Joan Marull

Land abandonment, landscape, and biodiversity: questioning the restorative character of the forest transition in the Mediterranean

The effects of land abandonment on biodiversity have received considerable attention by scholars, but results are far from conclusive. Different cultural traditions of scientists seem to underlie the contrasting ways in which land abandonment is understood. Although the forest transition (FT) framework considers land abandonment as an opportunity for biodiversity conservation, European landscape ecologists characterize it as a threat. We use insights from both traditions to analyze the effects of land abandonment on landscape and biodiversity in a mountain area of metropolitan Barcelona. We do so through an in-depth historical case study covering a period of 160 years. A set of landscape metrics was applied to land-cover maps derived from cadastral cartography to characterize the landscape ecological changes brought about by land abandonment. Cadastral data on land uses were used to understand how landscape ecological changes could be explained by changing socioeconomic activities. Information on past land- management practices from semistructured interviews was used to shed light on how peasants shaped the capacity of landscape to host biodiversity. Our results point to a remarkable landscape deterioration along with the disappearance of the peasant land-use mosaics and the ensuing forest expansion. By using insights from landscape ecology in a historically informed manner, we (1) question the alleged relationship between land abandonment and ecosystem recovery; (2) show that the assumed restorative character of the FT is based on the underestimation of the ecological importance of nonforest habitats; and (3) point at a remarkable trade-off between FT and biodiversity in the Mediterranean. Finally, the case study also serves to illustrate some of the strengths and challenges of using historical approaches to land abandonment.

La conectividad ecológica en el Área Metropolitana de Barcelona

Actualmente, la nocion del progreso supera los economicistas limites del pasado e incorpora la proteccion del medio ambiente, la defensa de los ecosistemas y la preservacion de los recursos naturales para las generaciones futuras como una de sus principales finalidades. Uno de los problemas que mas dano ocasiona a estos recursos naturales son los incendios forestales. En este trabajo se aborda el estudio de la incidencia de los incendios forestales en la Comunidad Valenciana durante la ultima decada y como se ha desarrollado el mecanismo para la repoblacion con especies forestales a partir de bancos de germoplasma.La Laguna de Fuente de Piedra fue declarada Reserva Integral por la Junta de Andalucía en 1984 (Ley 1/1984, de 9 de Enero, BOJA no 4 de 10 de Enero de 1984). Esta Ley fija los límites de la Reserva Integral de 6.5 Km de largo por 2.5 Km de ancho, así como los límites de la Zona Periférica de Protección (Figura 1). La superficie total es de 6.689 ha, que incluye una serie de humedales de importancia para el establecimiento de vegetación y fauna características. Se encuentra situada al Norte de la provincia de Málaga, junto al pueblo del mismo nombre (coordenadas geográficas 37o 6` N y 4o 46` O), en la cuenca hidrográfica endorreíca de Fuente de Piedra.

Impact assessment of ecological connectivity at the regional level: recent developments in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area

There is a lack of methods for the strategic assessment of ecological connectivity, specially for fast growing metropolitan areas. This paper presents a new geographic information systems (GIS) methodology with this aim. It allows the diagnosis of the connectivity of terrestrial landscape ecosystems, on the basis of ecological functional areas and a cost-distance model that includes two compound indices: one for the barrier effect, and another for ecological connectivity, with three variations for the latter, designed for different applications. We applied this model to the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (Spain) assessing the identification of the direct and cumulative impacts on ecological connectivity within this area, resulting from the current artificial barriers, the planned urban growth, and a high-speed train project.

Towards an energy–landscape integrated analysis? Exploring the links between socio-metabolic disturbance and landscape ecology performance (Mallorca, Spain, 1956–2011)

