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Diversity and function of tree species in human-modified Atlantic Forest landscapes

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Abstract

Agroforestry has been suggested as a sustainable strategy to promote biodiversity conservation in agricultural land, and farmers’ knowledge can be crucial to design more diverse agroforestry systems. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the conservation value of agroforestry systems in relation to forest areas in different stages of natural succession as well as farmers’ knowledge. The conservation value of agroforestry systems (coffee and pastures) was assessed through tree diversity indices and compared with values found in forest areas using rarefaction curve. In parallel, we assessed the tree functions according to farmers’ knowledge using an ethnobotanical survey. Species richness in agroforestry systems was similar to the forest in the early intermediate (40 to 50 years) of succession, whereas the diversity, based on Shannon and Simpson index, was similar to the forest in the pioneer and late pioneer of succession stage (5 to 25 and 5 to 10 years, respectively). According to farmers, the main functions performed by trees in both types of agroforestry system were shade for crops, fauna attraction and firewood. The functions food production and soil cover are restricted to coffee systems, while aesthetics and wooden stake are restricted to pasture systems. Moreover, we found a high correlation between the diversity of functions, based on farmers’ knowledge, and the diversity of species found in the field. Our results suggest that agroforestry systems used by family farmers are important to maintain the diversity of trees at farm and landscape level. In addition, farmer`s knowledge on the functions of tree species is crucial for the design of highly diverse agroforestry systems.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil (FAPEMIG), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico do Brasil (CNPq). We thank Cassio Moquedace for help with the figures. We thank Tiãozinho and Mauro, from the Seeds laboratory of Federal University of Viçosa with the support and species’ identification. We specially thank the farmers Adriano and Renata Silvestre, who provided shelter and food during fieldwork, and all the Frossard community members, who shared their knowledge and supported access to their farms to develop the research. We also thank the Centro de Tecnologias Alternativas da Zona da Mata, Brazil (CTA-ZM), farmers and farmer organizations in Zona da Mata and the FOREFRONT (an international research program) for supporting our research.

Funding

This work is part of the FOREFRONT program, supported by the Interdisciplinary Research and Education Fund (INREF) of Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Soil Science, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil

    Arthur da Cruz Silva & Irene Maria Cardoso

  2. Department of Botany, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil

    Arthur da Cruz Silva

  3. Utrecht University, Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Heitor Mancini Teixeira

  4. Department of Agronomy, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil

    Maria Clara Arantes Victer & Luís Boulanger Bahia

  5. Department of Forest Engineer, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Brazil

    Carlos M. M. E. Torres & Pedro Manuel Villa

  6. Department of Biological Sciences, Postgraduate Program in Botany - Universidade Federal de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Bahia, Brazil

    Pedro Manuel Villa

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da Cruz Silva, A., Teixeira, H.M., Victer, M.C.A. et al. Diversity and function of tree species in human-modified Atlantic Forest landscapes. Agroforest Syst 97, 799–812 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-023-00826-2

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