Birds and other biodiversity

Birds and other biodiversity

Research: Woodpeckers and ants in India’s shade coffee

Vishnudas, C. K. 2008. Crematogaster ants in shaded coffee plantations: a critical food source for Rufous Woodpecker Micropternus brachyurus and other forest birds. Indian Birds 4:9-11.

Rufous Woodpeckers are ant specialists.

The Rufous Woodpecker is one of the twelve woodpecker species found in the Western Ghats of India; it is widespread throughout Asia. Rufous Woodpeckers have a particularly interesting life history, as they are ant specialists. They not only feed largely on ants, but they excavate their nests in large paper-wasp-like nests of the stinging tree ants in the genus Crematogaster.

These ants are common in shade coffee plantations in India, and the author reports that 31 of the 37 ant nests he observed being raided by Rufous Woodpeckers over the previous ten years were on shade coffee farms; only six were in natural forest. Other bird species also take advantage of the woodpeckers ripping open the ant nests. Secondary feeding on the ant eggs and pupae by Greater Racked-tailed Drongos, Oriental Magpie-Robins, and Common Tailorbirds and other bird species are described.

The ants, however, are not welcome on the coffee farms. They protect and support mealy bugs, which are pests on the coffee. Although the woodpeckers and other birds can help control the ants (as do other natural predators), many Indian farmers have traditionally used copious pesticides to control the ants. The author notes that the increasing popularity of organic coffee is reducing this practice, and concludes, “It is high time that the conservation value of shaded coffee plantation, as a critical habitat for Rufous Woodpecker and other forest birds, be recognised and proper agro-ecological management practices developed and popularised amongst planters.”

Photo by Lip Kee.

Birds and other biodiversity / Know Your Coffee Birds series

Know your coffee birds: Tennessee Warbler

The Tennessee Warbler (Vermivora peregrina) is a great example of a “Neotropical migrant”: a bird that breeds in North America and winters in the tropics. They can be common to abundant during migration over a wide swath of the continent (including Tennessee, where it was discovered, resulting in the rather inappropriate name). Tennessee Warblers are one of the classic winter residents of shade coffee farms in Central America and northern South America, which led tropical ornithologist Alexander Skutch to conclude that they really should be named “Coffee Warbler.”

A Tennessee Warbler in winter in the Costa Rican highlands.

Tennessee Warblers nest across the Canadian boreal forest. They are one of the warblers that specialize in spruce budworms. In years when these insects are abundant, populations of the warbler swell. In fact, Tennessee Warblers are one of the most important predators of these devastating pests.

On their wintering grounds, Tennessee Warblers like semi-open to open second growth forest, and shade coffee plantations share the habitat characteristics of these forests. On coffee farms, Tennessee Warblers are often associated with flowering trees, especially those in the genus Inga, which are very common on shade coffee farms. Although the warblers may defend a flowering tree, they are also often found in mixed species flocks. Since Ingas do not flower for a long period of time, these flocks may track the flowering trees across the landscape. The warblers also fond of  two other tree genera frequently used as shade trees on coffee farms, Erythrina and Grevillea.

Why do the warblers like the flowering trees? Winter is dry season in the tropics, when insects are less abundant. Nectar becomes and important part of the winter diet of Tennessee Warblers. For this reason, shade coffee farms are considered very important to the survival of this little bird with the understated colors and loud, ringing voice.

Read more:

Photo of Tennessee Warbler by Jerry Oldenhettel. Range map from All About Birds, Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Birds and other biodiversity / Know Your Coffee Birds series

Know your coffee birds: Blue-crowned Motmot

I’d like to inaugurate my “Know your coffee birds” series with the bird Coffee & Conservation uses to rate coffees (e.g., a “five star” coffee here is a “five motmot” coffee): the Blue-crowned Motmot (Momotus momota).

Motmots are a family of New World tropical birds related to kingfishers. Like kingfishers, they nest in burrows which they dig themselves into soil cliffs or road cuts; these burrows are five to up to 14 feet long, and winding. Most motmots are medium-sized (robin size or larger), and are sit-and-wait predators of large insects, small reptiles or mammals and similarly sized prey, along with a little fruit.

The Blue-crowned Motmot is the most widely distributed motmot, and is found from Mexico to Argentina in lowland forests, on up to 1300 meters. It’s fairly tolerant of somewhat disturbed habitats, and thus can be found in open woodlands and second-growth forest such as those found on shade coffee plantations.

