I’m a bird-watcher and an advocate of bird conservation. But often, my friends ask me if birds really make a difference. Normally, I point out the large amount of money spent by birdwatchers in travel and for tour guides to their latest bird “hot spot.” But, that income doesn’t always filter down to locals.
Sometimes I point out our recent studies showing a lower risk of contracting Lyme disease in areas that have a diverse population of birds. But, people have difficulty putting a dollar value on the disease they didn’t get.
New research from Costa Rica makes it easier for me to pinpoint the dollar value of having a landscape rich with birds. A study of coffee plantations found that when birds were present, they reduced coffee beetles by 50%.
The feeding of some 55,000 birds inhabiting forest patches provided effective pest control over much of the agricultural landscape. Birds saved coffee farmers between $30 and $125 per acre each year in losses to coffee beetles.
Farmers also saved the cost of applying pesticides to their crops. And their coffee may even demand a higher price as a natural or organic product.
An earlier study reported that forest fragments also provide important refuge for bees, which improves pollination, yield, and the value of nearby coffee crops.
Birds have real value as a component of natural ecosystems, our yards, and agricultural croplands.
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For more information, see: Karp et al. (2013) Forest bolsters bird abundance, pest control and coffee yield. Ecology Letters, 16: 1339-1347, November 2013.
Photo, taken on January 13, 2011, courtesy of Andy Rusch via Flickr.
Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Support for Earth Wise comes from the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY.