Martí Boada

Service Sector Metabolism: Accounting for Energy Impacts of the Montjuic Urban Park in Barcelona

This article evaluates, from an industrial ecology (IE) perspective, the energy performance of the services inside an urban system and determines their global environmental impact. Additionally, this study determines which are the most energy demanding services and the efficiency of their energy use per visitor and per surface area unit. The urban system under study is the Montjuic urban park in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, which can be considered a services system. In this case study we distinguished the different patterns of consumption among the service fields and, by studying each field individually, found the most efficient facilities and identified the most critical services based on energy use per visitor or per square meter. These findings are based on the use of energy flow accounting (EFA), life‐cycle assessment (LCA), and the energy footprint to analyze the Parks technical energy consumption. Electricity consumption represents nearly 70% of the total energy consumed by the services at Montjuic Park. The forest surface area required to absorb the CO2‐equivalent emissions produced by the life cycle of the energy consumed at Montjuic Park represents 12.2 times the Parks surface area. We conclude this article by proposing the incorporation of the methods of IE within the study of parks containing multiple services to improve energy management, and as a result, to raise the global environmental performance of the service sector.

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.

Rural People's Knowledge and Perception of Landscape: A Case Study From the Mexican Pacific Coast

Local knowledge and land use practices, along with the multiple visions of landscapes of local actors, can provide information complementary to that of conventional scientific appraisals. The goal of this study is to understand how local people actually recognize and use different landscape units and the environmental goods and services provided by the units. For this purpose we created a Landscape Perception Unit Type Importance Value Index (LPTIVI) that responds to the need to evaluate landscapes from a cultural standpoint. Our contribution provides a methodological approach that indicates that it is possible to analyze and evaluate how local people as experts perceive and use their landscapes. Additionally, we discuss how this information can be the first step in facilitating the incorporation of local concerns into decision making related to landscape planning and management.

Carbon dioxide emissions of Antarctic tourism

Abstract The increase of tourism to the Antarctic continent may entail not only local but also global environmental impacts. These latter impacts, which are mainly caused by transport, have been generally ignored. As a result, there is a lack of data on the global impacts of Antarctic tourism in terms of energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. This paper presents and applies a methodology for quantifying CO2 emissions, both for the Antarctic vessel fleet as a whole and per passenger (both per trip and per day). The results indicate that the average tourist trip to Antarctica results in 5.44 t of CO2 emissions per passenger, or 0.49 t per passenger and day. Approximately 70% of these emissions are attributable to cruising and 30% to flying, which highlights the global environmental relevance of local transport for this type of tourism.

Airborne pollen records and their potential applications to the conservation of biodiversity

Abstract The magnitude and complexity of the current erosion of plant biodiversity call for the development of interdisciplinary tools that enable an early detection of its effects and the establishment of effective management strategies. Indeed, plant sciences face the complex task of identifying the ecological information needed for the conservation challenge. Along this line should be placed the approach of aerobiology to gather the essential information for the development of plant recovery guidelines. In this work, we aim to discuss the potential role of airborne pollen monitoring in providing relevant data for the protection of plants and its potential applications to the management of plant diversity. To this end, we review three study cases where aerobiological monitoring can provide significant insights on conservation science. The present study is a contribution to plant conservation biology through long-term aeropalynological sampling, on the basis that pollen records constitute a suitable indicator for evaluating resource conservation of vegetation responding to environmental fluctuations. In view of its position between botany and meteorology, the contribution of aerobiological knowledge to biodiversity conservation can be very relevant and should be explored thoroughly.

Conifer Dispersion on Subalpine Pastures in Northeastern Spain: Characteristics and Implications for Rangeland Management

