Shade coffee plantations maintain woody plant diversity and structure in a cloud forest landscape of southern Mexico

Cloud forest ecosystems of the Latin American tropics are highly threatened by changes in land-use such as expanding croplands and livestock pastures that promote shifts in the structure and composition of plant communities in these forests. However, shade coffee plantations represent a forest management alternative that has been shown to maintain biodiversity in these ecosystems. In this study, we evaluated changes in the composition, diversity, and structure of Mexican cloud-forest woody species for three land use categories: cattle pastures, shade coffee plantations and advanced succession forests. For each category, fifteen 0.28-ha plots were established and the composition and diversity of vegetation was noted. Composition of species was analyzed using ordination methods, and alpha diversity was compared using Hill numbers. Seventy-seven woody species belonging to 40 families were recorded. Species richness and diversity was high in both the advanced successional forest and coffee plantations compared to cattle pastures. Vegetation composition and structure was similar between late succession forests and coffee plantations with both land uses also being more structurally complex than cattle pastures. Our results show how shade coffee cultivation is a land-use activity that maintains woody plant communities in a manner that aligns with biodiversity conservation.

Automated summary

The study examined changes in woody plant species in Mexican cloud forests under different land use categories, showing that shade coffee plantations and advanced successional forests maintain higher species richness and diversity compared to cattle pastures. Composition and structure of vegetation were found to be similar between late successional forests and coffee plantations, both of which were more structurally complex than cattle pastures. This highlights the importance of shade coffee cultivation in maintaining biodiversity in cloud forest ecosystems.