DOI: 10.5061/dryad.3tx95x6fq
title: Data from: Hybrid coffee cultivars may enhance agroecosystem resilience to climate change

description: Anthropogenic climate change is predicted to cause shifts in temperature
 and precipitation patterns that will be detrimental for global
 agriculture. Developing comprehensive strategies for building climate
 resilient agroecosystems is critical for maintaining future crop
 production. Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica) is highly sensitive to the
 quantity and timing of precipitation, so alterations in precipitation
 patterns that are predicted under climate change are likely to be a major
 challenge for maintaining coffee agroecosystems. We assessed cultivar
 selection as a potential component of more resilient coffee agroecosystems
 by evaluating water stress responses among five Arabica coffee cultivars
 (clonal hybrids H10 and H1 and seedling lines Catuai 44, Catuai, and Villa
 Sarchi) using a precipitation reduction experiment in the highlands of
 Tarrazú, Costa Rica. During the first harvest (eighteen months after
 planting), plants under the rainout treatment had 211% greater total fruit
 weight and over 50% greater biomass than under the control treatment,
 potentially due to protection from unusually high rainfall during this
 period of our experiment. At the second harvest (thirty months after
 planting), after a year of more typical rainfall, plants under rainout
 still produced 66% more fruit by weight than under control. The magnitude
 of the responses varied among cultivars where, at the first harvest, H10
 and H1 had approximately 92% and 81% greater fruit production and 18% and
 22% greater biomass, respectively, and at the second harvest H10 had 60%
 more fruit production than the overall average. Thus, our findings suggest
 that the hybrid lines H10 and H1 are more resilient than the other
 cultivars to the stress of high soil moisture. Overall, our results
 indicate that stress due to higher than average rainfall could impair
 coffee plant growth and production, and that cultivar selection is likely
 to be an important tool for maintaining the viability of coffee
 production, and the resilience of global agroecosystems more generally,
 under climate change.
description: <strong>Light_Data:</strong> Data sheet with light
 measurements (photosynthetically active radiation [PAR]; Apogee 10, Apogee
 Instruments Inc., UT, USA). Measurements were taken every three months.
 Concurrent measurements were taken inside each structure above the plants
 ('insidepar') and outside the structures in full sun
 ('outsidepar') to calculate percent light reduction
 ('percentred') in the plots.
 <strong>Soil_VWC_Data: </strong>Data sheet with soil
 moisture measurements (percent volumetric water content [%VWC]; HydroSense
 II, 20 cm probe, Campbell Scientific, UT, USA). 10 measurements were taken
 in each plot every two weeks using the standard calibration for the
 HydroSense system.
 <strong>TempRH_Data: </strong>To evaluate the
 potential effects of the rainout shelters on temperature (°F) and humidity
 (%RH), we used hourly temperature and humidity data collected from data
 loggers (HOBO U23 Pro v2 Temperature/Relative Humidity Data Loggers, Onset
 Computer Corp., MA, USA) installed in each rainout shelter. The data
 loggers were housed in upside down plastic pots (approximately 22 cm wide
 x 20 cm deep) that had vents cut in the sides and were hung in the center
 of plots from wires midway between the underside of the shelter frames and
 the plant canopy, which protected the loggers from direct sun and
 approximated the conditions experienced by the plants.
 <strong>Fruit_and_Biomass_Data: </strong>Data sheet
 with total fruit weight per tree for all coffee trees
 ('fruit_wt'), total fruit count per tree ('fruit_num')
 for all trees at the first harvest and a subset at the second harvest, and
 aboveground biomass ('biomass') for a subset of the trees at the
 first harvest. To collect the fruit data, all coffee was harvested from
 each tree, counted, and weighed (g) at the first harvest in December 2018
 ('year' = 1) and the second harvest in January 2020
 ('year' = 2). For the aboveground biomass data, a subset of the
 plants from each plot (three of each cultivar in each plot, 240 plants
 total) were removed at ground-level in December 2018, dried in ovens
 (60°C) to constant mass, and weighed (g). The cultivars included in the
 study ('cult') were Centroamericano ('H1'), Milenio
 ('H10'), Catuai ('Cat'), Catuai 44
 ('Cat44'), and Villa Sarchi ('VS').