9th International Symposium on the Biosafety of Genetically Modified Organisms. Session III: Identifying and defining hazards and potential consequences II.

This session examined how effects of GM plants can be distinguished from those of non-GM comparators, how these differences can be measured, and how effects on non-targets and on plant fitness can be assessed. This review focuses on issues concerning plant fitness and invasiveness, and explores how the consequences of changes can be evaluated in terms of their environmental impact for risk assessments. All three authors discussed the first task, which is to determine which life cycle parameters and characteristics of a plant (e.g. fecundity, establishment, seedling survival, etc.) are most associated with fitness and therefore likely to increase fitness if they are modified. The second task is to try to determine whether increased fitness will lead to enhanced invasiveness. The authors used background knowledge of the behavior and life cycle of conventional plants to determine the factors affecting their behavior and fitness. They conducted tests to determine the significance of life cycle parameters, and then used these parameters as primary inputs into models to estimate changes in fitness in recipient plants. They discussed the development of plant (generic) and ecosystem models (e.g. matrix models), in order to predict changes in fitness and environmental conse-