Abstract Pinus sylvestris L. and Pinus mugo Turra originating from two plantations established during the 1960s are invading subalpine heathlands higher than 1 500 m above sea level in Montseny Natural Park (northeast Spain). Both species are native at a regional scale but may not have been present in the parks subalpine vegetation previously. In addition, Abies alba P. Mill., which is in regression in many areas in Europe, is also colonizing the area from a neighboring natural forest. This invasion appears to be stimulated by a combination of natural and human factors, including differences between vegetation components, climate (i.e., drought periods), changes in land use due to conservation policies (i.e., suppressing fire or grazing practices), the creation of the plantations, and probably the nurse role played by accompanying dwarf shrubs (Calluna vulgaris [L.] Hull and Juniperus communis subsp. nana [Willd.] Syme). We examined the effects of this process in terms of the spatial dispersion and characteristics of the established conifers and deduce implications for the conservation of isolated subalpine pastures in Mediterranean Basin mountains. P. sylvestris was the most successful invading species in this area. The P. mugo invasion is distributed mainly near the plantation. The only native conifer species, A. alba, appears to be colonizing only the eastern slope. The invasion process is related to the diversity and species richness recorded on each slope. Conserving valuable subalpine heathlands at the latitude of the Montseny mountain range implies suppressing propagule pressures from the plantations. The option of removing conifers that are nonnative, at a local scale, must be considered. However, in the case of the native A. alba this option leads to a management conflict between conserving former pastureland and the dispersion of A. alba.

Ecosystem services, social interdependencies, and collective action: a conceptual framework

The governance of ecosystem services (ES) has been predominantly thought of in terms of market or state-based instruments. Comparatively, collective action mechanisms have rarely been considered. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a conceptual framework that brings together ES, social interdependencies, and collective action thinking. We use an ES conceptual lens to highlight social interdependencies among people so as to reflect on existing or potential collective actions among them. This framework can also contribute to increasing people’s awareness of their mutual interdependencies and thereby fostering, framing, or enriching collective action, in ways that take into account the diversity and complexity of ecological processes underlying human activities. Our approach can contribute in particular to agroecological transitions that require landscape level innovations and coordination mechanisms among land users and managers. The framework distinguishes three types of social interdependencies: (i) between ES beneficiaries and ES providers, (ii) among beneficiaries, and (iii) among providers. These social interdependencies are in turn analyzed according to four main dimensions that are critical for collective action: (i) cognitive framing of interdependencies, (ii) levels of organization, (iii) formal and informal institutions, and (iv) power relations. Finally, we propose a strategy to turn this framework into action in contexts of participatory action research, a strategy grounded on a number of methodological principles and tools that convey complexity and increase people’s awareness of interdependencies in agrarian social-ecological systems.

Participatory Action Research Applied to the Management of Natural Areas: The Case Study of Cinquera in El Salvador

How can a Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach promote the co-production of knowledge for the management of natural areas? This article describes the experience of over ten years of implementation of the PAR approach in the management of the Cinquera Natural Area in El Salvador, which is maintained by local communities with an organizational history and attachment to their territory that goes back to the armed conflict in El Salvador in the 1980s. The article exposes the cycle of reflection-research-action-reflection that has been developed in Cinquera, resulting in the co-production of knowledge and its use in specific actions for the protection of the natural area and local sustainable development. We discuss the progress achieved by the community and the lessons learned by applying the PAR research approach.

Protected Natural Areas: In Sickness and in Health

Numerous studies show the benefits that contact with the natural environment have for human health, but there are few studies on the role of Protected Natural Areas (PNAs), either from the preventive point of view or on their potential benefits, on individuals with health problems. A study was made of the relationship between the visitation of Montseny Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve and health, from the perspective of a population group with different diseases. A total of 250 patients resident in the areas near the park were surveyed, recording their beliefs about the benefits of nature, as well as the reasons for visiting and the activities associated with health that they carried out in the park. The pure air is the most valued benefit (27.2%), particularly for those with allergies. The majority (57%) visit the park for health reasons. High levels (82%) of exercise are recorded, especially by patients with heart diseases (85%), and 65% exercised in the park. More physical activity is mentioned among those that visit the park most often, particularly among those that carried it out for health reasons. Plants were collected for medicinal use by 39.6%. The study confirmed the significant role of the Montseny Natural Park and Biosphere Reserve as a health resource for individuals with diseases that live near it. It also corroborates the beneficial effects that the PNA provide in human health.

Impactes, vulnerabilitat i retroalimentacions climtiques als ecosistemes terrestres catalans

Josep Peñuelas, Iolanda Filella, Marc Estiarte, Romà Ogaya, Joan Llusià, Jordi Sardans, Alistair Jump, Jorge Curiel, Jofre Carnicer, This Rutishauser, Laura Rico, Trevor Keenan, Martín Garbulsky, Marta Coll, Maria Diaz de Quijano, Roger Seco, Albert Rivas-Ubach, Jorge Silva, Martí Boada, Constantí Stefanescu, Francisco Lloret i Jaume Terradas* Unitat d’Ecologia Global CSIC-CEAB-CREAF, CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra