Patterns of tree cover and animal diversity within pasture-dominated landscapes of Mesoamerica: Managing the matrix to meet the dual goals of conservation and food security

Across Mesoamerica , large areas of tropical forest have been converted to pastures for cattle production. Pastures account for 2.2 to 48.5% percent of the total land use within each country, and constitute the main agricultural land use in 6 of the 9 countries. Almost all ecological regions within Mesoamerica have been strongly affected by the conversion of forests to pasture such that in many regions, pastures are the dominant land use and constitute the landscape matrix. Although highly deforested and fragmented, many of the pasture-dominated landscapes still retain some on-farm tree cover in the form of small forest fragments, strips of riparian forest, dispersed trees in pastures and/or live fences. This on-farm tree cover is important for both farm productivity, and for biodiversity conservation. Here we report the results of an extensive literature review on the conservation value of retaining tree cover in Meso-American pastures from farm to landscapes scales. We reviewed over 150 peer-reviewed articles on the conservation value of silvopastoral systems and identified four primary research clusters. Our results indicate that while work on the conservation value of managed systems in increasing, it remains focused at the farm scale, and on single taxa. In order to improve the conservation value of managed systems we must further our understanding of how silvopastoral systems, and their placement in the landscape can be managed to meet the dual goals of wild biodiversity conservation and food security.