Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28090425›Full record

ArticleEnvironmental sciences Europe2016

Spread of volunteer and feral maize plants in Central Europe: recent data from Austria.

Kathrin Pascher

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Environmental sciences Europe, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
37citing papers in PubMed
11.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

37 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
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  3. Assessment of genetically modified maize DAS1131 (application GMFF-2021-1530).EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2025
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  4. Assessment of genetically modified maize DP51291 (application GMFF-2021-0071).EFSA journal. European Food Safety Authority · 2024
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kathrin PascherDivision of Conservation Biology, Vegetation- and Landscape Ecology, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, University of Vienna, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria.
University of Vienna · AT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The occurrence of volunteer maize plants in subsequent crops as well as of feral maize plants in non-agricultural areas is an essential issue in risk assessments of genetically modified (GM) maize, with regard to possible contamination of natural habitats with GM material and as contribution to the total adventitious GM content of the non-GM final product. The appearance of feral maize plants has been confirmed for non-agricultural habitats in European areas with Mediterranean climate such as Spain. However, the existence of maize volunteers and feral maize outside cultivation under Central European continental climatic conditions is considered to be extremely unlikely in those winter-cold areas. Here, field observations during 5 years (2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2015) in Austria are presented that confirm the occurrence of volunteer and feral maize under Central European climatic conditions. Most of these plants produced fertile inflorescences with viable pollen and fully developed cobs. Maize kernels may reach the soil by disintegration of cobs due to disease, using crushed maize cobs for game-feeding, left overs in manure dispersed during fertilisation or from transporting and handling of crushed cobs. The evidence of volunteer and feral maize in four Federal States in Austria (Burgenland, Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Styria) emphasises the necessity to consider these hitherto under-emphasised factors in an ecological risk assessment (ERA) of GM maize as a possible source for transgenes in non-agricultural habitats, because these plants could act as bridge for the spread of GM material into semi-natural habitats. In accordance with the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which states that in principle maize has the potential to survive as a volunteer or feral plant also in regions with cold winters, the investigation of the frequency of their occurrence under Central European conditions should be part of future monitoring programmes in order to assess their potential for permitting transgene spread.

Indexed as

Central EuropeCornEcological risk assessment (ERA)EU legislationFeral plantsField observationsGenetically modified (GM)MaizeTransgene spreadVolunteers

Identifiers

PMID28090425
PMCPMC5202252
OpenAlexW2567289229

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.