ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has compounded the global food insecurity crisis, disproportionately affecting the consumers, farmers, and food workers (UN in Policy brief: impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, 2020, https://www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_policy_brief_on_covid_impact_on_food_security.pdf). The significant disruptions caused by Covid-19 have called international attention to food security and sparked conversations about how to better support food production and trade. Our paper contributes to a small but growing literature on the impacts and responses of agroecological farmers to Covid-19 in Costa Rica. Specifically, we interviewed 30 agroecological farmers about (1) livelihood disruptions during Covid-19, (2) the areas of food production and sales most affected during this pandemic, and (3) how farmers and consumers are adapting during this crisis. Our findings reveal multiple impacts on agroecological farmers including: economic hardships of lower incomes and inability to pay loans, changes in purchasing and consumption patterns, market disruptions, changes in sales, a decrease in agrotourism, and a shortage of farmworkers. Furthermore, we also report the following farmer adaptation strategies: (1) minimizing distance with consumers to facilitate direct delivery, (2) establishing e-commerce platforms. Based on our findings, we recommend the following: (1) building farmer networks for knowledge sharing, (2) increasing technological support for farmers, and (3) providing government support to ensure that such crises do not increase unemployment among farmers and exacerbate food insecurity.
ABSTRACT
Tropical palms reach tree-like heights without a vascular cambium through sustained cell expansion and lignification of primary tissues, but only a fraction of palms have been explored in their allometric relationships. Here, our main question was to determine how palms depart from the traditional mechanical models developed for trees and how they approach the theoretical buckling limit. We analyzed the stem allometry of 1603 palms of 14 species from different strata at 10 sites in Costa Rica and Peru. We measured their fit to the stress, elastic, and geometric similarity models, and their position relative to the maximum theoretical buckling limit calculated for trees. We evaluated the slope of the linear and logarithmic regressions between stem diameter and height using logarithmic least squares, and standardized major axis regression (SMA), expecting segregation according to canopy position and geographic location. Seventeen out of 19 statistically significant models had SMA slopes > 1, and 11 had SMA slopes ≥ 2, departing from traditional mechanical models developed for trees. Many species varied their allometry relative to geographic location. Canopy palms showed the highest regression fit but had less steep slopes than understory and subcanopy species. Subcanopy and understory species were more underbuilt than canopy palms, increasing height faster than diameter. Some of the tallest canopy palms surpassed the maximum buckling limit whereas subcanopy and understory species were consistently below the buckling limit of record-size trees. Palm stem allometry changed in response to environmental conditions.
Subject(s)
Arecaceae , Costa Rica , Forests , PeruABSTRACT
PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Knowledge on the growth responses of understory palms to changing light conditions within neotropical cloud forests is limited. The low light regime of these environments, in addition to persistent cloudiness, low ambient temperatures, and slow nutrient cycles, imposes significant constraints on biomass accumulation. Here, we evaluate how changes in the understory light conditions influenced the allometry and growth of G. undata subsp. edulis in two cloud forests in Costa Rica. METHODS: We examined the structural relationships between stem diameter, stem height, and crown area in reproductive and nonreproductive individuals. We related the variation in stem growth and crown area with allometry, leaf production and longevity, and light conditions that we measured using hemispherical photographs over 1 year. KEY RESULTS: The allometric and growth pattern of G. undata subsp. edulis was characterized by its investment in crown area, which was strongly and positively related to increments in palm height and reproduction. Growth, measured as the increase in crown area and stem height, was not explained by the variation in the light regime spanning 1 year. However, reproductive individuals were generally taller, more slender, and had larger leaf areas than nonreproductive individuals. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrated that stem growth responses were mostly controlled by initial crown size rather than by temporal differences in the understory light regimes of cloud forests. These results suggest that cloud forest understory palms have a limited capacity to respond to light changes and rely mostly on an opportunistic strategy for biomass accumulation and reproduction.
