Bird Assemblages in Coffee Agroforestry Systems and Other Human Modified Habitats in Indonesia

Abstract

Deforestation in the tropics is mainly driven by the need to expand agriculture and forestry land. Tropical cropland has also undergone a process of intensification, particularly evident in regions that are the main exporters of deforestation-driven commodities. Around 25 million people in the world depend on coffee production, which has a profound contribution to global biodiversity loss through agricultural extensification and intensification. Nevertheless, coffee agroforestry systems have been postulated to serve as an alternative refuge for biodiversity across different regions. We aim to compare bird abundance, diversity, and richness in commercial polyculture coffee systems (i.e., the highest degree of habitat complexity that can be achieved in coffee fields after deforestation) with other coffee agroforestry systems and human modified habitats in Java, Indonesia. We collected data in 21 sites (1228 points) on Java from February to August 2021 using the point sampling method. Via generalised additive models, we tested whether the abundance, diversity, and richness of birds were different between different human modified habitats including other potential predictors such as elevation, distance to protected areas, shade tree richness, and plant diversity. Using the non-metric multidimensional scaling, we tested whether there was a difference in terms of the composition of foraging guilds between habitats. Commercial polyculture coffee fields can sustain levels of bird abundance, diversity, and richness comparable to agroforestry systems under natural forest, and higher than sun coffee and shaded monoculture coffee, and of other human modified habitats such as crop/fruit fields and tree farms. Coffee agroforestry systems have a higher proportion of nectarivores, insectivores, and frugivores than other systems that can sustain high diversity and richness of birds such as paddy fields that mainly have granivores and carnivores. Complex polycultures can represent an avenue for the future of sustainable agriculture in conditions where deforestation rates are high and in crops such as coffee, which maintain high yield in the presence of diverse shade.

Bird Species in the Agroforestry Areas of Karang Intan District, Banjar Regency, Indonesia

“…Thus, agroforestry area can be recommended as a conservation area, at least for birds. This opinion reinforces (Imron et al, 2022) that how important polycultural agroforestry systems are as an alternative to support wildlife conservation in future land use changes.…”

Impact of Cropland Management on Invertebrate Richness and Abundance in Agroforestry Systems in Bali, Indonesia

“…Furthermore, as mentioned previously, agroforestry systems are capable of increasing the resilience of ecosystems against climate change through carbon sequestration; the creation of microclimates for temperature-sensitive crops, such as coffee; and physically bolstering environments against the increased likelihood of extreme weather events [66,67]. It is also important to note that some taxa (mainly considered as pests or biocontrol agents, i.e., Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Hymenoptera with the function of biological control) were more prevalent in polyculture systems than in rustic systems, supporting the idea that complex agriculture systems without natural shade tree cover can sustain similar levels of biodiversity than rustic systems and forested areas [68,69] and that more complex habitats (i.e., rustic systems) host less pests [13,31].…”

The diversity of birds in the young oil palm agroforestry plot in Jambi, Indonesia

“…The OPAF could become a wildlife-friendly solution to deal with the disturbed forests by monoculture oil palm plantations. Recent study emphasizes the significance of complex land farming system approaches through agroforestry schemes in Indonesia for supporting wildlife conservation [25]. argued that oil palm agroforestry systems by enrichment planting could assist in preserving biodiversity by providing habitat for a variety of forest species and as well as serving as bird refugees [10].…”