Coffee agroforestry systems in Costa Rica not only provide many benefits to farmers but also provide important habitat for numerous bird species.

PLOS Blogs reports on a new study published in the scientific journal, PLOS One, which has found that shade-grown coffee agroforests can be a suitable surrogate habitat for birds.

Coffee in Costa Rica is largely grown in agroforestry systems where larger native trees and shrubs are retained to provide shade. These agroforests are providing habitat that is fast disappearing from Costa Rican forests.

Scientists found that “bird community composition and dynamics in shade-grown coffee plantations embedded in the tropical landscape are very similar (although not identical) to those found in secondary forests,” says the blog post.

Coffee agroforests may also act as wildlife corridors for birds so that they can move between forest patches in the landscape

The scientists stress that such managed habitats are certainly no substitute for the preservation of forest habitat.

Read the full story: Bird Enthusiasts & Coffee Aficionados, Unite!

Download the study:

Hernandez SM, Mattsson BJ, Peters VE, Cooper RJ, Carroll CR (2013) Coffee Agroforests Remain Beneficial for Neotropical Bird Community Conservation across Seasons. PLoS ONE 8(9): e65101. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0065101