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Abstract:
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Habitat loss and fragmentation are the main drivers of biodiversity loss , especially in the tropics , where the transformation of forested areas into agriculture is predicted to increase dramatically in the next five decades . Although several studies have elucidated the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity , recent work suggests that some agro -ecosystems , such as coffee plantations , are potential key environments for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services . This study evaluated the role of different coffee production types (sun -exposed , semi -shade and shade in polycultures or monocultures ) on the bird communities associated with these agro -ecosystems in the tropical Andes of Colombia . It used a guild -specific approach and nonparametric statistical methods to identify the influence of particular environmental , ecological and landscape variables on the bird community assemblage and to assess potential changes in the species composition among management type . The potential responses of avifauna to fragmentation were studied from three different perspectives : i ) from a patch -level point of view , evaluating the effect of local habitat factors (e .g . canopy cover , type of crop and crop management type ) ; ii ) from a species point of view , evaluating the role of species ecological traits (e .g . feeding habitat ) ; and iii ) from a landscape point of view , evaluating the effect of landscape configuration variables (e .g . patch area and perimeter length ) . The results indicated that polyculture and shade coffee crops host the most diverse avian communities and that guild representativeness varied among different coffee crop types . The type of coffee production type and the habitat characteristics associated with them seemed to have the greatest influences on families such as flycatchers , hummingbirds and wrens . Finally , coffee plantations can potentially contribute to the maintenance of bird diversity in anthropogenic landscapes ; however these benefits are strongly influenced by the type of crop management . The maintenance of traditional coffee production (shade polyculture coffee ) is recommended , and should be economically and socially encouraged . |