AbstractContextThe role of agricultural landscapes in biodiversity conservation is an emerging topic in a world experiencing a worrying decrease of species richness. Farm systems may either decrease or increase biological diversity, depending on land-use intensities and management. ObjectivesWe present an intermediate disturbance-complexity model (IDC) of cultural landscapes aimed at assessing how different levels of anthropogenic disturbance on ecosystems affect the capacity to host biodiversity depending on the land matrix heterogeneity. It is applied to the Mallorca Island, amidst the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot.MethodsThe model uses the disturbance exerted when farmers alter the Net Primary Production through land-use change as well as when they remove a share of it (HANPP), together with Shannon–Wiener index (H′) of land-cover diversity. The model is tested with a twofold-scalar experimental design (1:50,000 and 1:5000) of a set of landscape units along three time points (1956, 1989, 2011). Species richness of breeding and wintering birds, taken as a biodiversity proxy, is used in an exploratory factor analysis.ResultsThe results clearly show that when intermediate levels of HANPP are performed within intermediate levels of complexity (H′) in landscape patterns, like agro-forest mosaics, great bird species richness and high socio-ecological resilience can be maintained. Yet, these complex-heterogeneous landscapes are currently vanishing due to industrial farm intensification, rural abandonment and urban sprawl.ConclusionsThe results make apparent the usefulness of transferring the concept of intermediate disturbance-complexity interplay to cultural landscapes. Our spatial-explicit IDC model can be used as a tool for strategic environmental assessment of land-use planning.

Exploring the links between forest transition and landscape changes in the Mediterranean. Does forest recovery really lead to better landscape quality

AbstractA growing number of studies argue that forest transition should be enhanced by policymakers given its potential benefits, for instance in slowing climate change through carbon sequestration. Yet the effects of forest transition in landscape heterogeneity and biodiversity remain poorly understood. In this paper we explore the relationships between the forest transition and the landscape changes occurred in a Mediterranean mountain area. Historical land-use maps were built from cadastral cartography (1854; 1956; 2012). Metrics on land-cover change, landscape structure, and landscape functioning were calculated. Multiyear data on butterfly assemblages from two transects (1994–2012) was used as indicator of land-use change effects on biodiversity. Results show a forest expansion process in former cereal fields, vineyards and pasturelands along with rural out-migration and land abandonment. Such forest transition involved large changes in landscape structure and functioning. As peasant management of integrated agrosilvopastoral systems disappeared, landscape became less diverse. Even if forest area is now larger than in mid-nineteenth century, ecological connectivity among woodland did not substantially improve. Instead, ecological connectivity across open habitats has greatly decreased as cereal fields, vineyards, meadows and pasturelands have almost disappeared. Butterfly assemblages under changing land-uses highlights the importance of agro-forest mosaics not only for these species but for biodiversity at large in the last decades. Our work emphasizes that conservation of landscapes with a long history of human use needs to take into account the role of humans in shaping ecological features and biodiversity. Hence the suitability of forest transitions should be critically examined in relation to context and policy objectives.

Socioecological transition in the Cauca river valley, Colombia (1943–2010): towards an energy–landscape integrated analysis

Agroecosystems are facing a global challenge amidst a socioecological transition that places them in a dilemma between increasing land-use intensity to meet the growing demand of food, feed, fibres and fuels, while avoiding the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. We applied an intermediate disturbance-complexity approach to the land-use changes of a Latin American biocultural landscape (Cauca river valley, Colombia, 1943–2010), which accounts for the joint behaviour of human appropriation of photosynthetic capacity used as a measure of disturbance, and a selection of land metrics that account for landscape ecological functionality. We also delved deeper into local land-use changes in order to identify the main socioeconomic drivers and ruling agencies at stake. The results show that traditional organic mixed-farming tended to disappear as a result of sugarcane intensification. The analysis confirms the intermediate disturbance-complexity hypothesis by showing a nonlinear relationship, where the highest level of landscape complexity (heterogeneity–connectivity) is attained when disturbance peaks at 50–60%. The study proves the usefulness of transferring the concept of intermediate disturbance to biocultural landscapes and suggests that conservation of heterogeneous and well-connected mixed-farming, with a positive interplay between intermediate level of disturbances and land-use complexity endowed with a rich intercultural heritage, will preserve a wildlife-friendly agro-ecological matrix likely to house high biodiversity and ecosystem services.

