Skip to main content

A Highly Productive Biodiversity Island Within a Monoculture Landscape: El Hatico Nature Reserve (Valle del Cauca, Colombia)

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Biodiversity Islands: Strategies for Conservation in Human-Dominated Environments

Abstract

This chapter describes the landscape-scale, national and regional influence of a rural property that forms a biodiversity island within a monoculture landscape. Managed continuously by nine generations of the Molina family, El Hatico Nature Reserve embodies a set of values grounded in a deep connection to the land. Between 1960 and 1990, the fertile flatlands of the Cauca River valley lost almost all dry forest remnants, wetlands, traditional annual crops, and agroforestry systems, adopting a uniform method of sugarcane production that modified stream banks, eliminated the small-scale topographic heterogeneity, and integrated periodic burning and herbicide applications as part of the management protocols. Meanwhile, El Hatico gained tree cover, enhanced its soil quality, conserved its forest fragments, transformed its conventional pastures into biodiverse silvopastoral systems and transitioned to agroecological sugarcane production. El Hatico’s long tradition of agricultural and livestock research and detailed production records helped develop the highly efficient intensive silvopastoral systems in which cattle graze on nitrogen-fixing fodder shrubs interspersed with grasses and under the shade of native trees. These silvopastures have inspired thousands of technical assistants, extension workers and farmers in Colombia and other Latin American countries to undertake the transformation of conventional cattle ranching systems. Simultaneously, El Hatico developed organic sugarcane by applying the principles of agroecology to produce sugar while storing carbon, enhancing the soil biota and making an efficient use of water. El Hatico’s forest fragment is surrounded by a wildlife-friendly silvopastoral matrix that is permeable to the movements of birds and arthropods. This property’s unique combination of land uses provides a model for the integration of agroecology, agroforestry and ecological restoration.

Coauthor Carlos Hernán Molina passed away during the final stage of editing this book. None of the innovations described in this chapter would exist were it not for his leadership, moral courage and commitment to generational exchange and agroecology. With admirable clarity and wisdom, he guided his family through decades of dramatic land use change and stood up for a diversified agricultural production against the ravaging advance of monoculture. Thanks to Carlos Hernán, El Hatico persists as a biodiversity island.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 179.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Lucerna is another rural property dedicated to organic milk and sugarcane production, located in Bugalagrande, Valle del Cauca.

  2. 2.

    The Colombian Sustainable Cattle Ranching Project (CSCRP) was designed by an alliance between the Global Environment Fund (GEF), the UK government, FEDEGAN, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), CIPAV and Fondo Acción, under the supervision of The World Bank. It took place from 2010 to 2020 in five ecoregions where cattle ranching exists close to protected areas, and aimed to overcome the main barriers to the adoption of sustainable practices.

  3. 3.

    www.resnatur.org.co

  4. 4.

    Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative at Yale University’s School of the Environment, a program dedicated to capacity building for forest and landscape restoration in the tropics.

  5. 5.

    Center for Research on Sustainable Agricultural Production Systems (www.cipav.org.co), a Colombian organization dedicated to research, training and outreach on sustainable agriculture and livestock production, ecosystem services, water-based systems and ecological restoration.

  6. 6.

    The Latin American Scientific Society for Agroecology (www.soclaglobal.com)

  7. 7.

    The Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock, established in 2011, is a multi-stakeholder partnership with the aim of fostering and guiding the sustainable development of the global livestock sector in alignment with the SDG framework of the UN Agenda 2030. It provides a platform to address comprehensively the sector’s multiple challenges towards sustainable development by facilitating global dialogue and encouraging local practice and policy change, focusing on innovation, capacity building, incentive systems and enabling environments (www.livestockdialogue.com)

References

  • Arcila AM, Valderrama C, Chacón P (2012) Estado de fragmentación del bosque seco en la cuenca alta del río Cauca, Colombia. Biota Colombiana 13(2):86–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Arias J (1994) Evaluación exploratoria del comportamiento de la materia orgánica por prácticas de quema en molisoles del Valle del Cauca. Tesis de Posgrado en Suelos y Aguas. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Palmira