Blue-crowned Motmots are about 42 cm long (17 in). Like other motmots, they have a unique spatulate tail. When the new tail feathers grow out, they have an appearance like most other long-tailed birds. But a portion of the lower section of the two center feathers have weakly-attached feather barbs, so these barbs fall off the shaft in short order. This creates a bare stretch of feather shaft, with a paddle-shaped tip at the end. There is evidence that male motmots with longer denuded sections are more attractive to females.

This is peculiar enough, but motmots also swing the tail like the pendulum on a clock, generally in the presence of predators. Despite their size, motmots are often difficult to see until they start wagging their tails. Drawing attention to themselves when a predator is near seems counter-intuitive, but this behavior actually serves to deter the types of predators most likely to go for a motmot: those that rely on stealth and ambush. In essence, a motmot is signalling, “Hey, I see you, and you can’t surprise me.” Ambush predators tend to abandon the hunt when they know they’ve been detected.

I’ve seen several species of motmots in the tropics, including Blue-crowned Motmots at Finca Hartmann. They are among my all-time favorite birds, and a fitting mascot for great sustainable coffee.

Look for more profiles of birds found on coffee farms in the coming months. Many will be species that you can find much closer to home.

Murphy, T. G. 2006. Predator-elicited visual signal: why the turquoise-browed motmot wag-displays its racketed tail. Behavioral Ecology 17:547-553.

Murphy, T. G. 2007. Dishonest preemptive pursuit-deterrent signal? Why the turquoise-browed motmot wags its tail before feeding nestlings. Animal Behaviour 73:965-970.

Murphy, T. G. 2007. Racketed tail of the male and female turquoise-browed motmot: male but not female tail length correlates with pairing success, performance, and reproductive success. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61:911-918.

Photo of a Blue-crowned Motmot via Wikimedia Commons.

Birds and other biodiversity

New Cerulean Warbler coffee available

You’ve followed the saga of the flagship shade-coffee bird, the Cerulean Warbler, on these pages. If you need to catch up:

  • An introduction to the declining Cerulean Warbler, and its connection to shade coffee on its Colombia wintering grounds.
  • Discussion of the American Bird Conservancy’s (ABC) Cerulean Warbler campaign. ABC partnered to purchase warbler habitat in Santander, Colombia which included shade coffee farms, and also began promoting a Cerulean Warbler coffee, roasted by Thanksgiving Coffee Company, which was sourced in Antioquia, another important warbler wintering region. ABC added more land to the original reserve late last year.
  • News from a bird conference I attended in February was that a new shipment of coffee from Antioquia would be offered by Thanksgiving in March, the plan was to begin importing coffee from the Santander preserve soon. I just browsed through all the coffees at Thanksgiving, and found no Cerulean Warbler coffee, nor did a search turn it up.  There are no direct links on the ABC site either, but a search there provides this page, which  does link to a page to an order page at Thanksgiving.

Sweet Maria’s, North America’s best source of green coffee for home roasters, just received a small lot from Antioquia, I believe the same co-op Thanksgiving sources from (although the lot may be a subset of farmers working on the Cerulean Warbler project). Tom gave this coffee a really good review, which is really encouraging. If you are a home roaster, I encourage you to give this coffee a try — at $5.50/lb. green it’s cheaper than Folgers!

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: Spiders on Indian coffee farms

Kapoor, V. (2008). Effects of rainforest fragmentation and shade-coffee plantations on spider communities in the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Insect Conservation, 12(1), 53-68.

Ants and butterflies are often the two most studied arthropods on coffee farms, so it was nice to see a paper looking at spiders. The study took place in Tamil Nadu and Kerala states in areas of mid-elevation tropical wet evergreen rainforest that had tea, coffee, and cardamom plantation surrounded by the Indira Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. The authors examined the community structure of spiders in two organic shade coffee farms and ten rainforest fragments of various sizes that were also under varying degrees of degradation.

Most of the study discussed the impact (or lack thereof) of fragment size on spider communities. Results regarding the shade coffee farms were limited. First, both of the coffee farms had similar spider density. The species composition in the two farms were more similar to each other than to other fragment types, but one farm did have higher species richness than the other. The author began by noting that the farm with higher richness had more native shade trees, versus the monoculture of non-native Eucalyptus in the other farm. That would be notable, except that the author went on to say that the first farm adjoined two forest fragments, while the other had poor connectivity. This is likely to have a strong effect on spiders with their relatively limited dispersal ability. Another factor mentioned by the author was that the coffee trees in the first (richer) farm were “much taller” than in the other farm. However, the sampling took place in the herbaceous and shrub layer up to 1.6 m, which is not very tall for a coffee tree, so it is unclear to me how this variable may have influenced the results.

