www.ciat.cgiar.org Eco-efficient agriculture for the poor
Cali, 06th May 2015
Tree diversity & C sequestration in rural
landscapes in sub-humid Central America
P. Siles; D. Valbuena; A. Castro; O. Tellez; G. Bonilla; R. van der Hoek

Rural landscapes, degradation & eco-services
• Rural landscapes & soils are
highly degraded in Central
America (82% soils with
erosion)
• Restoration of these
landscapes are key for rural
livelihoods & ES provision
• Need to co-develop farming
systems & rural landscapes
that account for ES
Constanza et al. 2014

The seasonally dry tropical forest
17 degrees Celsius
 rainfall ranging from 250 to 2000
a distinctive seasonality with 4 to 6
dry months

The seasonally dry tropical forest
2-3% of its original extent
less of 0.5 % in protected areas
20 percent of its original extent by
the mid 1980’s
Extensive agriculture 5000 years
ago
Pasture, maize and beans the
predominant agricultural land use
highly threatened ecosystem by human activity

Challenges in the Mesoamerican Region SDTF
Extensive agriculture
Poverty
Food security risk
Landscape degradation
Vulnerability with CC

Agroforestry systems
Coffee agroforestry systems
Cocoa agroforestry systems
High plant species richness
Provide product diversification
for self-consumption and sale
play a very important role in the generation of provisioning
ecosystem services
Cocoa - AFS
Coffee - AFS
Smallholder farms:
Multi-strata systems a Farmer’s
technology
Very variable design and
Composition

In the sub-humid areas some production systems provide ES
Traditional cropping
systems
Silvopastoral systems
Fallows and secondary forest
Slash and mulch agroforestry

In the sub-humid areas some production systems provide ES
In this study the objective was to assess carbon stock and tree
diversity in different land uses
AFS with potential to generate ES (plot and landscape level)
Carbon Storage and AFS as biological corridors
Carbon Stocks
Living biomass
Litter
Death wood biomass
Soil carbon

0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Somotillo
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Condega PET 1450 mm
Prec 850 mm
P/PET=0.58
PET 1900 mm
Prec 1700 mm
P/PET=0.9
Field sites
• Micro watershed Río Pires
(Condega): Potrerillos, Santa
Teresa, Los Cerritos
• Micro watershed Río Tecomapa
(Somotillo): La Danta y La Flor
• 8 Farms per site (Total 16)

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Land uses
T1 – Monocrop and burn
T2 – Monocrop with traditional varieties
T3 – Monocrop + improved varieties
T7 – Naturalized pasture
T8 – Improved pasture
T9 - Silvopastoril + Improved pasture
T4 – QSMAS+ traditional varieties
T5 - QSMAS+ improved varieties
T6 – Secondary forest
Land uses monitored for production and ES
A farmer participative study
Evaluation and design of
agroforestry systems
Tree species selection
TCS
NP
SPS
QSMAS
SF

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Field measurements
20 m
50 m
We identified and measured the diameter at breast height (DBH) of all living
woody stems DBH > 2.5 cm
We also measured the total height
Plot of 0.1 ha
33 m
33 m
SF, NP and SPS
TCS and QSMAS

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Death wood biomass
Field measurements
Litter biomass Soil sampling
Diameter of death wood
in the transept
Herbs and litter in
0.25 m2
Soil samples 0-20 cm

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Data analysis

Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
Treerichness(species1000m-2
)
0
5
10
15
20
25
Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
ShannonIndexH'
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
Results
Across all sample sites, species richness ranged from 0 to 39 species/plot
The overall pattern of the the Shannon index was the same
as that found for species richness

Number of samples
0 5 10 15 20
Speciesrichness
0
20
40
60
80
100
TCS
NP
SPS
QSMAS
SF
Number of individuals
500 1000 1500
(a) (b)
Results
SF and QSMAS with the highest species richness accumulation
A total 110 tree species found

Results
A total 110 tree species found
Few species with high relative abundance
Species rank
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Relativeabundance(%)
0
5
10
15
20
%P
%SPS

Results
Species rank
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Relativeabundance(%)
0
5
10
15
20
%P
%SPS
%QAS
%SDF
A total 110 tree species found
Few species with high relative abundance

Results
Greatest similarity between the SF and QSMAS

Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
TotalabovegroundBiomass(Mgha
-1
)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
TreeBiomass(Mgha
-1
)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Results
Tree biomass most important compartment in Total AGB

