Existing theory, empirical, clinical and field research all predict that reducing the virulence of individuals within a pathogen population will reduce the overall virulence, rendering disease less severe. Here, we show that this seemingly successful disease management strategy can fail with devastating consequences for infected hosts. We deploy cooperation theory and a novel synthetic system involving the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae. In vivo infections of rice demonstrate that M.

The nature and timing of rice domestication and the development of rice cultivation in South Asia is much debated. In northern South Asia there is presently a significant gap (c.4200 years) between earliest evidence for the exploitation of wild rice (Lahuradewa c.6000 BCE) and earliest dated evidence for the utilisation of fully domesticated rice (Mahagara c.1800 BCE). The Indus Civilisation (c.3000–1500 BCE) developed and declined during the intervening period, and there has been debate about whether rice was adopted and exploited by Indus populations during this ‘gap’.

Flash floods are a recurrent phenomenon in the North Bank Plains Zone (NBPZ) of Assam, India, causing wide spread damage to rice (Oryza sativa L.) crop growing during Kharif season. Therefore, it is imperative to identify indigenous technical knowledge and integrate this with mainstream technologies, Maguri and not only to enable more effective ways of coping with such extreme events but also to enhance the adaptive capacity of small-scale local farmers of the NBPZ.