One spider species was noted as being commonly found in undisturbed sites but absent from the coffee farms, while three types of spiders were more common in disturbed sites and the coffee farms. Unfortunately, “disturbance” was not specifically defined. Finally, the author admitted there is virtually no information on the natural history of spiders in the Western Ghats, and said this lack of data hindered using them as indicators of habitat disturbance.

Spiders do have many life-history features that should make them good habitat barometers. Despite some shortcomings, this study was a first step in examining spider communities in forested agrosystems. The results also at least suggested that shade coffee farms in this region are utilized more like “disturbed” than pristine sites by spiders, and that these spider communities may show responses similar to those documented for other organisms to forest connectivity and shade management of coffee farms.

Photo of Nephila pilipes, one of the spiders found in this study, by amateur_photo_bore; thanks for publishing under a Creative Commons license.

V. Kapoor. (2007). Effects of rainforest fragmentation and shade-coffee plantations on spider communities in the Western Ghats, India Journal of Insect Conservation, 12 (1), 53-68 DOI: 10.1007/s10841-006-9062-5

Birds and other biodiversity / Certifications

What shade coffee looks like

One trip to one part of one county’s coffee growing region is limited information to work with. Nonetheless, my recent visit to the western highlands of Panama was an eye-opener, replacing a mental image based on a great deal of reading and examining photographs with the reality on the ground.  I’d like to share some of what I learned.

First, a little overview of the entire landscape. The highest point in Panama is in the western highlands: Volcan Baru, at nearly 3500 m (almost 12000 ft). The town of Volcan is on one flank of the volcano, Boquete is on the other. These are Panama’s major coffee-growing areas, some of the most important in the world. Coffee is not the exclusive crop, however. Many cool season crops are grown here. We were on the Volcan side, where cabbage, lettuce, and onions were common, as well as dairy farms. Small farms and plots were everywhere, creeping up the flanks of the mountains. Most were not large, and from what we could gather by observing harvesting and taking crops to central depots, tended by one to several families. We have urban sprawl. They have a sort of agricultural sprawl.

Definitions of shade-grown coffee describe various systems that go from very rustic (coffee in a forest) to sun coffee (plots of coffee with no shade trees). I talk about this continuum in my introductory post “What is shade-grown coffee” and provide a graphic in a later post on shade certification criteria. Coming from an industrialized country with industrialized agriculture, where even small garden plots nearly always follow an orderly, genteel, Euro-centric plan, I really didn’t consider how “messy” agrosystems are in Latin America. We spent a lot of time on one coffee finca, lesser amounts in two others, and passed through a number of others. The various levels of shade management are present, but they can be difficult to categorize as they are often interspersed with each other and other types of land use (crops, livestock, homesteads).

We spent two half-days at Finca Hartmann, a very eco-friendly farm near Santa Clara. It is in two sections: the lower Palo Verde section (1200-1300m), and the higher-altitude Ojo de Agua section (1500+ m), which is directly adjacent to the La Amistad International Park. The property (aside from housing and other human infrastructure) is a mix of remnant and regenerating forest, pasture, and coffee.  Coffee occurs in plots ranging from 1 to 15 ha, and itself grows intermixed with native vegetation and/or crops such as citrus and bananas. This photo shows some fairly young coffee (probably 2-5 years old; the Hartmann’s are in the process of replanting much of the farm which was established in the 1950s) at Palo Verde, shaded by citrus, castor, and native trees. We had a large mixed flock of birds here, including forest birds such as White-ruffed Manakin and Bay-headed Tanager.

In another area in Palo Verde, older coffee trees are growing amid a mid-story of bananas, and an open canopy of tall native trees, encrusted with many epiphytes — which are very important to biodiversity in tropical agrosystems.

The Hartmann’s have preserved a lot of forest on their land. Below, my husband consults a field guide in a beautiful forested patch along a stream. There is extensive old forest at Ojo de Agua which many researchers have used to study forest and shade coffee ecosystems.