Tree stem density (Individuals ha-1
)
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500
Treeaerialbiomass(Mgha
-1
)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
Stem basal area (m2
ha-1
)
0 10 20 30 40 50
(a) (b)
Results

Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
Treestemdensity(Individualsha
-1
)
0
200
400
600
800
1000
1200
Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
Treeaerialbiomass(Mgha
-1
)
0
10
20
30
40
50
< 10 cm
10-20 cm
20-30 cm
> 30 cm
Results

Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
-60
-40
-20
0
TotalCarbonstorage(MgCha-1)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Results

Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
-60
-40
-20
0
TotalCarbonstorage(MgCha-1)
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
14 Mg ha-1 33% of SF
Results

• Tree biodiversity
• Small number of spp accounted for the majority of trees and shrubs
• Differences among land uses in species richness and community
structure, but QSMAS similar in composition to SF
• C stocks
• Soils store a large portion of the carbon (even only 20 cm depth)
• C stocks in woody biomass the largest compartment of AGB
• Forest plots stored on average 46 Mg C ha-1, QSMAS only 33% of SF
• Between 30 to 40% of the biomass C was stored in the largest trees
(DBH> 30 cm)
• Based on average values, C stocks could increase by about 14 Mg C ha-1
by converting cropland to agroforestry
Conclusions

• AFS are promising land uses to restore rural landscapes in
sub-humid tropics of Central America
• Maize-beans AFS plantations with higher C stocks, tree
diversity and food production is possible, with no trade-offs
• Few examples of successful agroforestry systems in SDTF
• Increasing yield in these systems still a challenge
• High value products from trees are unexplored (reduce
biodiversity and ecological complexity)
• Maize-beans AFS and SPS represent a wildlife-friendly farming
strategy (corridor and landscape integrity)
Final remarks: agroforestry systems on the SDTF

• Compensations
• These results could assist to develop mechanism to
promote an agriculture with trees
• But how to make PES likely in HN, NI or SV?
• Compensation through certification also challenging: no
like coffee or cocoa (certification), but maybe livestock?
• Other mechanisms to incentive the AFS (credits)
Final remarks: up/out-scaling of agroforestry systems

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Thanks!

Métodos: Parcelas de muestreo
20 m
50 m
Vegetacion de arbustos y arboles con dap > 2.5 cm
33 m
33 m
Vegetacion de arbustos y arboles
con dap > 2.5 cm
Bosque, SSPP
SAQ, Agricultura

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Data analysis

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Métodos: Esquema general de trabajo
Field
measurements
Tree measurements Soil and litter Dry Matter and SOM
Diversity
analysis
Biomass stimation
by allometric
equations
Litter C
estimation /ha
Soil Carbon
estimation /ha
Total C stock /ha

Métodos: Muestreo de hojarasca y suelos
Fase de campo
Muestreo de raíces y hojarasca
Cinco puntos de muestreo de la
hojarasca y las raíces finas por parcela
En cada punto de muestreo
-Residuos en 0.25 m2 recolectado
Suelos 0-10 y 10-20 cm

Land Use
Systems
Family Tree specie % of the
total
TCS
Boraginaceae Cordia alliodora 26.3
Bignonaceae Tecoma stans 21.1
Burserac eae Bursera simarouba 15.8
Fabaceae Gliricidia sepium 15.8
NP
Bignonaceae Tecoma stans 16.8
Boraginaceae Cordia alliodora 15.6
Mimmosaceae Acacia velutina 12.0
Rhamnaceae Karwinskia calderonii 8.4
SPS
Rhamnaceae Karwinskia calderonii 18.6
Rhamnaceae Tecoma stans 14.0
Boraginaceae Cordia alliodora 8.4
Simaroubaceae Alvarodoa amorphiodes 6.5
QSMAS
Boraginaceae Cordia alliodora 15.0
Fabaceae
Lonchocarpus
minimifolius
14.5
Rhamnaceae Karwinskia calderonii 13.4
Bignonaceae Tecoma stans 9.0
TSF
Mimmosaceae Lysiloma divaricatum 16.6
Bignonaceae Tecoma stans 8.5
Rhamnaceae Karwinskia calderonii 7.9
Ebenaceae Diospyros salicifolia 7.8

Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
DeathwoodBiomass(Mgha
-1
)
0
1
2
3
4
Land Use Systems
TCS NP SPS QSMAS SF
Litter+herbsBiomass(Mgha
-1
)
0
1
2
3
4
Results