From November 1999 to September 2000, colleagues and I conducted a field study in Western El Salvador (La Sierra de Apaneca) to evaluate the certification criteria for biodiversity-friendly coffee (ECO-OK certification standards of the Rainforest Alliance). My collaborators included Juan Pablo Domínguez, President of the Asociación Salvadoreña para Investigaciones Biológicas--SIMBIOSIS. Field assistants included Roberto Rivera, Cullen Hanks, Silvie Pouy, and Elodie Ducasse. We collected data on shade tree diversity and density at 24 study plots in 12 plantations, and related this information to the diversity of birds and herptiles on the study plots. The study is evaluating plantations with varying levels of shade tree diversity and density, to see how changes in these management factors effect faunal diversity. Funding is from PROCAFE/World Bank/Global Environment Facility.

Abstract of preliminary results: Effects on resident birds of shade trees in coffee plantations, and applications to coffee certification. (August 2001). [WORD file.]

Abstract of preliminary results: Effects of coffee shade trees on migratory bird abundance. (September 2000).

Map of coffee plantations in El Salvador.

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