One major concern regarding the release of Bt rice is its potential impact through tritrophic interactions on nontarget arthropods, especially natural enemies. We studied the effects of two Bt transgenic rice varieties, TT9- 3 and KMD1, expressing Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac and Cry1Ab, respectively, on a predatory ground spider [Ummeliata insecticeps (Bösenberg et Strand)] supplied with Bt rice-fed brown planthopper [Nilaparvata lugens (Stål)] nymphs. Although immunoassays confirmed that U. insecticeps ingested Bt insecticidal protein when supplied with Bt rice-fed N. lugens, no negative effects were found on its survival and development. Furthermore, the fecundity of U. insecticeps fed prey reared on Bt rice was not significantly different from that of those fed prey reared on non-Bt rice. A 3-yr field trial indicated that Bt rice did not significantly affect the population density of U. insecticeps in comparison with non-Bt rice. In conclusion, the Bt rice lines tested in this study had no adverse effects on the survival, developmental time, or fecundity of U. insecticeps in the laboratory or on population dynamics in the field.

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Many laboratory and field studies have been conducted on rice field spiders in China. There are 375 species, 108 genera, and 22 families of rice field spiders distributed within the major rice growing areas and 17 dominant species. The biological and ecological characteristics of 17 rice field spider species have been reported in detail. The biology and ecology of these species show significant differences among regions, farmland habitats, and agricultural practices. Future research should focus on rice field habitat diversity, enhancing the insecticide resistance of dominant spider populations, implementing large-scale breeding of spiders and augmentative release, breeding more leaf dominant species, conducting biosafety assessment of spiders in transgenic crops.

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Since the birth of transgenic crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin for pest control, the public debate regarding ecological and environmental risks as well as benefits of Bt crops has continued unabated. The impact of Bt crops, especially on non-target invertebrates, has received particular attention. In this review, we summarize and analyze evidences for non-target effects of Bt rice on spiders, major predators in rice fields. Bt rice has been genetically modified to express the Bt protein, which has been shown to be transferred and accumulate in spiders as part of their food chain. Moreover, the Bt protein exhibits unintended effects on the physiology of spiders and spreads to higher trophic levels. Spiders possess unique physiological and ecological characteristics, revealing traits of surrogate species, and are thus considered to be excellent non-target arthropod model systems for study of Bt protein impacts. Due to the complexities of Bt protein transfer and accumulation mechanisms, as well as the apparent lack of information about resulting physiological, biochemical, and ecological effects on spiders, we raise questions and provide recommendations for promising further research.

Hope is a higher-order cognitive construct relating to expectations of or beliefs in wish fulfillment, which has been conceptualized as consisting of 2 components: pathways thinking (the perceived means available to individuals that allow them to achieve their goals) and agency thinking (belief in one's ability to succeed in using the identified pathways). We aimed to clarify the measurement structure of the Chinese version of the Adult Dispositional Hope Scale, using a sample of 751 university student participants. We employed confirmatory factor analysis to compare 1-factor, 2-factor, second-order, and bifactor models. The results showed that all models fit the measured data well. However, the bifactor model had the best fit indices, whereas the second-order model was the most consistent with the theoretical measurement model. To verify that hope theory and the corresponding instruments can be confidently applied to cross-cultural samples, it is necessary to further assess their reliability and validity in a Chinese cultural context through a measurement structure analysis.