This paper looked at the diversity and abundance of frogs and salamanders in an area of tropical montane cloud forest, shade coffee farms, and corn plantations in southern Mexico.
Research on coffee growing
Coffee leaf rust: a complex disease
Coffee rust (Hemileia vastarix) is fungus that is one of the most devastating coffee diseases in the world. Native to Africa, it is now present in every coffee-growing nation. Infected leaves drop off, weakening the plant. Copper-based fungicides can be effective against coffee rust. However, it must be on the leaf surface to prevent infection,…
Share it or spare it?
Intensifying production while conserving biodiversity Food security and the ability of agricultural lands to feed over 9 billion people by 2050 is an increasingly-discussed topic. Part of this issue is how to conserve biodiversity while boosting agricultural capacity, either by increasing the productivity of land currently in production through some sort of intensification, or expanding…
Research: Farmers, prices, and shade coffee
A research paper that could have used a more accurate title, and more depth in the discussion.
Research: Shade coffee conserves bee diversity
Coffee farmers don’t need to rely just on the presence of landscape-level forests to provide pollinator resources. Their own farm management can have strong impacts on local bee abundance and diversity.
Research: Birds reduce coffee pests in Jamaica, take 2
As has been found in previous studies, birds on Jamaican coffee farms reduce insect pests, providing an important ecosystem service worth 12% of the total crop value.
New coffee species from Madagascar
Earlier this year, the news of the “discovery” of a caffeine-free species of coffee from the Cameroon created a bit of a stir. This species was actually first collected in 1983, but remained unstudied and not described to science until…
The water footprint of coffee
The water footprint of coffee and tea consumption in the Netherlands. 2007. Chapagain, A.K., and A. Y. Hoekstra. Ecological Economics 64:109-118. This is not a newly published paper, but I found it well worth summarizing here. “Footprint” evaluations — ecological,…
Shade coffee farmers attitudes towards wildlife
Attitudes and knowledge of shade-coffee farmers towards vertebrates and their ecological functions [PDF]. 2009. P. LÁ³pez-del-Toro, E. Andresen, L. Barraza and A. Estrada. Tropical Conservation Science 2:299-318. The authors of this study interviewed 36 Mexican shade coffee farmers regarding their…
Climate change and coffee pests
Climate change will likely alter the distribution of the world’s worst coffee pest, a minute beetle called the coffee berry borer (CBB), Hypothenemus hampei.
Research: Andean shade coffee quality habitat for birds
Bakermans, M. H., A. C. Vitz, A. D. Rodewald, and C. G. Rengifo. 2009. Migratory songbird use of shade coffee in the Venezuelan Andes with implications for the conservation of the cerulean warbler. Biological Conservation 142:2476-2483. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2009.05.018 Most studies of…
Research: Coffee as an invasive plant in India
A study from India measures the invasiveness of coffee into forest fragments from adjacent farms.
Research: Coffee and sacred groves in India
Comparing tree diversity and composition in coffee farms and sacred forests in the Western Ghats of India.
Coffee-related deforestation in Sumatra
Three decades of deforestation in southwest Sumatra: effects of coffee prices, law enforcement and rural poverty. 2009. D. L. A. Gaveau, M. Linkie, Suyadi, P. Levang, and N. Leader-Williams. Biological Conservation 142:597-605 . I’ve written in the past about Sumatra’s…
Research: Coffee certification and bird conservation in Ethiopia
Ethiopian coffee cultivation — Implications for bird conservation and environmental certification. This is probably the first peer-reviewed paper specifically about coffee growing/shade coffee and birds in Ethiopia.