    Google Scholar 

  • Armbrecht I (1995) Comparación de la mirmecofauna en fragmentos boscosos del Valle Geográfico del río Cauca, Colombia. Bol Mus Ent Univ Valle 3(2):1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Armbrecht I, Chacón P (1997) Composición y diversidad de hormigas en bosques secos relictuales y sus alrededores en el Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Revista Colombiana de Entomología 23(1–2):45–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Armbrecht I, Chacón P (1999) Rareza y diversidad de hormigas en fragmentos de bosque seco colombianos y sus matrices. Biotropica 31(4):646–653

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Armbrecht I, Tischer I, Chacón P (2001) Nested subsets and partition patterns in ant assemblages (Hymenoptera, Formicidae) of Colombian dry forest fragments. Pan Pac Entomol 77(3):196–209

    Google Scholar 

  • Baldissera R, Rodriguez E, Hartz S (2012) Metacommunity composition of web spiders in a fragmented neotropical forest: relative importance of environmental and special effects. PLoS One 7(10):1–9

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calle Z, Murgueitio E, Chará J (2012) Integrating forestry, sustainable cattle-ranching and landscape restoration. Unasylva 239(63):31–40

    Google Scholar 

  • Calle Z, Murgueitio E, Chará E, Molina CH, Zuluaga AF, Calle A (2013) A strategy for scaling-up intensive silvopastoral systems in Colombia. J Sustain For 32(7):677–693. https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2013.817338

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cárdenas G (1998) Comparación de la composición y estructura de la avifauna en diferentes sistemas de producción. BS Thesis, Universidad del Valle, Cali

    Google Scholar 

  • Castaño K, Giraldo C, Rodríguez J, Giraldo NV, Calle Z, Reyes K, Molina CH, Molina EJ, Molina JJ, Armbrecht I, Montoya J (2019) Aspectos ecológicos, enemigos naturales y métodos de control de la hormiga arriera Atta cephalotes (Hymenoptera: Myrmicinae) en la Reserva Natural El Hatico. In: Castaño K, Chará J, Giraldo C, Calle Z (eds) Manejo integrado de insectos herbívoros en sistemas ganaderos sostenibles. CIPAV, Cali, pp 150–179

    Google Scholar 

  • Cenicaña (2001–2018) Informes anuales. Cenicaña, Cali. https://www.cenicana.org/publicaciones-de-cenicana/

  • Cenicaña (2017) Manual de reconocimiento de arvenses en el cultivo de la caña de azúcar. Cenicaña. 168 p https://www.cenicana.org/pdf_privado/documentos_no_seriados/manual_arvenses/manual_reconocimiento_arvenses.pdf

  • Chará J, Camargo JC, Calle Z, Bueno L, Murgueitio E, Arias L, Dossman M, Molina EJ (2015) Servicios ambientales de sistemas silvopastoriles intensivos: mejoramiento del suelo y restauración ecológica. In: Montagnini F, Somarriba E, Murgueitio E, Fassola H, Eibl B (eds) Sistemas agroforestales: funciones productivas, socioeconómicas y ambientales, Serie Técnica, Informe Técnico 402. CATIE/Editorial CIPAV, Turrialba/Cali, 454 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Chará JD, Rivera J, Barahona R, Murgueitio E, Deblitz C, Reyes E, Martins Mauricio R, Molina JJ, Flores M, Zuluaga AF (2017) Intensive silvopastoral systems: economics and contribution to climate change mitigation and public policies. In: Montagnini F (ed) Integrating landscapes: agroforestry for biodiversity conservation and food sovereignty, advances in agroforestry 12. Springer, Cham, pp 395–416

    Google Scholar 

  • Chará J, Reyes E, Peri P, Otte J, Arce E, Schneider F (2019) Silvopastoral systems and their contribution to improved resource use and sustainable development goals: evidence from Latin America. FAO, CIPAV and Agri Benchmark. Cali, 58 p. License CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. ISBN: 978-958-9386-84-2 http://www.cipav.org.co/pdf/SPS_Report_ISBN_FAO.pdf

  • Clegg CD, Attard E, Degrange V, Klumpp K, Richaume A, Soussana JF, Le Roux X (2006) Impact of cattle grazing and inorganic fertiliser additions to managed grasslands on the microbial community composition of soils. Soil Biol Biochem 31:73–82

