BENGALURU: Recent scientific findings show how shade-grown coffee supports as many as 204 bird species, including 13 endemic birds of the Western Ghats. The other plants that also support these species are areca and rubber.
In one of the largest scientific assessments of tropical birds in the world, this two-year study in Karnataka has found that coffee plantations were supporting a higher diversity of birds.
Covering an area of 30,000 square kilometre in seven Western Ghats districts, researchers evaluated that coffee plantations were richer in bird species compared to rubber and areca plantations. Further, it showed how along with protected areas (PAs), privately-owned plantations were also playing a pivotal role in conserving avian diversity.
Lead author of this paper Dr Krithi K Karanth, Associate Conservation Scientist, Wildlife Conservation Society - NY, states, “This effort involved intensive research in 187 plantations. The study was restricted to dry season but excluding migrant bird species. The sampled agroforests ranged in size from 7 to 800 acres. This was one of the largest field-based assessment of bird species outside PAs in the Asian tropics.”
The study found that bird densities were highest in coffee for low canopy, mid-canopy and high canopy guilds (a group of plants) and this may be due to more native shade trees as in PAs. Thirteen endemic species found in these agroforests belonged to the high canopy variety.
Leading ornithologist Shashank Dalvi and co-author of the paper adds, “Large-bodied frugivores (fruit eating species) like pigeons and hornbills were found in much higher densities in coffee. These birds play an important role in seed dispersal and maintenance of forest trees in the region.”