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Agroforestry systems reduce invasive species richness and diversity in the surroundings of protected areas

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Abstract

The Serra do Brigadeiro State Park (PESB) is one of the largest fragments of Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest, and it is relevant for native species conservation. However, monocultures settled around the Park resulted in extensive open areas that facilitate the establishment of alien species on the PESB perimeter, which may threaten native species conservation therein, since biological invasion is the second main cause of global biodiversity loss. In this region, there are also farmers planting agroforestry systems (AFS), characterized by tree-based intercropping, which are structurally more similar to the Atlantic Rainforest reminiscent fragments present in the region and may limit local occurrence of potentially invasive exotic weeds for several reasons, such as the high levels of shade provided by trees, the groundcover that result from loss of tree leaves and the increased competition for belowground resources. This study aimed to test whether AFS limit exotic species establishment when compared to monoculture systems. Accordingly, three coffee monocultures and three agroforestry coffee plantations around the PESB were studied. In each of the six study areas, 30 plots of 1 m2 were established between the lines of coffee plantation, where all species present were surveyed. In both treatments, rarefaction curves were constructed to evaluate native and exotic richness, and diversity of these two categories was estimated through Simpson index inverse (1/D). All 13 sampled exotic species were present in monocultures, but only three of them occurred in AFS. Besides, alien diversity in monocultures (\(1/D\) = 2.173 ± 0.011) was significantly higher than in AFS (\(1/D\) = 1.031 ± 0.001). Such changes in alien plant community between land-use show that AFSs limit invasive species establishment. Therefore, when planted around protected areas, AFS may contribute to the control of biological invasions and to biodiversity conservation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank CNPq, CAPES and FAPEMIG for grants and scholarships. JAAMN has CNPq productivity fellowship. We are also grateful to all farmers that allowed us to develop our fieldwork in their properties.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Ecology and Evolution of Plants, Department of Plant Biology, Federal University of Viçosa, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, 36570-900, Brazil

    Anaïs de Almeida Campos Cordeiro, Sara Deambrozi Coelho, Nina Celli Ramos & João Augusto Alves Meira-Neto

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  1. Anaïs de Almeida Campos Cordeiro
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  2. Sara Deambrozi Coelho
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  3. Nina Celli Ramos
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  4. João Augusto Alves Meira-Neto
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Correspondence to Anaïs de Almeida Campos Cordeiro or João Augusto Alves Meira-Neto.

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de Almeida Campos Cordeiro, A., Coelho, S.D., Ramos, N.C. et al. Agroforestry systems reduce invasive species richness and diversity in the surroundings of protected areas. Agroforest Syst 92, 1495–1505 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-017-0095-4

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