Monoculture Cornfield

Used as a contrasting example to the diverse prairie ecosystem. The chapter describes a farmer's field with thousands of acres of a single corn variety that collapses completely when a pathogen emerges - becoming a 'biological desert' unable to recover without human intervention. This monoculture demonstrates the fragility of specialized systems: while monoculture corn produces more corn per acre than diverse prairie produces biomass under stable conditions, it lacks resilience when conditions change. The monoculture is the biological equivalent of Kodak's concentrated business model.