If you’ve been drinking shade-grown coffee for ecological as well as epicurean reasons, pour yourself a congratulatory cup. A new University of Utah study finds that tropical agroforests, where crops are grown under trees rather than in clear-cut fields, are better overall for bird biodiversity than open farms. Keeping forests intact is obviously the best course of action, but when it comes to coffee and cocoa plantations, agroforests ensure that more birds have it made in the shade.

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.