Biodiversity - the foundation of healthy crops and healthy world

Abstract

Biodiversity is the richness and diversity of living organisms and covers the variation between and within species and relative abundance in space and time in an ecosystem. It is often perceived that in a monoculture such as rice the decreased biodiversity will tend to increase instability and therefore invites pest attacks. Yet in most rice fields and some agricultural systems decrease in biodiversity had NOT resulted in more pests and are stable. It is perhaps not biodiversity per se but rather the quality and ecological functions that the key species perform to provide the ecosystem services in maintaining stability.