3). Particular opportunities for new tree domestications were identified for Africa, where genetic diversity in a range of essentially wild fruits has been found to be large, providing the possibility for large genetic gains under cultivation (e.g., for allanblackia [Allanblackia

spp.] see Jamnadass et al., 2010; for marula [Sclerocarya birrea] see Thiongo and Jaenicke, 2000). Forests are therefore important sources of germplasm for ongoing and future domestications, for AFTPs as well as for tree commodity crops (see Section 4.3), and this requires their management for the characterisation and maintenance of these resources ( Jamnadass et al., 2011). A wider focus on indigenous trees rather than the exotics that are currently widely Everolimus datasheet used to fulfil different production and service functions (as illustrated by the figures on exotic and indigenous tree usage proportions given in Table 2) may bring conservation benefits and be more sustainable in the long term (see Section 3.3). Agroforestry landscapes sometimes contain dozens or hundreds of tree species planted by farmers or that are remnants from forest clearance

(Table 3), and tree species diversity can support crop yields and promote agricultural resilience, providing a reason to maintain diversity (Steffan-Dewenter et al., 2007). Trees in farmland selleck chemicals llc can also support the conservation of natural tree stands in fragmented forest-agricultural mosaics by acting as ‘stepping-stones’ or ‘corridors’ for pollen and seed dispersal that help to maintain the critical minimum population sizes needed to support persistence and, for managed forests, productivity (Bhagwat et al., 2008). Species-diverse farming systems that provide rich alternative habitat for animal pollinators

can support pollination and hence seed and fruit production in neighbouring forest, including of seed and fruit that are important NTFPs (Hagen and Kraemer, 2010). Very high levels of tree species diversity in farmland are, however, often not sustainable, as methods of agricultural production change and as (often) exotic trees become PtdIns(3,4)P2 more prevalent and replace indigenous species more important from a conservation perspective (Lengkeek et al., 2005 and Sambuichi and Haridasan, 2007). On occasions, exotic trees planted in agroforestry systems invade cultivated and natural habitats, and the threat of this must be weighed carefully against the benefits of the trees’ presence, which is a difficult task when the balance point varies for different sections of the human community (farmers, the non-farmer rural poor, urban dwellers, etc.; see Kull et al., 2011 for the case of Australian acacias that are widely cultivated in the tropics).