bia in Colombia, IAPAR 59 and Icatu in Brazil, Riuru 11 in Kenya, and Sln
12 in India.
Plant Species Richness and Botanical Composition of Shade
Canopies
Plant species richness in coffee shade canopies varies widely between countries,
between coffee regions within a country, and between farms in a region. In a
series of studies conducted in Central America,^1 the estimated total plant species
richness varied between 19 and 49 species for Costa Rica and between 92 and
136 species for El Salvador (Figure 9.2 and Table 9.1; Llanderal 1998; Bonilla
1999; Escalante 2000; Zuñiga 2000). Average tree densities varied between 198
and 488 stems ha–1, and Shannon diversity indices ranged from 1.57 to 3.08. In
Venezuela (625-m^2 plots) 19 species were recorded in 20 coffee farms (Escalante
et al. 1987), and in Puriscal, Costa Rica, 82 species were recorded in 117 coffee
farms (Espinoza 1985). A total of 261 tree species (including 23 endangered
species) and 32 fern species have been reported in Salvadorian coffee shade
canopies (Monro et al. 2001, 2002). In Sumatra, Indonesia, coffee shade may
include 10–15 additional crops (Godoy and Bennett 1989).
206 III. The Biodiversity of Agroforestry Systems
Figure 9.2. Species-area accumulation curves for shade canopies in selected coffee
zones in Central America.