It's an age-old debate for coffee
lovers. Which is better: Arabica beans with their sweeter, softer taste, or the
bold, deep flavor of Robusta beans? A new study by WCS, Princeton University,
and the University of Wisconsin-Madison appearing in the
journal Scientific Reports has taken the question to unlikely coffee
aficionados: birds.
The researchers, led by WCS
Associate Conservation Scientist Dr. Krithi Karanth, surveyed for bird
diversity in coffee agroforests
in India's Western Ghats region. Previous research has demonstrated that
shade-grown coffee (typically Arabica) can harbor substantial levels of
biodiversity. But coffee
production is globally shifting toward Robusta, which uses a more
intensive full-sun agricultural systems, which may pose deleterious impacts for
forest wildlife.
What the researchers found was
surprising: although Arabica avian assemblages were more species rich, Robusta
nevertheless offered substantial biodiversity benefits, and supported higher
densities of several sensitive avian populations such as frugivores. In
addition, farmers use less pesticides in the more disease-resistant Robusta
farmlands.
The authors found a total of 79
forest dependent species living in the coffee plantations they surveyed,
including three IUCN Red-Listed species: Alexandrine parakeet (Psittacula eupatria), grey-headed bulbul
(Pycnonotus priocephalus) and the Nilgiri
wood pigeon (Columba elphinstonii).
Plantations can harbor a diversity of mammals, amphibians and tree species,
too.
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