Assessing the Integration of Landscape Connectivity into Comprehensive Spatial Planning in Spain

Abstract The integration of landscape connectivity criteria into spatial planning through ecological networks formed by coherent open space systems has received increasing attention in Europe in the last few decades. In Spain, such integration began recently, in parallel with the development of a supralocal comprehensive spatial planning policy, which was practically non-existent a decade ago. An assessment of such integration is reported here, specifically on ecological networks inclusion within the spatially explicit zoning regulations of 11 regional and 66 subregional plans which had been approved in Spain until the end of 2012. At the same time, a survey was conducted among 22 Spanish and 14 European practitioners in order to detect possible deficiencies and opportunities to optimise this integration in Spain through a comparison with other European countries. An increasing integration of ecological networks into supralocal plans was observed, especially in subregional plans approved in the last five years, coinciding with a period of greater development in supralocal spatial planning policy, the end of the Spanish speculative housing bubble and new national legislation which encourages the promotion of ecological networks. However, the integration process is very uneven because homogeneous guidelines are not applied in the different regions. Spanish practitioners discerned wide room for improvement. The integration of ecological networks into multiscale spatial planning should be optimised in Spain, including improvements in local planning, strategic environmental assessment and training of planners in this topic.

A landscape ecology assessment of land-use change on the Great Plains-Denver (CO, USA) metropolitan edge

For better or worse, in those parts of the world with a widespread farming, livestock rising, and urban expansion, the maintenance of species richness and ecosystem services cannot depend only upon protected natural sites. Can they rely on a network of cultural landscapes endowed with their own associated biodiversity? We analyze the effects of land-cover change on landscape ecological patterns and processes that sustain bird species richness associated to cropland-grassland landscapes in the Great Plains-Denver metropolitan edge. Our purpose is to assess the potential contribution to bird biodiversity maintenance of Great Plain’s cropland-grassland mosaics kept as farmland green belts in the edge of metropolitan areas. We present a quantitative landscape ecology assessment of land-cover changes (1930–2010) experienced in five Great Plains counties in Colorado. Several landscape metrics assess the diversity of land-cover patterns and their impact on ecological connectivity indices. These metrics are applied to historical land-cover maps and datasets drawn from aerial photos and satellite imagery. The results show that the cropland-grassland mosaics that link the metropolitan edge with the surrounding habitats sheltered in less human-disturbed areas provide a heterogeneous land matrix were a high bird species richness exists. They also suggest that keeping multifunctional farmland-grassland green belts near the edge of metropolitan areas may provide important ecosystem services, supplementing traditional conservation policies. Our maps and indicators can be used for selecting certain types of landscape patterns and priority areas on which biodiversity conservation efforts and land-use planning can concentrate.

The Energy–Landscape Integrated Analysis (ELIA) of Agroecosystems

Over the last century, we have seen an unprecedented growth in both global food production and associated socio-environmental conflicts, connected to increasingly industrialized farm systems and a decline in biodiversity. The objective of this chapter is to bring together an integrated methodology, applicable to different spatial scales (from regional to local), to deal with the long-term socio-metabolic balances and changes in the ecological functionality of farm systems. We propose an Intermediate Disturbance-Complexity model of agroecosystems to assess how different levels of human appropriation of photosynthetic production affect the functional landscape structure that hosts biodiversity on a regional scale. We have developed an Energy-Landscape Integrated Analysis that allows us to measure both the energy storage represented by the complexity of internal energy loops, and the energy information held in the whole network of socio-metabolic energy flows, in order to correlate both with the energy imprint in the landscape patterns and processes that sustain biodiversity on a local scale. Further research could help to reveal how and why different management strategies of agroecosystems lead to key turning-points in the relationship between energy flows, landscape functioning and biodiversity. There is no doubt that this research will be very useful in the future to help design more worldwide sustainable food systems.

Water as an Element of Urban Design: Drawing Lessons from Four European Case Studies

One of the most challenging problems that urban areas will face in the future is adaptation to the effects of climate change, particularly with regard to local problems of water management (e.g., flooding caused by heavy rain events, degradation of urban streams, and water scarcity). Sustainable local management of stormwater calls for approaches that connect technical and ecological solutions with urban design aspects and socioeconomic factors. This in turn opens up great opportunities to advance knowledge toward the application of water-sensitive urban design (WSUD), an approach that integrates the water cycle into urban design to simultaneously minimize environmental degradation, improve aesthetic and recreational appeal, and support social cohesion. A comparative study of four case studies across Europe reveals some of the successes and limits of WSUD implemented so far and presents new considerations for future developments. Best practices on integrated management as well as concepts to re-establish natural water cycles in the urban system while ensuring water quality, river health, and sociocultural values are included. In the selected case studies, water takes a structuring role in urban development, which has been designed to serve diverse public functions and maximize environmental quality, urban renovation, resilience to change and sustainable growth.