Hi Heather, good news, and does Cool Beans get into agroforestry research or use it in its work? Sounds like it must given the references @ your site to shade trees like citrus and such, and surely there are useful food or fiber producing shade trees that are also good for insects, here are a couple features from Mongabay's ongoing series on agroforestry <https://news.mongabay.com/list/agroforestry/> that is good for wildlife, people, water tables, etc:
*“Carbon farming” good for the climate, farmers, and biodiversity* https://news.mongabay.com/2016/07/carbon-farming-can-fight-climate-change-boost-diversity-and-feed-people-author-interview/ *Ethiopia’s vulnerable tropical forests are key to securing future of wild coffee* https://news.mongabay.com/2016/10/ethiopias-vulnerable-tropical-forests-are-key-to-securing-future-of-wild-coffee/?n3wsl3tt3r The author of the book discussed in link 1 could be helpful in terms of helping you ID shade trees that'd be great for both coffee and bugs, I can connect you with him, he'd be happy to give you some advice on where to look. Erik -- See my latest writing projects for Sierra magazine, the Guardian, and others plus online photo gallery here <http://www.erikhoffner.com/> *tw: @erikhoffner <https://twitter.com/ErikHoffner>* On Thu, Oct 13, 2016 at 9:33 PM, Heather Kostick <[email protected]> wrote: > Cool Beans Research is a non-profit research group aimed at putting the > bird-friendliness back in bird-friendly coffee. Our small but mighty > team currently consists of Dr. Doug Tallamy (University of Delaware), > Heather Kostick (Prospective PhD Student at Univ. of Del., and current > Masters candidate at Penn), and Brad Powell (webmaster extraordinaire). > We're looking to raise awareness and funds for our research! > > 52% of US citizens are coffee drinkers, and 17% of US citizens are > birders - if you fit into either (or both!) of those categories, then > this research should interested you! Help Cool Beans Research be at the > forefront of bird-friendly, shade-grown coffee research. > > > Website: http://coolbeansresearch.org/ > > Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoolBeansResearch/ > > > Non-profit purpose: To learn which shade tree species used by coffee > growers throughout Central and South America actually produce the > insects required to sustain wintering and local birds within coffee > farms. This information is essential for coffee growers to increase the > conservation effectiveness of their farms. If all trees produced insects > in equal abundance and diversity, this would be unnecessary, but there > are huge differences in how well trees produce the insects birds require > (Tallamy & Shropshire 2009, Burghardt et al 2010). Non-native trees > support fewer insects than natives because local insects have not > adapted to the novel phytochemical defenses of introduced trees. Yet > even native trees differ widely in their ability to produce insects used > by birds. Using common-garden experiments and bird foraging surveys on > cooperator farms in Central and South America, we will evaluate for the > first time the bird friendliness of regionally favorite shade tree > species. We have studies currently under way on four farms in Nicaragua > and Colombia for this purpose. > > Thank you for your time! >
