ArticleEvolutionary applications2022
Kin selection theory and the design of cooperative crops.
Article in Evolutionary applications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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10 citing papers in PubMed.
- Shade Avoidance Restricts Soybean Breeding Progress and Increases Herbivore Susceptibility.Evolutionary applications · 2026Article
- Mixing varieties mitigates early root competition in wheat under water and nutrient limitation.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Article
- Uncovering the genetic basis of competitiveness and the potential for cooperation in plant groups.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- The causal arrows from genotype, environment, and management to plant phenotype are double headed.Journal of experimental botany · 2025Review
- The evolution of signaling and monitoring in plant-fungal networks.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Kin and Non-Kin Connected Plants Benefit More Than Disconnected Kin and Non-Kin Plants under Nutrient-Competitive Environments.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Increasing plant group productivity through latent genetic variation for cooperation.PLoS biology · 2022Article
- Kin selection theory and the design of cooperative crops.Evolutionary applications · 2022Article
- Evolution in agricultural systems: Moving toward the understanding of complexity.Evolutionary applications · 2022Review
- Shift in beneficial interactions during crop evolution.Evolutionary applications · 2022Review
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1 author.
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Abstract
In agriculture and plant breeding, plant traits may be favoured because they benefit neighbouring plants and ultimately increase total crop yield. This idea of promoting cooperation among crop plants has existed almost as long as W.D. Hamilton's inclusive fitness (kin selection) theory, the leading framework for explaining cooperation in biology. However, kin selection thinking has not been adequately applied to the idea of cooperative crops. Here, I give an overview of modern kin selection theory and consider how it explains three key strategies for designing cooperative crops: (1) selection for a less-competitive plant type (a 'communal ideotype'); (2) group-level selection for yield; and (3) exploiting naturally selected cooperation. The first two strategies, using artificial selection, have been successful in the past but suffer from limitations that could hinder future progress. Instead, I propose an alternative strategy and a new 'colonial ideotype' that exploits past natural selection for cooperation among the modules (e.g., branches or stems) of individual plants. More generally, I suggest that Hamiltonian agriculture-a kin selection view of agriculture and plant breeding-transforms our understanding of how to improve crops of the future.
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