Nearly 300 species of birds have been recorded at Finca Hartmann, as well as 62 mammal species and hundreds of other organisms. Patriarch Ratibor Hartmann is a devoted naturalist, and visitors can examine some  carefully-curated collections he has made on the farm. We photographed many insects ourselves. One was a damselfly that had only been described about 30 years ago, and had never been photographed, according to an expert back here in the states.

Other insects were just stunning, such as this metalmark, Mesosemia asa. Although we really only explored for 6 or 7 hours over the two days, were working without a guide, and spent equal amounts of time looking at insects, we observed nearly 80 species of birds at Finca Hartmann.

Other farms in the region were in contrast with Finca Hartmann. The photo below is from Finca Florentina near Paso Ancho, a large plantation that has been a source of beans for Starbucks. This farm also had patches of forest, but coffee typically grew in larger plots than at Finca Hartmann.

Still at Finca Florentina, an even larger plot of coffee, with sparser large trees. This area had a lot of non-native eucalyptus trees. We wandered through these areas for several hours, and saw far fewer species of birds and insects. Many were more common species typical of open areas, such as various species of grassquits, or the ubiquitous Rufous-collared Sparrow.

And along a road near Santa Clara, were big areas of sun coffee. These farms are likely owned by or sell their beans to the large Cafe Duran, which is a common brand in Panama. Their mill was nearby.

None of the coffee growing areas we saw came close to matching the structural complexity of native forest, a characteristic that is highly important to biodiversity. Nonetheless, it was clear that birds and other fauna used coffee growing areas that were integrated with or close to native vegetation.

This gave me a great deal of insight into the issue of shade certification, and I will talk about that in my next post (Why certifying shade coffee is so complex).

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: Butterflies in Indian coffee farms

Adult butterfly communities in coffee plantations around a protected area in the Western Ghats, India. J. Dolia, M. S. Devy, N. A. Aravind, and A. Kumar. 2008. Animal Conservation 11:26-34.

Butterfly diversity was examined in 12 coffee plantations in India’s Western Ghats, a region of high biodiversity. Distance from a protected area, the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary, was the most influencial variable for the abundance and richness of butterfly fauna. The closer the coffee farms to the sanctuary, the higher the species richness and abundance. The composition of butterfly species on coffee farms also became less similar to that of native forest as distance from the sanctuary increased.

The proportion of Australian Grevillea robusta, often called silver oak, a fast-growing, sparse shade timber species now being planted in place of native species on Indian coffee farms, did not seem to effect butterfly abundance or diversity (more on silver oak on coffee farms here). However, the authors stated that three or four species of shade trees dominated at the coffee farms, and none seemed attractive to butterflies.  Coffee has traditionally been grown under native, rustic shade, but there has been an increasing use of fewer, often exotic, species and less shade in recent years.

There were some limitations to this study. It took place during the dry season, when there were not many trees and plants in flower in the sanctuary, but some (mostly non-native species) in the coffee farms. Nectar-feeding butterflies of larger species, which are strong fliers, may have therefore been disproportionally represented at farms farther from the sanctuary. The authors also noted a lack of information on host plants for butterfly larvae, but that many feed on understory shrubs and plants, which tend to be absent from coffee farms. Pesticide use also has a detrimental effect on butterflies. Although coffee farms may serve as corridors or provide roosting or basking sites, they may not have adequate resources for reproducing butterflies.

Photo of Blue Tiger (Tirumala limniace), a common south India species, by Challiyan.

J. Dolia, M. S. Devy, N. A. Aravind, A. Kumar. (2008). Adult butterfly communities in coffee plantations around a protected area in the Western Ghats, India Animal Conservation, 11 (1), 26-34 DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-1795.2007.00143.x

Birds and other biodiversity

More shade coffee farms for Cerulean Warblers

If there is a single bird strongly associated with shade coffee right now, it’s the Cerulean Warbler. I’ve written about the connection between coffee and Cerulean Warblers in the past. I’ve also discussed the Save the Cerulean Warbler Campaign by the American Bird Conservancy (ABC). That post mentioned the Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve in the Rio ChucurÁ­ basin of Santander department, Colombia.

The latest news is the ABC and their Colombian partner ProAves have acquired another 3300 acres (1335 ha) of forest and shade coffee plantations just 8 miles (13 km) across the valley from the original reserve. The new preserve will be called Pauxi Pauxi, which is the scientific name for the Northern Helmeted Curassow, one of the threatened species that occurs there. Of course, the preserve is significant wintering habitat for the Cerulean Warbler, as well as other North American migrants.

