Biodiversity Conservation in Traditional Coffee Systems of Mexico

Abstract

In Mexico, coffee is cultivated on the coastal slopes of the central and southern parts of the country in areas where two or more types of vegetation make contact. Based on management level and vegetational and structural complexity, it is possible to distinguish five main coffee production systems in Mexico: two kinds of traditional shaded agroforests (with native trees), one commercially oriented polyspecific shaded system, and two "modern" systems (shaded and unshaded monocultures). Traditional shaded coffee is cultivated principally by small-scale, community-based growers, most of whom belong to some indigenous culture group. Through an exhaustive review of the literature, we found that traditional shaded coffee plantations are important repositories of biological richness for groups such as trees and epiphytes, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and arthropods. We evaluated the conservation role of these traditional shaded systems by estimating the percentage of the whole coffee area under traditional management, by reviewing the ecological and geographical distribution of coffee areas in Mexico, and by connecting the geographical distribution of these coffee areas with recognized centers of species richness and endemism. The assesment revealed that in Mexico, coffee fields are located in a biogeographically and ecologically strategic elevational belt that is an area of overlap between the tropical and temperate elements and of contact among the four main types of Mexican forests. We also found that between 60% and 70% of these coffee areas are under traditional management and that at least 14 of 155 priority regions selected by experts as having high numbers of species and endemics overlap with or are near traditional coffee-growing areas. Conservación de la Biodiversidad en Sistemas de Cultivo Tradicional de Café en MéxicoResumen: En México, el café se cultiva sobre las vertientes del Golfo de México y del Pacífico en el centro y sur del país, ahí donde dos o más tipos de vegetación se ponen en contacto. De acuerdo al nivel de manejo y a la estructura de la vegetación, es posible distinguir cinco principales sistemas de producción de café en México: dos tradicionales donde el café se produce bajo la sombra de la vegetación original, uno intermedio donde la sombra la proveen árboles no nativos, y dos "modernos" (monocultivos con y sin sombra). El café cultivado bajo la sombra del dosel original de los bosques o selvas predomina en México, y es producido fundamentalmente por pequeños productores, muchos de los cuales pertenecen a alguna cultura indígena. A partir de una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura, el presente artículo muestra la riqueza biológica de las plantaciones tradicionales de café bajo sombra, en grupos tales como árboles y epífitas, mamíferos, aves, reptiles, anfibios y artrópodos. Para ponderar la importancia conservacionista de estos sistemas agroforestales, las secciones finales del artículo se dedican a estimar el porcentaje de las áreas cafetaleras bajo manejo tradicional, y a revis...

Variations in judgments of intentional action and moral evaluation across eight cultures

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Quantifying pest control services by birds and ants in Kenyan coffee farms

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“…In contrast, some agroecosystems harbor high levels of biodiversity and may act as refuges for biological diversity that can provide ecosystem services such as biological pest control and pollination (Perfecto et al 1996, Moguel and Toledo 1999, Jose 2009, Power 2010. Different taxa vary in response to increases in tree diversity, canopy shade, and decreased agrochemical use (Moguel and Toledo 1999, Mas and Dietsch 2003, García Estrada et al 2006, Gagic et al 2012; thus, some taxa may be more sensitive to agricultural landscape changes and act as indicators of habitat simplification (e.g.…”

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