Biodiversity is the diversity of and in living
nature. Diversity, at its heart, implies the number of different kinds of objects, such as
species. To increase the
genetic diversity of
U.S. corn, the Germplasm Enhancement for Maize (GEM) project seeks to combine exotic germplasm, such as this unusually colored and shaped
maize from
Latin America, with domestic corn lines.
Photo credit: Keith Weller (USDA)