Functional differences within a species ensure its survival and improve the productivity of the whole ecosystem
Modern, machine-friendly agriculture is dominated by monocultures. One single cultivar - one genotype of a crop species - is cultivated on large areas. Favored cultivars are optimized for high yields and often contain only few natural plant defense compounds. Unfortunately, these extensive monocultures of identical plants can become an ecological wasteland and cause permanent damage to the ecosystem, especially when combined with blanket application of fertilizer and pesticides. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany, demonstrated in field experiments with Nicotiana attenuata plants that it is sufficient to alter the expression of certain defense genes in individual plants to protect the whole population and to alter the diversity of the ecosystem as a whole. (eLife, April 2015)