Win-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry

Resolving ecological-economic trade-offs between biodiversity and yields is a key challenge when addressing the biodiversity crisis in tropical agricultural landscapes. Here, we focused on the relation between seven different taxa (trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, and ants) and yields in vanilla agroforests in Madagascar. Agroforests established in forests supported overall 23% fewer species and 47% fewer endemic species than old-growth forests, and 14% fewer endemic species than forest fragments. In contrast, agroforests established on fallows had overall 12% more species and 38% more endemic species than fallows. While yields increased with vanilla vine density and length, non-yield related variables largely determined biodiversity. Nonetheless, trade-offs existed between yields and butterflies as well as reptiles. Vanilla yields were generally unrelated to richness of trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and ants, opening up possibilities for conservation outside of protected areas and restoring degraded land to benefit farmers and biodiversity alike

Support trees in vanilla agroforests of Madagascar: diversity, composition and origin

Trees in agroforestry systems provide multiple ecological and economic functions. Smallholder vanilla agroforests include shade trees common across agroforestry systems, and small-statured support trees carrying the vanilla vine. We assessed the diversity, composition and geographic origin of support trees in vanilla agroforestry systems of north-eastern Madagascar. Keywords: Biodiversity, endemism, land-use history, native trees, smallholder agroforestry, tutor tree

Land‐use intensification increases richness of native and exotic herbaceous plants, but not endemics, in Malagasy vanilla landscapes

Abstract Aim North‐eastern Madagascar is a hotspot of plant diversity, but vanilla and rice farming are driving land‐use change, including slash‐and‐burn management. It still remains unknown how land‐use change and land‐use history affect richness and composition of endemic, native and exotic herbaceous plant species. Location North‐eastern Madagascar. Methods We assessed herbaceous plants along a land‐use intensification gradient ranging from unburned land‐use types (i.e. old‐growth forest, forest fragment and forest‐derived vanilla agroforest) to burned land‐use types (i.e. fallow‐derived vanilla agroforest, woody fallow and herbaceous fallow) and rice paddy. We compared land‐use types and analysed the effects of land‐use history, canopy closure and landscape forest cover on species richness. Additionally, we analysed species compositional changes across land‐use types. Results Across 80 plots, we found 355 plant species (180 native non‐endemics, 57 exotics, 60 endemics and 58 species of unknown origin). Native and exotic species richness increased with increasing land‐use intensity, whereas endemics decreased. Unburned land‐use types had higher endemic species richness (4.28 ± 0.37 [mean ± SE]) than burned ones (2.4 ± 0.21). Exotic and native species richness, but not endemics, decreased with increasing canopy closure. Increasing landscape forest cover reduced exotic, but not native or endemic richness. Species composition of old‐growth forests was unique compared to all other land uses and forest‐derived, not fallow‐derived vanilla agroforests, had a similar endemic species composition to forest fragments. Main conclusions Our results indicate that old‐growth forests and forest fragments are indispensable for maintaining endemic herbaceous plants. We further show that the land‐use history of agroforests should be considered in conservation policy. In forest‐derived vanilla agroforests, management incentives are needed to halt loss of canopy closure, thereby maintaining or even enhancing endemics. In conclusion, considering species origin (endemic, native and exotic) and composition is essential for the identification of suitable management practices to avoid irreversible species loss

Data from: Complementary ecosystem services from multiple land uses highlight the importance of tropical mosaic landscapes

This repository includes survey questionnaire and data from the paper "Complementary ecosystem services from multiple land uses highlight the importance of tropical mosaic landscapes" Questionnaire "Full questionnaire.xlsx" contains the full questions used during the interview to collect the data. Dataset “hh information.csv” contains the information about the interviewed households but their names were omitted to keep their anonymity. Dataset “Land-use types access.csv” contains the information about households which have or not access to each land-use type. Dataset “Local name of plants, uses , collect location, values and frequency of use- final.csv” contains the local names of the plant used by each household as medicine, construction, food, firewood, charcoal, fodder and weaving with the name of the land-use types where the households collect each named plant and the purpose of the use as well as the frequency of use Dataset “local names of plant used to species names and family final.csv” contains the scientific names of each local names of plants from all interviewed household

Win-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry

This repository includes data from the synthesis "Win-win opportunities combining high yields with high multi-taxa biodiversity in tropical agroforestry" from the interdisciplinary Diversity Turn in Land Use Project (German-Malagasy research project). Data assessed: 2017 and 2018 Location: SAVA region (north-eastern Madagascar). Studied land-use types: Old growth forest, Forest fragment, Fallows (Woody fallow; Herbaceous fallow), Forest-derived vanilla agroforest, Fallow-derived vanilla agroforest. Resolving ecological-economic trade-offs between biodiversity and yields is a key challenge when addressing the biodiversity crisis in tropical agricultural landscapes. Here, we focused on the relation between seven different taxa (trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies, and ants) and yields in vanilla agroforests in Madagascar. Agroforests established in forests supported overall 23% fewer species and 47% fewer endemic species than old-growth forests, and 14% fewer endemic species than forest fragments. In contrast, agroforests established on fallows had overall 12% more species and 38% more endemic species than fallows. While yields increased with vanilla vine density and length, non-yield related variables largely determined biodiversity. Nonetheless, trade-offs existed between yields and butterflies as well as reptiles. Vanilla yields were generally unrelated to richness of trees, herbaceous plants, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and ants, opening up possibilities for conservation outside of protected areas and restoring degraded land to benefit farmers and biodiversity alike