Paul,
   The pictures are impressive, but I am not completely reassured that 
there is not a reduction in pollinator diversity (not to mention other 
biodiversity) in monoculture environments, by some pictures of a couple of 
species of migratory butterflies on the edges of vast fields of corn and 
soy beans.  I wouldn't be so ready to assume that because other life has 
been discovered on a planet where previously only corn and soy beans were 
thought to exist, that this is an example of a perfectly healthy and 
diverse section of the biosphere.
   Of course if you look at it strictly through the lense of the benefits 
of producing huge quantities of corn and soy beans cheaply, then you might 
see it as an over all healthy environment, but I suggest that a complete 
and objective view of all the factors involved might result in a less 
favorable opinion of the current state of corn and soy bean monoculture as 
it relates to the environment. 
   Books have been written explaining why we should be concerned if not 
alarmed by a significant reduction in biodiversity on the planet.  This 
probably isn't the place to go into all that, but I would hope that you 
would at least familiarize yourself with the reasoning that is involved if 
you haven't already.
      

Steve Noble  
   

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