Earlier this year, ABC was working with Thanksgiving Coffee Company who roasted and sold Cerulean Warbler Conservation Coffee, which I wrote about here. The plans were to begin using coffee that came from in and around the original reserve, with plans to acquire more land and farms and utilize that coffee as well. Right now, I don’t see any mention of the coffee on either web site. Perhaps they are working on the logistics. I look forward to trying some coffee that comes from land that supports these beautiful birds.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: Mammals in coffee plantations in India’s Western Ghats

The mammalian communities in coffee plantations around a protected area in the Western Ghats, India. A. Balia, A. Kumarb, and J. Krishnaswamy. 2007. Biological Conservation 139: 93-102.
This study looked at the number of mammal species found in 15 coffee plantations around the Bhadra Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats of India, and any correlation between the number of species and distance from the park or vegetation characteristics.

First, a bit of background. Climate conditions in India — monsoon seasons followed by long dry periods — require coffee to be grown under a protective canopy of shade trees, usually under a three-tier system. Although coffee plantations have replaced much of the mid-elevation moist deciduous and evergreen forests in India, coffee has at least traditionally used native forest tree species for shade, such as Ficus glomerata (Doomar, Gular, or Cluster Fig), Dalbergia latifolia (Rosewood), Sapindus laurifolius (Soapnut), and Artocarpus integrifolia (Jackfruit tree).

More recently, non-native species have been used in Indian coffee plantations. In the lowest layer, nitrogen fixing species such as Erythrina lithosperma (Dadap; native to the Philippines and Java) and Gliricidia maculata/sepium (native to Mexico and Central America) are planted. The middle layer, trees that shed their leaves in the monsoon and maintain a dense canopy during the summer, are often native Ficus species. For the canopy layer of hardwood, many coffee farmers are now planting a fast-growing, sparse shade timber species from Australia, Grevillea robusta, often called silver oak although not related to North American oak species.

Twenty-eight species of mammals were recorded in the plantations; this included a number of large carnivores (e.g., tigers and leopards) and herbivores (e.g., elephants and deer). Not surprisingly, more species were found in plantations nearer to the sanctuary. The authors concluded that coffee estates act as a buffer around the park for large mammals, protecting them from the direct effects of more intensive agriculture and higher-density human settlements.

The study did not find any negative correlation with Grevillea abundance, but the fact that the estates with the highest proportion of Grevillea were the closest to the sanctuary may have diluted the effect. The percentage of Grevillea was about 30%; a high percentage of this species is usually avoided, because they drop their leaves during the monsoon, a situation which can cause rot.

Nonetheless, the authors noted that the non-native timber species provide few or no resources for resident wildlife and cautioned that “Such conversions not only lead to the loss of biodiversity values of these plantations, but also severely affect the integrity of the adjoining protected areas.”

Birds and other biodiversity / Coffee regions / Research on coffee growing

Research: Forest birds using Costa Rican coffee farms

Persistence of forest birds in the Costa Rican agricultural countryside. C. H. Sekercioglu, S. R. Loarie, F. Oviedo Brenes, P. R. Ehrlich, and G. C. Daly. 2007.  Conservation Biology 21:482-494.

This study radiotracked several species of resident forest birds in the Coto Brus province of southern Costa Rica, now "dominated by sparsely-shaded coffee farms" — recall that in my post on coffee growing in Costa Rica that most farms, including those marketed as "shade" coffee, have few shade trees of only a couple of species, and lack the structural complexity necessary for true biodiversity preservation.  Two of the three species studied, Silver-throated Tanager (Tangara icterocephala) and White-throated Thrush (Turdus assimilis) are more habitat-sensitive and utilized the coffee farms, but were highly dependent on the remaining trees, and spent more time in remnant forest. The third species, Orange-billed Nightingale-Thrush (Catharus aurantiirostris), is more tolerant of deforestation, and preferred coffee farms and second-growth areas. The authors concluded that agricultural areas have high potential conservation value, which can be enhanced with even modest increases in tree cover. Imagine what true shade coffee would do!

