotechnology: Ethical Issues Behind the Research Choices,"The IPTS Report, 50 (December 2000)
  4. A Revitalized Production Ethic for Agriculture (select the link to the article)
 
Jorge Larson
Program for Collective Biological Resources, UNAM, Mexico		 Th, 6 May F, 7 May
topic: Cartegena protocol/conservation of biological resources
readings:
  1. Sarukhan and Larson, "When the Commons Become Less Tragic"
  2. Sarukhan et al., "Biological Conservation in a high Beta-Diversity Country" , © 2001 by CAB International
 
Margaret Mellon
Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington DC		 Th 13 May TBA
“Gone to Seed: Transgenic Contamination of the Traditional Seed Supply”
readings:
  1. Gone to seed...: download the full report from the Union of Concerned Scientists by selecting the .pdf under the photograph
 
Deborah Letourneau
Department of Environmental Studies
University of California, Santa Cruz 		Th, 20 May
4pm, 2 Wellman		 Th, 20 May, 2:10pm
Bt crops: Predicting effects of escaped transgenes on the fitness of wild plants and their herbivores
readings:
  1. Letourneau et al. 2004, © 2004 by ISBR, EDP Sciences
 
Sylvie Bonny
Unité d'Économie et Sociologie Rurales, INRA, France		 Th, 27 May F, 28 May
Origins, Factors, and Impact of European Concern About and Opposition to GMOs: the French Case”
readings:
  1. Bonny, Factors in the Development of Opposition to GMOs and Case-Study Evidence
  2. Bonny, Why are most Europeans opposed to GMOs? Factors explaining rejection in France and Europe
  3. .pdf version of the paper from the website above, © 2003 by the Universidad Católica de Valparaíso -- Chile
 
Pamela Ronald
Department of Plant Pathology
University of California, Davis		 Th, 3 June F, 4 June
"Genetically Engineered, Organically Grown?”
readings:
  1. Toennissen et al. 2003, © 2003 by Current Opinion in Plant Biology
  2. Ronald_Feature Final_GEOs (MSWord format), © 2003 by the Davis Food Co-op
  3. Atkinson et al. 2003, © 2003 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science