Tradeoffs and synergies among ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and food security in coffee agroforestry

Isabella Mayorga and Ivette Perfecto, School for Environment and Sustainability, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Jose Luiz Vargas de Mendonça, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Zachary Hajian-Forooshani and John H. Vandermeer, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, Javier Lugo Pérez, Department of Natural Sciences, University of Puerto Rico, Utuado, Puerto Rico

Background/Question/Methods
Concerns over the capacity of the world’s existing agricultural land to provide food for the global population
under climate change and continued biodiversity loss have set the stage for a prevailing narrative of inherent
tradeoffs with agricultural production. However, a strict focus on increasing production can undermine attempts
to build more sustainable and equitable food systems. Coffee, a major export crop of tropical countries, offers a
unique opportunity to examine how management practices can drive a variety of outcomes for food security,
ecosystem services, and biodiversity conservation. Our study examined this intersection to identify tradeoffs
and synergies using compiled data from Puerto Rico. At the island level, we analyzed data on coffee yield and
area sown under shade or sun management. At the farm level, we analyzed management variables (percent
shade cover, maximum canopy height, ground cover, and crop richness), non-provisioning ecosystem service
variables (total farm carbon storage, soil organic carbon storage, coffee plant carbon biomass, and hurricane
resistance and resilience), and biodiversity variables (ant, bird, and lizard richness and abundance).
Results/Conclusions
At the
island level, we found that area sown was the most significant predictor of yield, suggesting no obvious tradeoff
between yield and shade in coffee farms. At the farm level, canopy cover was negatively correlated with
ground cover and positively correlated with crop richness, suggesting a synergy between agroforestry and food
security. We detected mostly synergies resulting from agroforestry management and no tradeoffs among
ecosystem services and biodiversity. Shade canopy cover significantly increased total carbon storage, coffee
plant biomass, hurricane resistance and bird species richness. Shade canopy height had a similar positive
effect on total farm carbon storage while crop richness had a positive effect on farm resilience following
Hurricane Maria. Ground cover was positively associated with soil carbon storage and pest-controlling lizard
abundance. Tradeoffs related to agroforestry management included an inverse relationship between ground
cover and hurricane resistance, and greater dominance of an invasive ant species in farms with higher shade
canopies. We discuss implications of practicing agroforestry principles in this smallholder coffee system and
highlight opportunities for maximizing biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services, and food security.