The loss and fragmentation of MCFs has resulted in increased
extinction vulnerability for up to 60% of its trees (Gonzalez-
Espinosa et al., 2011). Coffee agroforestry systems, which overlap
in range with MCFs, incorporate forest trees in their systems
thereby opening the possibility of serving as a refuge to vulnerable
trees in MCFs. In this study, we showed that management
strategies, mediated by land use legacies, resulted in coffee
agroforests with varying habitat potentials for the conservation of
trees of CC and LS. We suggest that the potential to safeguard these
vulnerable tree species hinges primarily on the adoption of
management practices that are more tolerant of tree diversity on
farms. Based on the DBH distribution of trees, there is no reason to
believe that CC and LS tree species are not recruiting in farms,
either because there are still seeds in the soil bed, or because seeds
are dispersing from trees in farms or nearby forest patches.
However, there is a need for more research to assess how
management and ecological factors affect forest tree regeneration
in coffee agroforestry systems in order to determine the long-term
potential of this system to conserve tree diversity, in particular LS
and CC trees native to MCFs. Because this study area is
representative of other coffee regions in Mexico and Central
America, and possibly beyond this geographic range, these
findings
may inform conservation strategies and policies beyond our study
area to
find synergies between MCF conservation and coffee
production in agroforestry systems.