I can't believe that debate is still going on about glyphosate. So long as everyone is focused on the actual product and not the downstream physics after the product is applied, they'll never find the answer.
It's quite simple. Go back to the community analogy I always use. If you lose diversity, you lose your ability to produce all the things that keep your soil community alive. You kill the defense department, the fire department, the highway department, the grocery store, the clinic, the bakery, the welder, the fuel supplier, the water plant, the lumberyard, the hardware store, even the lawyers and realtors. You have to have diverse plants to provide diverse services:
Who's gonna make P from rock?
Who's gonna make K from rock?
Who's gonna make B, S, N, and C from OM?
Who's gonna make liquid carbon in the cool or hot season to feed the AMF?
Who's gonna make pollen to feed the air force pilots?
Who's got each shift producing glomalin all season long?
Who's gonna make the fibrous roots that keep open soil channels?
Who's gonna make the fine roots that keep the surface friable and absorptive?
Who's gonna make manganese to trade for iron from the dandelions?
Who's gonna fill in when it gets hot?
Who's gonna fill in when we flood?
When everyone has been killed off, and all we send in to feed the survivors is coke, chips, and smokes, the community ain't gonna fare well.