Much of the world's land is now used for agriculture and the interactions between agricultural and natural systems is increasingly important to sustaining both. For example, natural systems provide organisms that pollinate and control pests on crops, and farms can support a diversity of native species that co-exist with agriculture. However, this mutual benefit depends strongly on how farms are managed: highly intensive agriculture may not be sustainable, whereas less intensive methods may, in the long run, yield more. Coffee farms are a model system in which to study how farms can be managed to be ecologically sustainable, and this project will support a synthesis of two decades of study by two of the world?s leading researchers on biodiversity, ecosystem function, and complex interactions between organisms in coffee plantations in Central America. The main scientific result will be a book on the agroecology of coffee aimed at students and also informative to more senior scientists and managers.
The broader impacts of this project for improving agriculture and maintaining the environment are manifest. The researchers will further enhance these impacts by posting illustrated guides on a website for easy access, and collaborating with a Mexican colleague to produce educational, interactive, simulation models to help farmers, students, and other stake holders to understand agroecosystems using coffee plantations as a model.
