@Alain your comment is a fascinating one, and something I've been thinking about- not only thresholds in diversity in production systems and in food supplies, but also whether there might be a way to arrive at some estimation of relative 'optimal' diversity (i.e. an optimal number of contributing crop species providing the highest productivity and stability (in production systems) as well as nutrition and pragmatic accessibility in diets). I've not yet seen any comprehensive attempt at answering these questions. Of course the question is made incredibly complex due to variation not only on the species level but on the varietal and allelic levels within crops, and where and how crops are grown- as well as variation in people in how foods affect their nutrition. Nutritionists will have much to say, I would think, about thresholds in contributing food diversity for particular macro- and micronutrient adequacy in particular diets in particular places. These seem to be very important questions to ask and then to see if the answers can be generalized at all. I'd love to hear ideas from researchers working on this.
@Alain your comment is a fascinating one, and something I've been thinking about- not only thresholds in diversity in production systems and in food supplies, but also whether there might be a way to arrive at some estimation of relative 'optimal' diversity (i.e. an optimal number of contributing crop species providing the highest productivity and stability (in production systems) as well as nutrition and pragmatic accessibility in diets). I've not yet seen any comprehensive attempt at answering these questions. Of course the question is made incredibly complex due to variation not only on the species level but on the varietal and allelic levels within crops, and where and how crops are grown- as well as variation in people in how foods affect their nutrition. Nutritionists will have much to say, I would think, about thresholds in contributing food diversity for particular macro- and micronutrient adequacy in particular diets in particular places. These seem to be very important questions to ask and then to see if the answers can be generalized at all. I'd love to hear ideas from researchers working on this.