    Google Scholar 

  • Corporación Autónoma Regional del Valle del Cauca (CVC) (1990) Comparación de cobertura de bosques y humedales entre 1957 y 1986 con delimitación de las comunidades naturales críticas en el valle geográfico del río Cauca. CVC Report 90–7. Cali, 84 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Delgado J, Armbrech I, Flórez E, Molina CH (2014) Arañas (Arachnida: Araneae) asociadas a cuatro tipos de manejo del hábitat en la Reserva Natural El Hatico (Colombia). Revista Ibérica de Aracnología 25:59–69. http://gia.sea-socios.com/PDF/25/059-069RIA25ArachnidaColombia2.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Departamento Nacional de Planeación (2019) Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2018–2022: Pacto por Colombia, pacto por la equidad. Bogotá, Colombia, 477 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Dominguez-Haydar Y, Armbrecht I (2011) Response of ants and their seed removal in rehabilitation areas and forests at El Cerrejón coal mine in Colombia. Restor Ecol 19:178–184. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1526-100X.2010.00735.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eibl B, Montagnini F, López MA, Lavignolle P, Cortes J, De La Vega M, López LN, Dummel C, Küppers G (2022) Conservation, connectivity and registration of seed areas in remnants of natural reserves in the province of Misiones, Argentina. In: Montagnini F (ed) Biodiversity islands: strategies for conservation in human- dominated environments. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, Springer, Cham, pp 157–181

    Google Scholar 

  • Giraldo C, Uribe F (2007) Manejo integrado de garrapatas en sistemas sostenibles de producción ganadera. Red Electrónica de Garrapatas y Enfermedades Transmitidas por Garrapatas en América Latina y El Caribe. FAO, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • Giraldo C, Chará J, Uribe F, Gómez JC, Gómez M, Calle Z, Valencia LM, Modesto M, Murgueitio E (2018a) Ganadería Colombiana Sostenible: entre la productividad y la conservación de la biodiversidad. In: Halffter G, Cruz M, Huerta C (eds) Ganadería sustentable en el Golfo de México. Instituto de Ecología, A.C., Xalapa, pp 31–61

    Google Scholar 

  • Giraldo C, Montoya S, Escobar F (2018b) Escarabajos del estiércol en paisajes ganaderos de Colombia. CIPAV, Cali

    Google Scholar 

  • Gómez LA, Lastra LA (1998) Caligo illioneus: el gusano cabrito. Carta Trimestral Cenicaña 20(1):8–13. https://www.cenicana.org/pdf_privado/carta_trimestral/ct1998/ct1_98/ct1_98_p8-13.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Gómez LA, Vargas G (2014) Los barrenadores de la caña de azúcar, Diatraea spp., en el valle del río Cauca: investigación participativa con énfasis en control biológico. Documento de Trabajo 734, Cenicaña, Cali

    Google Scholar 

  • Gómez ME, Rodríguez L, Murgueitio E, Ríos CI, Rosales M, Molina CH, Molina CH, Molina EJ, Molina JP (2002) Árboles y arbustos utilizados en alimentación animal como fuente proteica. Editorial CIPAV, Cali

    Google Scholar 

  • Hilty SL, Brown WL (1986) A guide to the birds of Colombia. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Hincapié E, Sánchez J, Carbonell JA (2019) IoT network applied to agriculture: monitoring stations for irrigation management in soils cultivated with sugarcane. In: Corrales J, Angelov P, Iglesias J (eds) Advances in information for communication technologies for adapting agriculture to climate change II, AACC 2018. Advances in intelligent systems and computing, vol 893. Springer, pp 249–259. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-04447-3_17

