Insectivorous birds and potential pest control services: An occupancy study of functional groups in a coffee landscape in Oaxaca, Mexico

Abstract

Improving management practices in coffee agroecosystems to achieve sustainability is required to counter the current anthropogenic pressures on biodiversity. Identifying the specific habitat characteristics that determine the occupancy of insectivorous birds in coffee farms can represent an effective tool to improve management practices and bird conservation with minimal effort from coffee growers, thus fostering sustainability. To explore this, we modeled the occupancy of six functional groups of birds associated with the insect pest control in response to seven habitat characteristics of interest for bird conservation and coffee habitat management. In general, our results indicate that occupancy probability was correlated with habitat characteristics describing increased vegetation structure across the landscape. Epiphytes strongly influenced all studied functional groups. Most groups were also positively related with herb and shrub cover. However, contrary to our predictions, coffee dominance increased the occupancy of most insectivores, possibly due to the diverse vegetation structure and organic management practices of coffee farms. To provide management recommendations, we identified critical values for each habitat characteristic where the occupancy of most functional groups was benefited. These management recommendations sought to benefit species associated with key ecosystem services, thus possibly improving both conservation and production outcomes.