Logo image
Ecological outcomes of agroforests and restoration 15 years after planting
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Ecological outcomes of agroforests and restoration 15 years after planting

Carolina Giudice Badari, Luis Eduardo Bernardini, Danilo R A de Almeida, Pedro H S Brancalion, Ricardo Gomes Cesar, Victoria Gutierrez, Robin L Chazdon, Haroldo Borges Gomes and Ricardo A G Viani
Restoration Ecology, Vol.28(5), pp.1135-1144
2020
pdf
Ecological outcomes of agroforests and restoration 15 years after planting1.45 MBDownloadView
Accepted Version Open Access
url
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13171View
Published Version

Abstract

Coffea arabica L. ecological indicators forest landscape restoration natural regeneration shade coffee
Large-scale forest restoration relies on approaches that are cost-effective and economically attractive to farmers, and in this context agroforestry systems may be a valuable option. Here, we compared ecological outcomes among (1) 12-15 year old coffee agroforests established with several native shade trees, (2) 12-15 year old high-diversity restoration plantations, and (3) reference, old-growth forests, within a landscape restoration project in the Pontal do Paranapanema region, in the Atlantic Forest of southeastern Brazil. We compared the aboveground biomass, canopy cover, and abundance, richness and composition of trees, and the regenerating saplings in the three forest types. In addition, we investigated the landscape drivers of natural regeneration in the restoration plantations and coffee agroforests. Reference forests had a higher abundance of trees and regenerating saplings, but had similar levels of species richness compared to coffee agroforests. High-diversity agroforests and restoration plantations did not differ in tree abundance. However, compared to restoration plantations agroforests showed higher abundance and species richness of regenerating saplings, a higher proportion of animal-dispersed species, and higher canopy cover. The abundance of regenerating saplings declined with increasing density of coffee plants, thus indicating a potential trade-off between productivity and ecological benefits. High-diversity coffee agroforests provide a cost-effective and ecologically viable alternative to high-diversity native tree plantations for large-scale forest restoration within agricultural landscapes managed by local communities, and should be included as part of the portfolio of reforestation options used to promote the global agenda on forest and landscape restoration.

Details

Metrics

176 File views/ downloads
77 Record Views

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas
Ecology

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#14 Life Below Water
#15 Life on Land

Source: InCites

Logo image