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurtado-G A, Cruz-B L, Molina-D EJ (2016) Dieta de aves migratorias en un sistema agroecológico del Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Bol Cient Mus Hist Nat U de Caldas 20(2):151–163. https://doi.org/10.17151/bccm.2016.20.2.11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • López L, Armbrecht I, Montoya-Lerma J, Molina EJ (2013) Diversidad de avispas parasitoides en un sistema silvopastoril orgánico de producción ganadera de Colombia. Revista Avances en Investigación Agropecuaria 17(1):65–78. http://ww.ucol.mx/revaia/portal/pdf/2013/enero/3.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Mahecha L (2003) Importancia de los sistemas silvopastoriles y principales limitantes para su implementación en la ganadería colombiana. Rev Col Cienc Pec 16:11–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Manrique GM, Guzmán ML, Victoria JI (2006) Flora microbiana en suelos cultivados con caña de azúcar y otros sistemas de exploración. In: Torres JS (ed) Manejo del cultivo en condiciones de caña verde, Serie Técnica 35. Cenicaña, pp 54–63. https://www.cenicana.org/pdf_privado/serie_tecnica/st_35/st_35.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Molina EJ, Molina CH, Molina JJ, Suárez JF, Uribe P, Valencia LM, Murgueitio E, Uribe F (2013) Ovinos y caña de azúcar. Revista DeCarne 7:55–59

    Google Scholar 

  • Molina EJ, Molina CH, Molina JJ, Suárez JF, Uribe P, Valencia LM, Murgueitio E, Uribe F (2014) Integración con beneficios. Revista DeCarne 8:48–51

    Google Scholar 

  • Molina IC, Donney G, Montoya S, Rivera JE, Villegas G, Chará J, Barahona R (2015) La inclusión de Leucaena leucocephala reduce la producción de metano de terneras Lucerna alimentadas con Cynodon plectostachyus y Megathyrsus maximus. Livestock Research for Rural Development 27, Article 96. Retrieved June 12, 2020, http://www.Irrd.org/Irrd27/5/moli27096.html

  • Molina IC, Angarita EA, Mayorga OL, Chará J, Barahona R (2016) Effect of Leucaena leucocephala on methane production of Lucerna heifers fed a diet based on Cynodon plectostachyus. Livest Sci 185:24–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molina-Castro CH, Molina-D CH, Molina-D EJ, Molina-E JJ (2012) Manejo agroecológico de caña de azúcar y sistemas silvopastoriles intensivos. Revista Tecnicaña 29:28–35. https://issuu.com/revistatecnicana/docs/tec_no29_2012/37

    Google Scholar 

  • Molina-Garcés C (1938). Árboles para sombrío y forraje. Revista de la Academia Colombiana de las Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales 2(6): 273–278

    Google Scholar 

  • Montes-Londoño I, Calle A, Montes-Calderon A, Montes-Botero O (2022) Hacienda Pinzacuá: an island of regenerative agriculture in the piedmont of the Colombian Central Andes. In: Montagnini F (ed) Biodiversity islands: strategies for conservation in human-dominated environments. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, Springer, Cham, pp 305–355

    Google Scholar 

  • Montoya J, Calle Z, Murgueitio E (2010) Biodiversidad funcional como reguladora de insectos plaga en los sistemas silvopastoriles durante la sequía del fenómeno del niño 2009–2010. In Memorias del VI Congreso Latonoamericano de Agroforestería para la Producción Pecuaria Sostenible, Panama, Sept 28–30, 2010. CATIE/CIPAV. Turrialba/Costa Rica, pp 29–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Murgueitio B (2019) Análisis del cambio de la cobertura del suelo en la zona baja de la cuenca del río Amaime, periodo 1986–2018. Colegio La Arboleda, Cali, 138 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Murgueitio E, Calle Z, Uribe F, Calle A, Solorio B (2011) Native trees and shrubs for the productive rehabilitation of tropical cattle ranching lands. For Ecol Manag 261:1654–1663

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murgueitio E, Xóchitl M, Calle Z, Chará J, Barahona R, Molina CH, Uribe F (2015) Productividad en sistemas silvopastoriles intensivos en América Latina. In: Montagnini F, Somarriba E, Murgueitio E, Fassola H, Eibl B (eds) Sistemas agroforestales: funciones productivas, socioeconómicas y ambientales, Serie Técnica, Informe Técnico 402. CATIE/Editorial CIPAV, Turrialba/Cali, pp 59–101. 454 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Niella F, Rocha P, Tuzinkievicz A, Buchwies R, Bulman C, Thalmayr P, González J, Montagnini F (2022) Native multipurpose species in the Yaboti Biosphere Reserve, Misiones-Argentina. In: Montagnini F (ed) Biodiversity islands: strategies for conservation in human-dominated environments. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, Springer, Cham, pp 461–483

