Agroforestry for biodiversity conservation of nature reserves:: functional group identification and analysis

Agroforestry, as one of integrated approaches to biodiversity conservation, has received attention. But the methods to evaluate this contribution are rare. The present study focuses on the method development for quantification of effects of agroforestry on biodiversity conservation. It includes identifying the functional groups of agroforestry components, defined as a set of species with similar impacts on a system process, and quantifying the distinctness of these groups, as related to wise use of resources and increasing well-being of local people. Combining with functional group-based Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) analysis, the present work gives a useful way for an integrated evaluation-planning of agroforestry management relative to biodiversity conservation. It also provides a means to improve our knowledge on the potential roles of agroforestry in biodiversity conservation of nature reserves. The analyses, using the distinctness index of functional groups, demonstrated the impacts of various land-use systems on biodiversity conservation. The analyses, using AHP, ranked the priorities of various agroforestry and plantations on the protection of nature forests, aiming at the long-term solution for the resource support. The present study suggests that agroforestry development for biodiversity conservation should take into account the impacts of functional groups in strategic planning.