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: Birds in shade coffee favor plant diversity

Dietsch, T.V., I. Perfecto, and R. Greenberg. 2007. Avian foraging behavior in two different types of coffee agrosystem in Chiapas, Mexico.  Biotropica 39:232-240.
Other studies have documented that structural diversity is important in coffee farms — it is the complexity of multiple layers of vegetation in shade coffee systems that are so important and attractive to birds and other organisms. This study looked at Finca Irlanda in Chiapas, a 290 hectare shade coffee farm, during both summer and winter seasons. Forty of those hectares are being further restored by additional plantings of native plants in order to qualify for Smithsonian Bird-Friendly certification. At the time of the study, the structural diversity of the entire farm was similar, but the 40 ha under restoration had a wide variety of plants.

Eighty-eight bird species were observed, and more species were found foraging in the restoration plot than the rest of Finca Irlanda. The study revealed the importance of plant diversity in addition to structural diversity. These diverse plants provide varying resources throughout the year — from nectar to insects to fruit — that are critical to birds.

Rogers Family Company is Finca Irlanda’s roaster in the U.S., but I was unable to determine which one of their brands or coffees uses beans from this farm. One expects it would be used in the Audubon coffee line, but as noted in our review of the Audubon Breakfast Blend, there is no information on the origin of those coffees; specific information is lacking on most Rogers Family coffees. You can also buy Finca Irlanda coffee from Cafe Altura.

Birds and other biodiversity

Saving the Cerulean Warbler campaign

I last wrote about the Cerulean Warbler and shade coffee in August 2006, when the American Bird Conservancy (ABC) announced they would be working with coffee growers to  preserve critical wintering habitat around the new 500-acre Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve in the Rio ChucurÁ­ basin of Santander department, Colombia.

ABC, along with their Bird Conservation Alliance network, has now announced a full-fledged to raise US$100,000 to purchase habitat, train and equip forest guards and local ecotourism guides, and improve reserve infrastructure. The conservation plan is looking to purchase over 1,500 acres currently owned by nearly 20 different owners; some of the land is shade coffee farms. All properties in the reserve will be owned and managed by ProAves Colombia, the major conservation organization there.

You can donate directly, purchase the posh Cerulean Warbler postage stamps, or buy Cerulean Warbler Conservation Coffee, offered by Thanksgiving Coffee Company, roaster of the Songbird Coffee line discussed here.

Although some of the promotional material indicates that the coffee comes from shade plantations that are part of or are adjacent to the Cerulean Warbler Bird Reserve in Santander, it is sourced from COOPERAN, a cooperative in southwestern Antioquia province (A on map, dot is co-op area). The aforementioned reserve is about 180 miles away within the Serrania de los Yariguies Important Bird Area (S on map, dot is Reserve).

Although it is a different location, this area is also important to Cerulean Warblers, as well as the endangered Yellow-eared Parrot (below), and other North American migrants. The very endangered Gorgeted Wood-Quail, another target species, is not found in the area where the coffee is sourced, but is found in the Reserve.

Santander has more extensive shade coffee farms versus Antioquia, which has only about 10% in typica varieties grown by traditional shade methods [1,2].  Thanksgiving Coffee sources its other Colombian coffees from the same co-op (although it is not labeled shade-grown), so they are apparently building on an existing relationship. A page (in Spanish) on the ProAves site notes that COOPERAN farmers are sharing their experience with farmers from the Reserve region.

There are 4,600 members in the COOPERAN cooperative.  One subgroup in the co-op mentioned as a Thanksgiving source was represented in the 2005 Cup of Excellence competition. I found information on one of the Los Sauces farm, El Clavel, which states the coffee there is 30% shade grown. ABC reassured that the Colombian conservation partner ProAves visits the farm(s) to make sure that the coffee is grown under shade.

Support of this campaign is highly worthwhile. Although the coffee does not come from the official Reserve, there is arguably more need for encouraging shade coffee farming in Antioquia, where less than 3% of the native forest remains. Just $1.50 of each bag of coffee goes to ABC, so don’t forget to donate directly to help purchase habitat.

Cerulean Warbler Technical Group el Grupo Cerleo page.

More on the partnership with COOPERAN (also in Spanish).

[1] Colorado, G., and T. Cuadros. 2006.  Geographic distribution and habitat use by Cerulean Warbler in natural vegetation and agro-ecosystems of northern Colombia. Final report to Nature Conservancy and USFWS. Medellin, Colombia.  56 pp.

[2] Armenteras, D., A. RincÁ³n, and N. Ortiz. 2005. Ecological Function Assessment in the Colombian Andean Coffee-growing Region. Sub-global Assessment Working Paper. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, United Nations.

