Research: Veracruz biodiversity
Pineda, E., C. Moreno, F. Escobar, and G. Halffter. 2005. Frog, bat, and dung beetle diversity in the cloud forest and coffee agrosystems of Veracruz, Mexico. Conservation Biology 19: 400-410.
Cloud forest fragments and shade coffee plantations were compared in central Veracruz. Diversity of frogs was one-fifth less in coffee; one-third of the frog species occurred in both forests and coffee plantations. Beetle diversity and abundance was greater in coffee plantations than forest fragments. Bat diversity and abundance was the same in both coffee and forest.
The authors concluded that shade coffee plantations connect forest fragments and act to preserve biodiversity, but act as a complement, not a substitute, for montane cloud forests.