The harvesting of açaí berries (palm fruits from the genus Euterpe) in Amazonia has increased over the last 20 years due to a high local and global market demand and triggered by their widely acclaimed health benefits as a ‘superfood’. Although such increase represents a financial boom for local communities, unregulated extraction in Amazonia risks negative environmental effects including biodiversity loss through açai intensification and deforestation. Alternatively, the introduction of certified sustainable agroforestry production programs of açaí has been strategically applied to reduce the exploitation of Amazonian forests. Local açaí producers are required to follow principles of defined sustainable management practices, environmental guidelines, and social behaviors, paying specific attention to fair trade and human rights. In this study we investigate whether sustainable agroforestry and certification effectively promotes biodiversity conservation in Amazonia. To address this question, we conducted a forestry inventory in two hectares of long-term certified açai harvesting areas to gain further knowledge on the plant diversity and forest structure in açaí managed forests and to understand the contribution of certification towards sustainable forest management. On average, we found that certified managed forests harbor 50% more tree species than non-certified açaí groves. Trees in certified areas also have significantly higher mean basal area, meaning larger and hence older individuals are more likely to be protected. Certified harvesting sites also harbor dense populations of threatened species as classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (e.g. Virola surinamensis, classified as ‘endangered’). Besides increasing the knowledge of plant diversity in açaí managed areas, we present baseline information for monitoring the impact of harvesting activities in natural ecosystems in Amazonia.

巴西莓（Euterpe属的棕榈果）的收获) 在过去的 20 年里，由于当地和全球市场的高需求，以及因其作为“超级食品”而广受赞誉的健康益处而引发的。尽管这种增长代表了当地社区的财务繁荣，但亚马逊地区不受监管的开采可能会带来负面的环境影响，包括因巴西莓集约化和森林砍伐而导致的生物多样性丧失。或者，引入经过认证的可持续农林业生产计划已被战略性地应用于减少对亚马逊森林的开发。当地的巴西莓生产商必须遵循既定的可持续管理实践、环境准则和社会行为的原则，特别注意公平贸易和人权。在这项研究中，我们调查可持续农林业和认证是否有效促进亚马逊地区的生物多样性保护。为了解决这个问题，我们在两公顷长期认证的阿萨伊采伐区进行了林业清查，以进一步了解阿萨伊管理森林中的植物多样性和森林结构，并了解认证对可持续森林管理的贡献。平均而言，我们发现经过认证的管理森林比未经认证的巴西莓树种多出 50% 的树种。认证区域的树木也具有显着更高的平均基面积，这意味着更大且因此更年长的个体更有可能受到保护。经认证的捕捞地点还拥有密集的受国际自然保护联盟分类的受威胁物种（例如。 苏里南病毒，列为“濒危”）。除了增加对阿萨伊管理地区植物多样性的了解外，我们还提供了监测采伐活动对亚马逊自然生态系统影响的基线信息。