Inclusive fitness in agriculture

Abstract

Trade-offs between individual fitness and the collective performance of crop and below-ground symbiont communities are common in agriculture. Plant competitiveness for light and soil resources is key to individual fitness, but higher investments in stems and roots by a plant community to compete for those resources ultimately reduce crop yields. Similarly, rhizobia and mycorrhizal fungi may increase their individual fitness by diverting resources to their own reproduction, even if they could have benefited collectively by providing their shared crop host with more nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. Past selection for inclusive fitness (benefits to others, weighted by their relatedness) is unlikely to have favoured community performance over individual fitness. The limited evidence for kin recognition in plants and microbes changes this conclusion only slightly. We therefore argue that there is still ample opportunity for human-imposed selection to improve cooperation among crop plants and their symbionts so that they use limited resources more efficiently. This evolutionarily informed approach will require a better understanding of how interactions among crops, and interactions with their symbionts, affected their inclusive fitness in the past and what that implies for current interactions.

Tragedies and Crops: Understanding Natural Selection To Improve Cropping Systems

“…Occurrence of TOCs in vegetation stands will have important implications for functioning of managed and natural plant communities [7][8][9]. Despite these potential implications, EGT analyses of TOCs in plant communities have been mainly limited to theoretical analyses, and implications for real plant-based systems have been poorly quantified (but see [10]).…”

“…However, a population of plants with such an optimal allocation to support structures can be invaded by a taller individual because this individual acquires more of the shared resource light [4]. A suite of other traits have been similarly implicated, ranging from above and below ground traits to the interaction with other organisms (Table 1).Occurrence of TOCs in vegetation stands will have important implications for functioning of managed and natural plant communities [7][8][9]. Despite these potential implications, EGT analyses of TOCs in plant communities have been mainly limited to theoretical analyses, and implications for real plant-based systems have been poorly quantified (but see [10]).…”

Impacts of domestication on the arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis of 27 crop species

“…However, despite the global importance of AM in agriculture, we still know little about if and how the AM symbiosis was altered by plant domestication, crop breeding, and agricultural environments. Such knowledge is critical for plant breeding programs aimed at delivering crop genotypes that are less dependent on the input of fertilizers (Wissuwa et al ., ; Kiers & Denison, ; Rillig et al ., ; Thirkell et al ., ).…”

Using variation in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi to drive the productivity of the food security crop cassava

“…Beneficial soil microbes can potentially improve plant growth, but in sharp contrast to plant breeding, there has been little attempt to improve them. Innovative approaches to microbial management of symbiotic microorganisms could bring great benefits 5,6 . For decades, AMF have been known to increase plant growth 7 , although they are not consistently used in agriculture or the focus of an improvement program (Supplementary information note 1).…”