UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Goodall, Katharine E.
Dept./Program:
Plant and Soil Science
Year:
2013
Degree:
PhD
Abstract:
Smallholder coffee growers have been recognized for their contribution to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation through low-input, highdiversity farming management techniques. Smallholder coffee farmers worldwide often cooperatively organize to gain social and economic leverage. In a broad sense, this work explores how the social landscape of the cooperative influences the agroecological landscape. More specifically, I seek to understand how cooperatively managed smallholder coffee farmers make decisions about farm management, and how this aligns with bird and tree diversity within the coffee agroecosystem.
This research is divided into three chapters, each exploring a different aspect of the coffee agroecosystem. In the first chapter, I investigate how shade tree diversity, abundance, and carbon stocks are changing over time. With the help of local assistants, I conducted tree surveys in four smallholder cooperatives of northern Nicaragua as part of a decade-long effort to track shade tree management. The second chapter explores bird abundance, diversity and community composition across these same cooperatives. Local field assistants conducted avian point counts in coffee and forest habitats. In the third chapter, I interviewed members of four cooperatives to investigate how cooperative members approach management decisions for coffee, forest, and household budgets.
Through this work, I found that shade tree density has decreased over time, but that diversity remained constant. Carbon stocks in coffee systems also showed a decreasing trend across the landscape, most likely due to the decreasing tree densities. Epiphytic plants increased as shade tree density decreased, suggesting either a change in management or improved habitat conditions for epiphytes. Bird surveys revealed that avian abundance is greater in coffee than in forest habitats, but that diversity across these two habitats is equal. Abundance increases with increasing canopy height as well as with mid-range canopy cover, suggesting that pruning and tree-cutting regimes affect bird populations.
Interviews with farmers showed that members of different cooperatives manage their coffee differently, and that some of the factors members value for making farm and financial management decisions differ across cooperatives. These results suggest that local cooperatives and communities influence farmer decisions that ultimately influence the physical landscape. Global conservation initiatives should support local institutions to encourage the continuation of diverse shade trees, counter the pressure for producers to intensify coffee production, and optimize access to technical knowledge and resources across all cooperatives in this landscape. In this way, both biodiversity and smallholder livelihoods stand a chance at conservation.
This research is divided into three chapters, each exploring a different aspect of the coffee agroecosystem. In the first chapter, I investigate how shade tree diversity, abundance, and carbon stocks are changing over time. With the help of local assistants, I conducted tree surveys in four smallholder cooperatives of northern Nicaragua as part of a decade-long effort to track shade tree management. The second chapter explores bird abundance, diversity and community composition across these same cooperatives. Local field assistants conducted avian point counts in coffee and forest habitats. In the third chapter, I interviewed members of four cooperatives to investigate how cooperative members approach management decisions for coffee, forest, and household budgets.
Through this work, I found that shade tree density has decreased over time, but that diversity remained constant. Carbon stocks in coffee systems also showed a decreasing trend across the landscape, most likely due to the decreasing tree densities. Epiphytic plants increased as shade tree density decreased, suggesting either a change in management or improved habitat conditions for epiphytes. Bird surveys revealed that avian abundance is greater in coffee than in forest habitats, but that diversity across these two habitats is equal. Abundance increases with increasing canopy height as well as with mid-range canopy cover, suggesting that pruning and tree-cutting regimes affect bird populations.
Interviews with farmers showed that members of different cooperatives manage their coffee differently, and that some of the factors members value for making farm and financial management decisions differ across cooperatives. These results suggest that local cooperatives and communities influence farmer decisions that ultimately influence the physical landscape. Global conservation initiatives should support local institutions to encourage the continuation of diverse shade trees, counter the pressure for producers to intensify coffee production, and optimize access to technical knowledge and resources across all cooperatives in this landscape. In this way, both biodiversity and smallholder livelihoods stand a chance at conservation.