Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: North Carolina
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Land use patterns in Puerto Rico have caused severe forest fragmentation island wide, threatening species persistence through habitat isolation and declining habitat quality. Habitat protection is expensive, and may exclude alternatives that yield desirable conservation outcomes. Incorporating non-protected habitats (e.g., restored-shade coffee plantations) into strategy habitat conservation initiatives is a viable strategy to enhance species persistence and best management practices (e.g., pollinators) without affecting the economic bottom line of landowners. This project will inform decision makers of the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (Caribbean) and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on where and when to invest shade-restoration efforts in the central mountainous region of the island. Alternatives will be ranked by costs and benefits in terms of landscape habitat connectivity and redundancy, and ultimately, species persistence. The project is being done in coordination with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (Caribbean) and the Caribbean Field Office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.