Shade coffee plantations maintain woody plant diversity and structure in a cloud forest landscape of southern Mexico

Alvarez-Alvarez, Edson A.; Almazán-Núñez, R. Carlos; González-García, Fernando; Brito-Millán, Marlene; Méndez-Bahena, Alfredo; García‐Ibáñez, Sergio

doi:10.1007/s11676-020-01143-5

Cited by 12 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…This strategy may involve top-down and bottom-up initiatives, which, properly integrated, can benefit biodiversity and households (Méndez et al, 2010). Shade coffee plantations may maintain similar composition and structure to native vegetation, generating profits (Alvarez-Alvarez et al, 2021). However, the common use of Inga (Fabaceae) as a shade plant may decrease the proportion of native species, making it essential to fomenting the importance of these species in plantations among coffee farmers (Valencia et al, 2016).…”

Section: Top-down and Bottom-up Initiativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biophysical and Biocultural Upheavals in Mesoamerica, a Conservation Perspective: Mountains, Maize-Milpa, and Globalization

Castillo

2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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Three upheavals shaped southern Mexico to Panama (SMP) biodiversity: 1. The Great American Interchange that allowed migrations between the Neotropical and the Nearctic biogeographic realms; 2. human colonization with the generation of Mesoamerican cultures; and 3. the Spaniards’ arrival and globalization.Tectonic events generated a narrow piece of land with steep topography and high environmental heterogeneity, demanding high levels of local adaptation. Habitat size is usually restricted and reduced by frequent disturbances. Topography imposes few options for individuals forced to displace. Thus, extinction risks should be unusually high. Humans initiated an ongoing defaunation process and introduced the maize and the milpa, an itinerant maize-based slash-and-burn polyculture, which depends on revegetation to re-establish soil fertility. Also, the milpa is a most important pre-Hispanic legacy, a biocultural and landrace reservoir actively affecting landscape configuration, succession, soil development, and the genetic architecture of the species. Unprecedented human epidemics and soil, biodiversity, and culture erosion followed behind the Spanish aftermath and the subsequent globalization. > 63 million people and ≈100 ethnic groups inhabit SMP in 2020, which, with the biota, share the same problems of climate change, disturbance, and acculturation. SMP has been the scenario of severe climate change, fastest and deadliest extinction events (amphibians), a most spectacular exotic-species invasion (Africanized honeybees), and accelerated deforestation, defaunation, and acculturation. Biocultural conflicts between native and non-native people are globalization byproducts and sources of habitat destruction and species decline. Bottom-up initiatives are likely the best option for conservation in indigenous areas, whereas honest (i.e., with truly conservation intentions) top-down initiatives are helpful if the affected people are considered subjects (no objects) of conservation plans. We suggest some unique areas requiring conservation attention and analyzed current conservation initiatives. Not a single initiative is best suited for all conservation needs in SMP. Protection of all successional stages is critical for resilience and revegetation. Conservation of the milpa system (crop fields and subsequent fallows) is an optimal option for minimizing tradeoffs between conservation and people needs and safeguarding traditional culture and local landraces but is limited to areas with indigenous people and may not work for species with large home ranges.

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Section: Top-down and Bottom-up Initiativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biophysical and Biocultural Upheavals in Mesoamerica, a Conservation Perspective: Mountains, Maize-Milpa, and Globalization

