A global comparison of the biodiversity impacts of coffee agricultural systems––From monoculture to diverse agroforestry

CONTEXT: Coffee is an important tropical crop with growing demand and intensification, combined with increasing public interest in the sustainability of production methods. Shade grown coffee, or agroforestry coffee, is often seen as an environmentally friendly alternative to monocultures. However, it encompasses a wide range of growing strategies with little known about the extent to which they differ in biodiversity impact. OBJECTIVE: Here we build a comprehensive dataset from existing literature on species richness loss associated with a range of coffee management strategies to better understand the effect of coffee management practice on biodiversity. METHODS: We use meta-analysis methods and mixed effects models to determine the extent to which five coffee management strategies, from monoculture to diverse agroforestry, contribute to biodiversity loss. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Overall, results suggest that greater species loss is associated with higher intensity management strategies. However, of the five coffee management strategies, only the diverse agroforestry systems comprising of native tree species had significantly lower species loss than the monoculture systems. This emphasizes the importance of a nuanced understanding of management strategy when analysing the biodiversity impact of coffee. SIGNIFICANCE: While shade grown coffee is often seen as the environmentally friendly alternative to monoculture coffee, it represents a wide range of management intensities with varying effects on biodiversity, limiting our ability to make meaningful conclusions on its biodiversity conservation potential. Additionally, large knowledge gaps exist regarding the biodiversity impact of global coffee production, with few studies from Asian and African coffee plantations.