COS 273-4 - CANCELLED - Interacting pest control and pollination services in coffee systems

Thursday, August 18, 2022

4:15 PM – 4:30 PM EDT

Location: 514A

Coauthor(s)

AM

Alejandra Martínez-Salinas

CATIE – Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica
AC

Adina Chain-Guradarrama

CATIE – Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica
NA

Natalia Aristizábal

PhD Candidate
Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont
Burlington, Vermont, United States
SV

Sergio Vilchez-Mendoza

CATIE – Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica
RC

Rolando Cerda

CATIE – Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza, Costa Rica

Presenting Author(s)

TR

Taylor H. Ricketts

Professor and Director
Gund Institute for Environment, University of Vermont, USA
Burlington, Vermont, United States

Background/Question/Methods

Biodiversity-mediated ecosystem services (ES) support human well-being, but their values are typically estimated individually. ES are part of complex socio-ecological systems, but we know surprisingly little about how multiple ES interact ecologically and economically. Interactions could be positive (synergy) or negative (trade-offs), with strong implications for management and valuation. Here we evaluate the interactions of two ES, pollination and pest control, via a factorial field experiment in 30 Costa Rican coffee farms.

Results/Conclusions

We found significant positive interactions between these two critical ES to crop production. The combined positive effects of bees and birds on fruit set, fruit weight, and fruit weight uniformity were greater than their individual effects. Pollination and pest control services translate directly into monetary benefits to coffee farmers. Excluding both bees and birds resulted in an average yield reduction of 25% (equivalent to losing US$1,066/ha). To our knowledge, this represents some of the first experimental evidence at realistic scales of positive interactions among ES supporting crop yield. These synergies suggest that assessments of individual ES may underestimate the benefits biodiversity provides to agriculture and human wellbeing. Accounting for potential interactions among ES is essential to quantifying their combined ecological and economic value.