Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Can Genetically Engineered Crops Become Weeds?

Bio/Technology volume 7, pages 1134–1139 (1989)Cite this article

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Unted States Congress Office of Technology Assessment. New Developments in Biotechnology—Field-Testing Engineered Organisms: Genetic and Ecological Issues. 1988. OTA-BA-350. Washington, DC. U.S. Government Printing Office.

  2. Regulatory Considerations: Genetically Engineered Plants. 1988. Boyce Thompson Institute (ed.), Center for Science Information, San Francisco, CA.

  3. Brill, W.J. 1985. Safety concerns and genetic engineering in agriculture. Science 219:381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Colwell, R.K., Norse, E.A., Pimentel, D., Sharples, F.E., and Simberloff, D. 1985. Genetic engineering in agriculture. Science 229:115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Davis, B.D. 1987. Bacterial domestication: underlying assumptions. Science 235:1329.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sharples, F.E. 1987. Regulation of products from biotechnology. Science 235:1329.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Keeler, K.H. 1985. Implications of weed genetics and ecology for the deliberate release of genetically engineered crop plants. Recomb. DNA Tech. Bull. 8:165.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Alexander, M. 1985. Ecological consequences: reducing the uncertainties. Issues Sci. Technol. 1:57.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Coordinated framework for regulation of biotechnology. 1986. Office of Science and Technology Policy. Fed. Reg. 51:23301.

  10. Hauptli, H., Newell, N., and Goodman, R.M. 1985. Genetically engineered plants: environmental issues. Nature Biotechnology 3:437.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Furner, I.J., Huffman, G.A., Amasino, D.J., Garfinkel, D.J., Gordon, M.P., and Nester, E.W. 1986. An Agrobacterium transformation in the evolution of the genus Nicotiana. Nature 319:422.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Goodman, R.M. and Newell, N. 1985. Genetic engineering of plants for herbicide resistance: status and prospects, p. 47 in Engineered Organisms in the Environment: Scientific Issues. H. O. Halverson, D. Pramer, and M. Rogul (eds.), American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Pimentel, D., Glenister, C., Fast, S., and Gallahan . 1982. Environmental risks associated with the use of biological and cultural pest controls. NTIS Report No. PB-83-168-716. National Technical Information Service, Springfield, VA.

  14. Vitousek, P.M. 1985. Plant and animal invasions: can they alter ecosystem processes?, p. 169 in Engineered Organisms in the Environment: Scientific Issues. H. O. Halverson, D. Pramer, and M. Rogul (eds.), American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  15. DeWet, J.M.J. and Harlan, J.R. 1975. Weeds and domesticates: evolution in the manmade habitat. Econ. Bot. 29:99.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Baker, H.G. 1965. Characteristics and modes of origin of weeds., p. 147 in The Genetics of Colonizing Species. H. G. Baker and G. L. Stebbins (eds.), Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Baker, H.G. 1974. The evolution of weeds. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 5:1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hill, T.A. 1977. The Biology of Weeds. Institute of Biology. Studies in Biology, Edward Arnold, London.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Oka, H.-I. and Morishima, H. 1982. Ecological genetics and the evolution of weeds, p. 73 in Biology and Ecology of Weeds. W. Holzner and N. Numata (eds.), Dr. W. Junk, Publishers, The Hague.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. Bazzaz, F. 1986. A life history of colonizing plants. Some demographic, genetic, and physiological features, p. 96 in Ecology of Biological Invasions of North America and Hawaii. Springer-Verlag, New York.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  21. Holm, L.G., Plunknett, D.L., Pancho, J.V., and Herberger, H.P. 1977. The World's Worst Weeds: Distruibution and Biology. The University Press of Hawaii, Honolulu.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Rabinowitz, D., Cairns, S., and Dillon, T. 1986. Seven forms of rarity and their frequency in the flora of the British Isles, p. 182 in Conservation Biology: The Science of Scarcity and Diversity. M. S. Soule (ed.), Sinauer Assoc., Inc., Sunderland, MA.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Harrison, S.G., Masefield, G.B., and Wallis, M. 1969. The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford Univ. Press, London.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Thompson, H.C. and Kelly, W.C. 1957. Vegetable Crops (5th edition). McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. Yamaguchi, M. 1983. World Vegetables: Principles, Production, and Nutritive Values. Avi Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, CT.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  26. Bassett, M.J. 1986. Breeding Vegetable Crops. Avi Publishing Co., Inc., Westport, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Brown, A.D.H. and Marshall, D.R. 1981. Evolutionary changes accompanying colonization in plants, p. 351 in Proc. 2nd Int. Cong. Syst. and Evol. Biol. G. G. E. Scudder and J. L. Reveal (eds.), Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Carnegie-Mellon University, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Risser, P.G., Birney, E.C., Blocker, H.D., May, S.W., Parton, W.J., and Weins, J.A. 1981. The True Prairie Ecosystem. Hutchinson Ross Publishing Co., Stroudsburg, PA.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Silander, J.A., Jr. 1985. Microevolution in clonal plants, p. 107 in Population Biology and Evolution of Clonal Organisms. J. B. C. Jackson, L. W. Buss, and R. E. Cook (eds.), Yale Univ. Press, New Haven, CT.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Lewin, B. 1987. Genes (3rd edition), John Wiley and Sons, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Cavers, P.B. and Bough, M.A. 1985. Proso millet (Panicum miliaceum L.): a crop and a weed, p. 143 in Studies on Plant Demography. A Festschrift for John L. Harper, Academic Press, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  32. The following citations are all from the Journal of Ecology: 1948, 36:203; 1953, 41:447; 1955, 43:331; 1956, 44:677; 1957, 45:289; 1959, 47:169; 697; 1962, 50:235; 1963, 51:227; 733; 1964, 52:709; 1966, 54:795; 1967, 55:207; 1968, 56:585; 1971, 59:887; 1972, 60:235; 1978, 66:1033; 1979, 67:1087.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. associate professor, ecology and evolutionary biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, 68588-0343

    Kathleen H. Keeler

Authors
  1. Kathleen H. Keeler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Keeler, K. Can Genetically Engineered Crops Become Weeds?. Nat Biotechnol 7, 1134–1139 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1189-1134

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt1189-1134

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing