Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220

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Published online October 14, 2024
https://doi.org/10.5141/jee.24.070

Journal of Ecology and Environment (2024) 48:38

Evaluating the risk of living modified organisms on the natural ecosystem by analyzing the overwintering potential of four major species imported into Korea

Kyong-Hee Nam1* , Sung Min Han1 , Seong-Jun Chun1 , Jun-Woo Lee1 and Jihoon Kim1,2

1Division of Ecological Safety LMO Team, National Institute of Ecology, Seocheon 33657, Republic of Korea
2Department of Biology, Wonkwang University, Iksan 54538, Republic of Korea

Correspondence to:Kyong-Hee Nam
E-mail khnam@nie.re.kr

Received: July 4, 2024; Revised: September 8, 2024; Accepted: September 9, 2024

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ The publisher of this article is The Ecological Society of Korea in collaboration with The Korean Society of Limnology

Abstract

Background: Living modified organisms (LMOs) imported into Korea may pose various risks to the domestic natural ecosystem, depending on their seed survival capacity and proliferation potential. In this study, we investigated seed germination and dormancy rates under controlled low temperatures for 12 weeks. In addition, we assessed the overwintering potential of seeds buried at 10 cm soil depth over 48 weeks using non-transgenic seeds of four major LMOs imported into Korea.
Results: Brassica napus L. seeds exhibited superior germination and dormancy rates compared to Glycine max (L.) Merr., Zea mays L., and Gossypium hirsutum L. seeds when subjected to incubation at low temperatures (–5°C, –1°C, and 5°C). Seed germination was exclusively recorded for B. napus seeds in the field, which reflects the winter environment, for up to 8 weeks after burial. Seeds of both B. napus and Z. mays remained dormant in the soil for up to 4 weeks after burial; however, G. max and G. hirsutum seeds did not remain dormant. Germination rates were higher when the seeds were placed in seed bags and buried, whereas dormancy rates were higher when the seeds were buried without seed bags.
Conclusions: These results suggest that B. napus could have a higher invasive potential than other plant species, which may affect its survival and spread, ultimately posing a greater threat to the ecosystem. This study provides valuable insights into the immediate need for establishing risk assessments and safety management measures for LMOs (specifically B. napus).

Keywords: invasiveness, living modified organism, natural ecosystem, overwintering, risk assessment, transgenic plant

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Journal of Ecology and Environment

pISSN 2287-8327 eISSN 2288-1220