Castillo

2022

Front. For. Glob. Change

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“…A su vez, varias de estas especies complementan su dieta con frutos y dispersan sus semillas, contribuyendo a la restauración pasiva de estos bosques tropicales húmedos (Hernández-Ladrón de Guevara et al, 2012). Adicionalmente, los bosques tropicales húmedos y semihúmedos del área de estudio están en su mayoría asociados a cafetales, por lo que mantienen condiciones estructurales y de composición similares a la de bosques primarios (Alvarez-Alvarez et al, 2020;González-Zamora et al, 2016). Esto ha permitido la presencia mayoritaria de ciertos grupos de insectívoros dependientes del sotobosque (e.g., Basileuterus belli, Dromococcyx phasianellus, Henicorhina leucophrys, Thryophilus pleurostictus) y una disminución de omnívoros y granívoros (e.g., Calocitta formosa, Columbina inca, Pitangus sulphuratus, Sporophila torqueola) que generalmente se favorecen de las modificaciones a la vegetación natural (Tejeda-Cruz y Gordon, 2008; Tejeda-Cruz y Sutherland, 2004).…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…El papel funcional de las aves en la región de estudio las promueve como enlaces móviles a nivel genético (mediante la dispersión de semillas y polinización), y de regulación poblacional (por el control de plagas por insectívoros y carnívoros; Lundberg y Morberg, 2003). Sin embargo, a pesar de esta importancia biológica, la sierra de Atoyac presenta una alta demanda de sus recursos forestales, que han originado áreas con distintos niveles de perturbación y sucesión secundaria (Alvarez-Alvarez et al, 2020;Semarnat, 2013). Este aprovechamiento maderable generalmente es irregular y pone en riesgo la permanencia a largo plazo de las poblaciones particularmente restringidas a las montañas de esta región.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Diversidad alfa y beta de la avifauna en bosques tropicales húmedos y semihúmedos de la sierra de Atoyac, una región prioritaria para la conservación del sur de México

et al. 2020

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“…CAS could therefore constitute an adequate mitigation strategy to counter the detrimental effects of climate change [ 7 , 19 , 20 ]. Other ecosystem services can be enhanced by CAS such as carbon sequestration [ 21 ], soil nutrient availability through complementary partitioning of resources [ 22 , 23 , 24 ] and biodiversity conservation [ 25 ]. However, contrasting shade effects have been reported on coffee growth, productivity, pests and diseases and arabica coffee cup quality [ 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Reduction in Yield of Young Robusta Coffee When Grown under Shade Trees in Ecuadorian Amazonia

Piato

Subía

Lefort

et al. 2022

Life

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Little is known on what impact shade trees have on the physiology of Coffea canephora (robusta coffee) under tropical humid conditions. To fill this gap, a field experiment was conducted in the Ecuadorian Amazon to investigate how growth, nutrition (leaf N), phenological state (BBCH-scale) and yield of 5-year-old robusta coffee shrubs are affected by the presence or absence of leguminous trees, the type (organic v conventional) and intensity of management. The experiment was a factorial 5 × 4 design with four cropping systems: intensive conventional (IC), moderate conventional (MC), intensive organic (IO) and low organic (LO), and with five shading systems in a split-plot arrangement: full sun (SUN), both Erythrina spp. and Myroxylon balsamum (TaE), M. balsamum (TIM), E. spp. (ERY) and Inga edulis (GUA). Three monthly assessments were made. Cherry yields of coffee shrubs under moderate shade (c. 25%) were similar to those under high light exposure. Coffee shrubs grown with either E. spp. or I. edulis were taller (+10%) and had higher leaf N concentrations (22%) than those grown without consistent shade. Unless receiving c. 25% of shade, coffee shrubs grown under organic cropping systems showed reduced growth (25%). No correlation was found between height, cherry yield and leaf N. Both shading and cropping systems affected leaf N concentration, also depending on phenological state and yield. Further research is needed to confirm our findings in the long-term as well as to elucidate how leguminous trees may induce physiological responses in robusta coffee under humid tropical conditions.

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Shade coffee plantations maintain woody plant diversity and structure in a cloud forest landscape of southern Mexico

Cited by 12 publications

References 61 publications

Biophysical and Biocultural Upheavals in Mesoamerica, a Conservation Perspective: Mountains, Maize-Milpa, and Globalization

Biophysical and Biocultural Upheavals in Mesoamerica, a Conservation Perspective: Mountains, Maize-Milpa, and Globalization

Diversidad alfa y beta de la avifauna en bosques tropicales húmedos y semihúmedos de la sierra de Atoyac, una región prioritaria para la conservación del sur de México

No Reduction in Yield of Young Robusta Coffee When Grown under Shade Trees in Ecuadorian Amazonia

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