Complementary ecosystem services from multiple land uses highlight the importance of tropical mosaic landscapes

Background

Tropical agricultural landscapes feature a mosaic of diverse land uses, yet the ecosystem service bundles and materials they provide to rural households remain poorly understood. In northeastern Madagascar, shifting cultivation for hillside rice production and agroforests for cash and subsistence crops have largely replaced old-growth forests. The landscape consists of forest fragments, small-scale vanilla agroforests, rice paddies, and subsistence farming plots at various stages of the shifting cultivation cycle.

Goals and Methods

The study examines how forests and various agricultural land-use types affect the well-being of rural households in Madagascar, with a focus on ecosystem services and plant utilization. To achieve this, researchers conducted interviews to gather data on how rural households perceive the importance of different land-use types in providing ecosystem services across 10 villages in the SAVA region. These land-use types include old-growth forests, forest fragments, vanilla agroforests, woody fallows, herbaceous fallows, and rice paddies. Researchers interviewed household heads about their access to, use of, and perceived benefits from these land-use types. The study also documented plant species collected from each land-use type and analyzed how perceived benefits and harvested materials varied across them.

Conclusions and Takeaways

The study emphasizes how different land uses complement one another, highlighting the critical role of old-growth forests in regulating and supporting ecosystem services. In contrast, land-use types such as woody fallows, herbaceous fallows, and vanilla agroforests provide essential provisioning services. Among these, woody fallows stand out as a key resource for plant collection, offering a rich diversity of useful species for medicine, energy, and food. These findings underscore the importance of incorporating fallow lands into land management and conservation strategies, recognizing their dual benefits for biodiversity conservation and rural livelihoods. Future efforts should prioritize farming diversification, extend fallow periods through active tree planting, and implement restoration programs on private lands to strengthen ecosystem services and alleviate pressure on forest fragments.