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardo LC (2009) Macroinvertebrados edafícolas en sistemas agrícolas del municipio de El Cerrito (Valle del Cauca), con énfasis en la comunidad de escarabajos Melolonthidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea). Tesis de doctorado. Universidad del Valle, Cali

    Google Scholar 

  • Pardo LC, Sevilla F, Amézquita E (2017) Macroinvertebrados edáficos en cultivos de caña de azúcar, ganadería silvopastoril y un relicto forestal en el Valle del Río Cauca (Colombia). Boletín de la Sociedad Entomológica Aragonesa 60:301–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearce JL, Venier LA (2006) The use of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) and spiders (Araneae) as bioindicators of sustainable forest management: a review. Ecol Indic 6:780–793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reyes K, Montoya J, Giraldo C, Brown JW (2012) Description of the early stages of Eccopsis galapagana Razowski & Landry (Tortricidae), a defoliator of Prosopis juliflora (SW.) DC. (Fabaceae) in Colombia. J Lepidopt Soc 66(3):156–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rice RA, Greenberg R (2004) Silvopastoral systems: ecological and socioeconomic benefits and migratory bird conservation. In: Schroth G, Fonseca GAB, Harvey CA, Gascon C, Vasconcelos A (eds) Agroforestry and biodiversity conservation in tropical landscapes. Island Press, Washington, DC, pp 453–472

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera C, Naranjo L, Duque AM (2007) De María a un mar de caña: Imaginarios de naturaleza en la transformación del paisaje vallecaucano entre 1950 y 1970. Universidad Autónoma de Occidente, Cali

    Google Scholar 

  • Rivera LF, Escobar F, Philpott SM, Armbrecht I (2019) The role of natural vegetation strips in sugarcane monocultures: ant and bird functional diversity responses. Agric Ecosyst Environ 284:106603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2019.106603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sadeghian KH, Madriñan R (2000) La actividad microbiana-CO2 en suelos cultivados en caña de azucar con y sin quema. Universidad Nacional de Colombia (Colombia)

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos-Gally R, Boege K (2022) Biodiversity islands: the role of native tree islands within silvopastoral systems in a neotropical region. In: Montagnini F (ed) Biodiversity islands: strategies for conservation in human-dominated environments. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, Springer, Cham, pp 117–138

    Google Scholar 

  • Solis MA, Metz MA (2016) An illustrated guide to the identification of the known species of Diatraea Guilding (Lepidoptera, Crambidae, Crambinae) based on genitalia. ZooKeys 565:73–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tilman D (2001) Functional diversity. In: Levin SA (ed) Encyclopedia of biodiversity, vol 3. Academic Press, NewYork, pp 109–120

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Torres JS (ed) (2006) Manejo del cultivo en condiciones de caña verde. Cenicaña, Serie Técnica 35 https://www.cenicana.org/pdf_privado/serie_tecnica/st_35/st_35.pdf

  • Vallejo V, Roldán F, Dick RP (2010) Soil enzymatic activities and microbial biomass in an integrated agroforestry chronosequence compared to monoculture and a native forest of Colombia. Biol Fertil Soils 46(6):577–587

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vallejo V, Arbelia Z, Teránb W, Lorenzc N, Dickc RP, Roldan F (2012) Effect of land management and Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC trees on soil microbial community and enzymatic activities in intensive silvopastoral systems of Colombia. Agric Ecosyst Environ 150:139–148

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vargas GA, Obando V, Gómez LA (2006) Jaynesleskia jaynesi: otra alternativa para el manejo de Diatrea spp. Carta Trimestral Cenicaña (Colombia) 28(2):3–5

    Google Scholar 

  • Vargas G, Gómez LA, Michaud JP (2015) Sugarcane stem borers of the Colombian Cauca River valley: pest status, biology and control. Fla Entomol 98:728–735

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Zoraida Calle D .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Calle D, Z. et al. (2022). A Highly Productive Biodiversity Island Within a Monoculture Landscape: El Hatico Nature Reserve (Valle del Cauca, Colombia). In: Montagnini, F. (eds) Biodiversity Islands: Strategies for Conservation in Human-Dominated Environments. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92234-4_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics