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Effects of Coffee Management Intensity on Composition, Structure, and Regeneration Status of Ethiopian Moist Evergreen Afromontane Forests

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Abstract

The effect of arabica coffee management intensity on composition, structure, and regeneration of moist evergreen Afromontane forests was studied in three traditional coffee-management systems of southwest Ethiopia: semiplantation coffee, semiforest coffee, and forest coffee. Vegetation and environmental data were collected in 84 plots from forests varying in intensity of coffee management. After controlling for environmental variation (altitude, aspect, slope, soil nutrient availability, and soil depth), differences in woody species composition, forest structure, and regeneration potential among management systems were compared using one way analysis of variance. The study showed that intensification of forest coffee cultivation to maximize coffee production negatively affects diversity and structure of Ethiopian moist evergreen Afromontane forests. Intensification of coffee productivity starts with the conversion of forest coffee to semiforest coffee, which has significant negative effects on tree seedling abundance. Further intensification leads to the conversion of semiforest to semiplantation coffee, causing significant diversity losses and the collapse of forest structure (decrease of stem density, basal area, crown closure, crown cover, and dominant tree height). Our study underlines the need for shade certification schemes to include variables other than canopy cover and that the loss of species diversity in intensively managed coffee systems may jeopardize the sustainability of coffee production itself through the decrease of ecosystem resilience and disruption of ecosystem services related to coffee yield, such as pollination and pest control.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the IUC-JU program of the Flemish Interuniversity Council (VLIR) at Jimma University, and travel grants by IRO to A. F., M. V. M. and P. G., and R. A. held a postdoctoral fellowship of the Research Foundation–Flanders (FWO). The useful comments of the anonymous referees are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division Forest, Nature and Landscape, University of Leuven, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Kitessa Hundera, Raf Aerts, Alexandre Fontaine, Maarten Van Mechelen & Bart Muys

  2. Plant Conservation and Population Biology, University of Leuven, 3001, Leuven, Belgium

    Pieter Gijbels & Olivier Honnay

  3. Department of Biology, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia

    Kitessa Hundera

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  1. Kitessa Hundera
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  2. Raf Aerts
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  3. Alexandre Fontaine
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  4. Maarten Van Mechelen
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  5. Pieter Gijbels
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  6. Olivier Honnay
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  7. Bart Muys
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Correspondence to Bart Muys.

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Kitessa Hundera and Raf Aerts contributed equally in this work.

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267_2012_9976_MOESM1_ESM.tif

Fig. S1. Effects of forest management in FC, SFC, and SPC systems in southwest Ethiopia on regeneration of late-successional tree species after accounting for environmental variability: a S. guineense. b A. falcatus. c O. welwitschii. d P. Africana. e I. mitis. f P. adolfi-friederici. Error bars denote SE. Letters show significant differences between groups (ANOVA LSD test, α = 0.05).(TIFF 45 kb)

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Hundera, K., Aerts, R., Fontaine, A. et al. Effects of Coffee Management Intensity on Composition, Structure, and Regeneration Status of Ethiopian Moist Evergreen Afromontane Forests. Environmental Management 51, 801–809 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9976-5

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