Shade Coffee: Update on a Disappearing Refuge for Biodiversity

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Woody plant diversity and structure of shade-grown-coffee plantations in northern Chiapas, Mexico.

Shade-grown coffee is an agricultural system that contains some forest-like characteristics. However, structure and diversity are poorly known in shade coffee systems. In 61 coffee-growers' plots of Chiapas, Mexico, structural variables of shade vegetation and coffee yields were measured, recording species and their use. Coffee stands had five vegetation strata. Seventy seven woody species most...

Connecting sustainable agriculture and wildlife conservation: Does shade coffee provide habitat for mammals?

Shade coffee systems provide a refuge for biodiversity; however, research has been dominated by bird and insect studies with few studies that have focused on mammals living within coffee-dominated landscapes. Relative to other taxa studied, only 5% of the articles published on coffee and biodiversity pertain to mammals. We surveyed non-volant mammals, with an emphasis on small mammals, in 3 cof...

Coffee landscapes as refugia for native woody biodiversity as forest loss continues in southwest Ethiopia

Land-use changes threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services. Some of the last remaining forest fragments in Ethiopia, and the world’s only habitats that retain genetically diverse wild Arabica coffee populations, have experienced rapid recent conversion to coffee farms, plantations and agricultural fields. We examined patterns of remnant woody plant diversity in the remaining forests, and ass...

Biodiversity, yield, and shade coffee certification

The current crisis in the coffee market provides an opportunity to explore alternative markets. In Latin America, coffee is traditionally produced under a diverse and dense canopy of shade trees. The structural and floristic diversity contained therein harbors a high biodiversity of associated organisms. The recent trend of reducing this shade cover so as to increase production raises concerns ...