Abstract
Abstract Selection of shade tree species for agroforestry systems must take the complexity of these systems into account. Tree species selection should maximize the provision of ecosystem services while minimizing disservices. Selected species must be adapted to local agroecological conditions and cater to farmers' needs, while considering their preferences and constraints. The ShadeTreeAdvice methodology was developed to support said selection process using farmers' local ecological knowledge. It provides the steps to rapidly identify tree species and evaluate their impacts on a range of locally important ecosystem services. Results are uploaded to a decision support tool to tailor tree species recommendations to individual farmers' needs ( www.shadetreeadvice.org ). During the 5 year timeframe between 2016 and 2020, eight studies following this methodology were conducted in various coffee and cocoa growing regions across Africa, Asia and Central America. This article looks back at these studies to synthesize their findings and evaluate the methodology. We identified similarities in the use of tree species across different study areas, notably regarding leguminous and fruit tree species. We showed that the method was efficient to evaluate tree species' impacts on soil and climate regulation, crop production, and economic benefits. It was less efficient for evaluating impacts related to incidence of pests and diseases, often associated with knowledge gaps. The method also successfully allowed investigating the links between LEK and socio‐economic groups or environmental factors. Furthermore, we suggest a series of improvements in the methodology for future studies. These improvements include (i) broadening the scope of studies beyond tree species provision of ecosystem services to include tree species impact on farming practices; (ii) allowing the comparison of tree performances in agroforestry systems versus in full sun; (iii) providing a clear pathway for validation of the results; (iv) using tree species' functional traits to generalize the results. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
The ShadeTreeAdvice method was efficient for evaluating tree species impacts on soil and climate regulation, crop production and economic benefits.
- Taxon
- coffee and cocoa
Theobroma cacao
Coffeae5 - Outcome
- impacts on soil and climate regulation, crop production, and economic benefitse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We showed that the method was efficient to evaluate tree species' impacts on soil and climate regulation, crop production, and economic benefits”
e5“eight studies following this methodology were conducted in various coffee and cocoa growing regions across Africa, Asia and Central America”
Claim · model-written summary
The ShadeTreeAdvice method was less efficient for evaluating tree species impacts related to pest and disease incidence than for soil, climate, crop and economic impacts.
- Taxon
- coffee and cocoaTheobroma cacaoCoffeae5
- Outcome
- evaluating impacts related to incidence of pests and diseasese1
- Direction
- less efficiente1
- Comparator
- soil and climate regulation, crop production, and economic benefitse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“We showed that the method was efficient to evaluate tree species' impacts on soil and climate regulation, crop production, and economic benefits”
e1“It was less efficient for evaluating impacts related to incidence of pests and diseases, often associated with knowledge gaps”
e5“eight studies following this methodology were conducted in various coffee and cocoa growing regions across Africa, Asia and Central America”
Claim · model-written summary
The ShadeTreeAdvice method allowed investigation of links between local ecological knowledge and socio-economic groups or environmental factors.
- Taxon
- coffee and cocoaTheobroma cacaoCoffeae5
- Outcome
- links between LEK and socio‐economic groups or environmental factorse2
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e2“The method also successfully allowed investigating the links between LEK and socio‐economic groups or environmental factors”
e5“eight studies following this methodology were conducted in various coffee and cocoa growing regions across Africa, Asia and Central America”
Claim · model-written summary
Tree species use was similar across different study areas, notably for leguminous and fruit tree species.
Verbatim
e3“We identified similarities in the use of tree species across different study areas, notably regarding leguminous and fruit tree species”
Claim · model-written summary
The authors suggest a series of improvements to the ShadeTreeAdvice methodology for future studies.
- Taxon
- coffee and cocoaTheobroma cacaoCoffeae5
- Outcome
- improvements in the methodologye4
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e4“we suggest a series of improvements in the methodology for future studies”
e5“eight studies following this methodology were conducted in various coffee and cocoa growing regions across Africa, Asia and Central America”