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Endangered coffee

I previously discussed the important species and varieties of coffee. An understanding of these varieties can be of great help to consumers looking for sustainable coffee, as different types are typically grown under shade or sun conditions.  The species and varieties of coffee familiar to consumers, however, are just a tiny part of the coffee family tree.

Rather astonishingly, no comprehensive monograph on the taxonomic status of coffee has been published since the 1940s.  That was recently remedied by a lengthy paper published in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.* It details 103 species in the genus Coffea: 41 species in Africa, 59 in Madagascar, and three in the Mascarene Islands; no naturally-occurring Coffea species are found outside of these three areas, and no species is shared between the three areas.

While most of the paper is of interest only to botanists, one aspect is quite striking.  Over 70% of coffee species can be categorized as threatened using World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List definitions:

  • 14 species (13.6%) are Critically Endangered,
  • 35 species (33.9%) are Endangered, and
  • 23 species (24.2%) are Vulnerable.
  • An additional 13 species (13.7%) are Near Threatened.

The majority of the most threatened species are from Madagascar, an island with a high level of endemism and deforestation. The authors note there is virtually no in situ preservation of coffee genetic resources, and there are difficulties in conserving coffee genes ex situ because of its general lack of suitability for placement in seed banks (see also my post on The value of wild coffee). Habitat loss is the single most important threat to rare coffee species. The photo shows dramatic erosion on deforested areas in western Madagascar, courtesy of Rhett Butler’s excellent Wild Madagascar web site, where you can read more about this country’s environmental issues.

*Davis, A. P., Govaerts, R., Bridson, D. M., and Stoffelen, P.  2006. An annotated taxonomic conspectus of the genus Coffea (Rubiaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 152:465-512.

Background information / Birds and other biodiversity

Coffee and biodiversity hotspots

The image above (click to enlarge) is from the May 2002 issue of Scientific American (“Rethinking Green Consumerism” pdf) and shows the overlap of coffee growing areas and biodiversity hotspots (defined as spots housing 44% of all vascular plant species and 35% of all land-dwelling vertebrate animal species). I think this handily illustrates the importance of encouraging — through our purchasing power — coffee farms that preserve habitat, do not use harmful chemicals, and cultivate coffee in a way that is as close as practical to nature.

In 2007, resolve to buy coffee that protects and and cherishes the health of the people who grow it and the environment in which it is grown.  Happy New Year.

Birds and other biodiversity / Research on coffee growing

Research: Biodiversity and profitability in coffee agrosystems

Gordon, C., R. Manson, J. Sundberg, and A. Cruz-Angon.  2006. Biodiversity, profitability, and vegetation structure in a Mexican coffee agrosystem. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment 118:256-266.

This study looked at coffee grown in various types of shade in central Mexico, and any correlation between biodiversity (in birds and mammals) and profits. The conversion of plantations to sun coffee is generally believed to increase yield (and therefore profits), while the preservation of shade and forest tree species is thought to be costly in terms of decreased yield.  However, the additional costs of chemical inputs and labor in sun coffee may offset any increases in yield.  This study sought to examine this purported trade-off.

They found no support for a trade-off between biodiversity and profitability. Biodiverse, large shade plantations were highly profitable under all price scenarios, even profit calculations did not include any price premiums, such as those received if a farm is certified organic.  The authors concluded that farms and the environment both stand to gain…

“…by dispelling the notion that high-input, low biodiversity and sun and specialized shade coffee cultivation systems are the most economically sensible ways to grow coffee.”

Sites that were shade monoculture (or “specialized shade”) — with a low diversity and density of shade trees — were indistinguishable from sun coffee in terms of abundance and diversity of forest birds.  This emphasizes the point that not all shade coffees preserve biodiversity. These farms have shade trees, could market their coffee as “shade grown,” and may appear to non-biologists as having a lot of birds (which tend to be common, open-area generalists like grassquits and sparrows), but really do not preserve the diversity of species that were present before the native forest was cut down.

Many farmers have the erroneous belief that epiphytes parasitize shade trees, and they remove them. Biodiversity and profitability could immediately increase if farmers stopped this practice (called “destencho”). See this post on the value of epiphytes in coffee farms. Compared to intact forest, even the shaded farms lacked a number of bird and mammal species, in particular those that utilize the understory and ground level.  These are the layers most managed and disturbed in coffee farms.  Diverse shade coffee farms are best at preserving species that live in the upper layers and canopy.