The ongoing debate about the ecological effects of Bt-crops calls for thorough reviews about the impact on soil biodiversity and their ecosystem services. Transgenic Bt-crops have been genetically modified by inserting a Bacillus thuriengensis gene so the plant expresses a Cry toxin aimed for insect crop pests. Non-target soil invertebrates are particularly recognized for their contribution to plant nutrient availability and turnover of organic matter and it is therefore relevant to protect these invertebrate taxa. A number of studies have compared the population abundance and biomass of soil invertebrates in agricultural fields planted with genetically modified Bt crops and their conventional counterparts. Here, were review and analyze a selection of studies on Protista, nematodes, Collembola, mites, enchytraeids, and earthworms systematically to empower the evidence for asking the question whether population abundances and biomasses of soil invertebrates are changed by Bt crops compared to conventional crops. 6110 titles were captured, of which 38 studies passed our inclusion criteria, and a final number of 22 publications were subject to data extraction. A database with 2046 records was compiled covering 36 locations and the Bt types Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry3Bb1 and Cry3Aa. Comparative effect sizes in terms of Hedges’ g were calculated irrespectively of statistical significance of effects of the source studies. Cry effects on populations were compared across the studies in a meta-analysis employing a hierarchical Bayesian approach of weighted data according to the level of replication. The temporal development of effect sizes was modelled, thereby taking into account the variable duration of the field experiments. There was considerable variation among soil invertebrate orders, but the sample size was insufficient and the sample heterogeneity too large to draw any credible conclusions on the effect of Cry at the order level. However, across orders there was no significant effect of Cry on soil invertebrates.

关于Bt作物生态影响的持续辩论要求彻底审查对土壤生物多样性及其生态系统服务的影响。转基因Bt作物已经通过插入苏云金芽孢杆菌基因进行了遗传修饰，因此该植物表达了针对昆虫作物害虫的 Cry 毒素。非目标土壤无脊椎动物因其对植物养分有效性和有机物质周转的贡献而受到特别认可，因此保护这些无脊椎动物类群具有重要意义。许多研究比较了种植转基因Bt的农田土壤无脊椎动物的种群丰度和生物量作物及其常规对应物。在这里，系统地回顾和分析了对原生生物、线虫、跳虫、螨虫、绒毛虫和蚯蚓的一系列研究，以提供证据，以提出与传统作物相比Bt作物是否改变了土壤无脊椎动物的种群丰度和生物量的问题。共采集到 6110 篇论文，其中 38 篇研究通过了我们的纳入标准，最终对 22 篇论文进行了数据提取。编制了一个包含 2046 条记录的数据库，涵盖 36 个地点和Bt类型 Cry1Ab、Cry1Ac、Cry3Bb1 和 Cry3Aa。根据对冲g 的比较效应大小无论源研究效果的统计显着性如何，都进行了计算。在荟萃分析中，根据复制水平采用加权数据的分层贝叶斯方法，比较了跨研究的 Cry 对人群的影响。对效应大小的时间发展进行了建模，从而将现场实验的可变持续时间考虑在内。土壤无脊椎动物目之间存在相当大的差异，但样本量不足，样本异质性太大，无法在目水平上对 Cry 的影响得出任何可信的结论。然而，跨目Cry对土壤无脊椎动物没有显着影响。