”There are insects that are able to predate other insects. As such, they are doing the service of pest control for the cacao.
Justine VansynghelPostdoc researcher at the University of Würzburg, Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology
”The biggest benefits are only present if you have both, the birds and the bats together.
Carolina Ocampo-ArizaPostdoc researcher at the Georg-August-University Göttingen, Department of Agroecology
As cocoa is one of the most traded commodities, it was of great interest to my guests to study its cultivation and identify both negative and positive influences in their research. Carolina Ocampo-Ariza and Justine Vansynghel explain their motivation behind their research, as well as the research area itself. What results they obtained you will get to know in this short and sweet episode. Tune in!
Their published paper entitled: „Quantifying services and disservices provided by insects and vertebrates in cacao agroforestry landscapes“, to be found under the following link: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1309
