Integrating local and landscape management promotes biodiversity, multifunctionality and yields in tropical agroforests

Abstract

Abstract Reconciling food production and biodiversity conservation requires socio-ecologically viable agroecosystems. To meet this goal, tropical agroforestry must balance yield-biodiversity trade-offs through local and landscape-level management. By integrating assessments of multi-taxa diversity, biocontrol, pollination, crop pests, soil fertility, microclimate, and yield in Amazonian cacao agroforests, we identified ecological-economic synergies. Yield gains were not associated with species loss. Instead, agroforests with high spatial and vertical shade-tree heterogeneity embedded in landscapes combining 30–35% forest cover and 40–45% of other arboreal habitats (e.g., orchards/agroforests) achieved the highest biodiversity and yields. In these landscapes, flying-vertebrate-mediated arthropod suppression doubled cacao yields. Increasing agroforest shade-tree cover from ≈15% to ≈80% yielded a four-fold rise in cacao fruit-set, tripled soil potassium and enhanced thermal buffering. But light limitation, rather than pest pressure, reduced harvestable yields above 30% shade-tree cover. Our findings demonstrate that combined agroforest-level and landscape-scale management can align biodiversity conservation and economic returns in tropical landscapes.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Communications Earth & Environment, 2026 · DOI ↗