Re: the more diversity the better?

E. Ann Clark (ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca)
Wed, 20 Nov 1996 04:32:13 EDT

Preston: you might enjoy a book edited by Paoletti and Pimentel,
entitled Biodiversity in Agriculture. You'll find some interesting
tables on the amount of biodiversity that exists in a wide range of
managed and natural systems, including corn fields etc. It is truly
astronomical, with literally thousands of species even in something
as apparently barren as a corn field. Most of the species, of
course, are the teeny weenies that we don't see below ground, but my
point is that "biodiversity" can be misleading if one thinks only of
the green plants. Ann
ACLARK@crop.uoguelph.ca
Dr. E. Ann Clark
Associate Professor
Crop Science
University of Guelph
Guelph, ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120 Ext. 2508
FAX: 519 763-8933