Study Shows Effect of Monoculture Fields

A recent study by UC Davis shows that fields that use the same crop and genotype year-after-year, a monoculture, can have more pest problems because of the nutrient needs of the pest.

Lead author William Wetzel said they wanted to find out how biological diversity impacted insects.

“What we found is that insects have a very narrow range of nutrient levels in plants that they thrive on. When they find plants that have those nutrient levels, they do very well especially if plants over a large area have that nutrient level.”

This was found to be universal for all pests and crop diversities.

Wetzel said that’s why crop diversity, even if just by genotype, is so important because the negative impact of diversity is bigger than the positive impact by a monoculture.

“Our results indicate that a monoculture is like a buffet for plant-eating insects where every dish is delicious. A variable crop, on the other hand, is like a buffet where every other dish is nasty and actively hurts the insect.”

You can read the full study and see the results in the Journal Nature, or on their website.

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