New Article Published in Conservation Biology
- By Gund Institute
Gund Fellow Ernesto Méndez, and Meryl Richards, UVM Alumni and CCAFS Science Officer, just published a new article "Interactions between Carbon Sequestration and Shade Tree Diversity in a Smallholder Coffee Cooperative in El Salvador" in Conservation Biology.
Their research measured changes in shade-tree diversity and shade-tree carbon stocks in 14 plots of a 35-ha coffee cooperative over 9 years and analyzed relations between species diversity and carbon sequestration. They found that carbon sequestration was positively correlated with initial species richness of shade trees. Species diversity of shade trees did not change significantly over the study period, but carbon stocks increased due to tree growth. Their results show a potential for carbon sequestration and long-term biodiversity conservation in smallholder coffee agroforestry systems and illustrate the opportunity for synergies between biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation.