Transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt) crops are cultivated globally to mitigate the potential pest crisis and reduce dependence on insecticide applications. Bt crops shift the triple Nash equilibria among pests, plants and soil organisms in agricultural systems to mutual equilibria between the latter two. The response of the soil system and soil organisms to Bt crop cultivation remains unclear, which limits our understanding of Bt crops’ role in agriculature sustainability. Here, we conducted a comprehensive global analysis of 88 experimental sudies to assess the effects of Bt crops on various ecosystem services, including soil CO 2 emission, soil carbon and nutrient pools, soil biodiversity, and crop biomass. Our findings indicate that Bt crops significant increased above- (14.3%), below-groud biomass (4.3%), and 6.0% rise of soil CO 2 emission. Additionally, changes in soil organic carbon (SOC), nematode diversity (ND), and fungal diversity (FD) accounted for 50%, 34%, and 30% of the variation in soil CO 2 emission under Bt crop cultivation, respectively. Notably, Bt crops had contrasting effects on rhizosphere and bulk soil, with SOC and soil total phosphorus (STP) decreasing by 3.4% and 5.1% in the rhizosphere, but increasing by 3.1% and 2.0% in bulk soil. Futhermore, Bt crops led to a significant reduction in the microbial biomass carbon: nitrogen ratio (C:N), but no changes in soil disolved C:N, suggesting a decrease in microbial nitrogen competition under Bt crop cultivation. This study highlights the altered Nash equilibria between plants and soil organisms due to transgenic crop treatments. The accelerated decomposition of rhizosphere organic matter by microbes, driven by nutrient mining, indicates a potential ecologcial risk to soil fertility from the cultivation of tansgenic crops.
