Family farming systems are widespread in tropical cocoa production, supporting rural livelihoods while providing ecosystem services such as carbon storage and soil protection. However, farm structure and crop diversity are not always integrated into ecosystem function assessments, particularly in wetland–agriculture mosaics. This study analyses how crop diversity and farm characteristics influence soil organic carbon (SOC), biomass carbon (BOC), and erosion control (EC), and how these functions relate to climate regulation and erosion prevention in the Abras de Mantequilla Ramsar site, coastal Ecuador. Data were collected from 131 farms. Family farms were classified using k-means clustering based on labour composition and land-use distribution into three types: market-oriented farms with greater use of hired labour, small-scale farms mainly reliant on family labour, and balanced farms with mixed labour use. Non-family farms were analysed as a separate group. Crop diversity was quantified using Shannon’s index. Ecosystem functions were mapped using an indicator-based approach that combines satellite-derived information with farm-level data. Statistical and machine-learning models were used to analyse relationships between crop diversity, farm type, and ecosystem functions. Results show heterogeneity across farm types: crop diversity was positively associated with SOC in one family-farm type and in non-family farms, BOC showed weak associations with farm characteristics, and EC showed no consistent relationships across farm categories. These findings indicate that accounting for farm structural diversity can improve ecosystem function assessments and inform policy approaches aimed at climate regulation and soil conservation in cocoa-based farming systems. • Family farms cluster into distinct market-oriented, small-scale, and balanced types with contrasting labour and land-use strategies. • Differences in farm structure help explain variation in carbon-related ecosystem functions across cocoa systems. • Crop diversity is positively associated with soil organic carbon in specific family-farm types and in non-family farms. • Erosion control shows weak relationships with cash crop diversity across farm types. • Integrating farm typologies with satellite-based indicators improves assessment of ecosystem functions in agricultural mosaics.
Torres-Ulloa et al. (Mon,) studied this question.