Complementary ecosystem services provided by pest predators and pollinators increase quantity and quality of coffee yields.
Wild animals substantially support crop production by providing ecosystem services, such as pollination and natural pest control. However, the strengths of synergies between ecosystem services and their dependencies on land-use management are largely unknown. Here, we took an experimental approach to test the impact of land-use intensification on both individual and combined pollination and pest control services in coffee production systems at Mount Kilimanjaro. We established a full-factorial pollinator and vertebrate exclosure experiment along a land-use gradient from traditional homegardens (agroforestry systems), shaded coffee plantations to sun coffee plantations (total sample size = 180 coffee bushes). The exclusion of vertebrates led to a reduction in fruit set of ca 9%. Pollinators did not affect fruit set, but significantly increased fruit weight of coffee by an average of 7.4%. We found no significant decline of these ecosystem services along the land-use gradient. Pest control and pollination service were thus complementary, contributing to coffee production by affecting the quantity and quality of a major tropical cash crop across different coffee production systems at Mount Kilimanjaro.
Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocentre, University of Würzburg, , Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany, Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung, , Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Institute of Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, , 89069 Ulm, Germany, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt, , Max-von-Laue-Strasse 13, 60439 Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Alice
A
Classen
Marcell K
MK
Peters
Stefan W
SW
Ferger
Maria
M
Helbig-Bonitz
Julia M
JM
Schmack
Genevieve
G
Maassen
Matthias
M
Schleuning
Elisabeth K V
EK
Kalko
Katrin
K
Böhning-Gaese
Ingolf
I
Steffan-Dewenter
D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology; D002080:Butterflies / Q000502:physiology; D040503:Coffea / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D004175:Diptera / Q000502:physiology; D017753:Ecosystem; D005638:Fruit / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D060434:Herbivory; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D054817:Pollination; D011235:Predatory Behavior; D013636:Tanzania; D014714:Vertebrates / Q000502:physiology
Coffea arabica; Mount Kilimanjaro; agroforestry; biological pest control; land-use change; pollination