Assessing the Effect of Climate Oscillations and Land-use Changes on Streamflow in the Central Spanish Pyrenees

Beguerı́a, Santiago; López‐Moreno, Juan I.; Lorente, Adrián; Seeger, Manuel; García-Ruiz, José M.

doi:10.1639/0044-7447(2003)032[0283:ateoco]2.0.co;2

Cited by 84 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Ruiz-Flaño et al (1992) and hydrological responses (Beguería et al, 2003), and reduces sediment yield, although other problems can become evident. New efforts must be made to combat soil erosion and desertification with a holistic approach, particularly to reduce the size of sediment sources and their accessibility to fluvial channels.…”

Section: Badlands and Forest Fires: The Face Of The Mediterranean?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Erosion in Mediterranean landscapes: Changes and future challenges

et al. 2013

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Intense erosion processes are widespread in the Mediterranean region, and include sheet wash erosion, rilling, gullying, shallow landsliding, and the development of large and active badlands in both subhumid and semi-arid areas. This review analyses the main environmental and human features related to soil erosion processes, and the main factors that explain the extreme variability of factors influencing soil erosion, particularly recent land use changes. The importance of erosion in the Mediterranean is related to the long history of human activity in a region characterized by low levels of annual precipitation, the occurrence of intense rainstorms and long-lasting droughts, high evapotranspiration, the presence of steep slopes and the occurrence of recent tectonic activity, together with the recurrent use of fire, overgrazing and farming. These factors have resulted in a complex landscape in which intensification and abandonment, wealth and poverty can co-exist. The changing conditions of national and international markets and the evolution of population pressure are now the main drivers explaining land use changes, including farmland abandonment in mountain areas, the expansion of some subsidized crops to marginal lands, and the development of new terraces affected by landslides and intense soil erosion during extreme rainstorm events. The occurrence of human-related forest fires affecting thousands of hectares each year is an increasing problem in both the northern and southern areas of the Mediterranean basin. Here, we highlight the rise of new scientific challenges in controlling the negative consequences of soil erosion in the Mediterranean region: (i) to reduce the effects and extent of forest fires, and restructure the spatial organization of abandoned landscapes; (ii) to provide guidance for making EU agricultural policy more adapted to the complexity and fragility of Mediterranean environments; (iii) to develop field methods and models to improve the identification of runoff and sediment contributing areas; (iv) to contribute to the conservation of landscapes (i.e. bench-terraced fields) having high cultural and productivity values; (v) to improve knowledge of the hydrological and geomorphological functioning of badlands, with the aim of reducing sediment yield and accessibility; (vi) to better understand the effect of climate change on soil erosion in the Mediterranean region; and (vii) to improve quantitative information on long-term soil erosion. COVER LETTER

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Section: Badlands and Forest Fires: The Face Of The Mediterranean?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Erosion in Mediterranean landscapes: Changes and future challenges

et al. 2013

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“…The time span to reach a complete cover of the soil surface depends on a variety of factors; however, on the north facing slopes this process was found after a few years in a small catchment of the region (Navas et al 2008a). At present, the vegetation cover of these abandoned lands is 64% forest, 29% shrubs, and 7% meadows (Beguería et al, 2003).…”

Section: The Sedimentation Ratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing the history of sediment accumulation in the Yesa reservoir: an approach for management of mountain reservoirs

Izquierdo

Garcés

Gaspar

et al. 2009

Lake and Reservoir Management

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“…In the absence of trends in precipitation, various authors have implicated re-vegetation and land-cover expansion in headwaters as a cause of the observed declines in runoff (Beguería et al 2003, Gallart and Llorens 2003, López-Moreno et al 2011. Studies in experimental catchments have shown that land and forest cover affect the water balance by enhancing infiltration, interception and evapotranspiration (Crockford and Richardson 2000, Zhang et al 2001a, Llorens and Domingo 2007, and any change of land use resulting in an increase in vegetation cover usually causes a decrease in runoff, while removal of vegetation tends to increase the flow of rivers in basins (Bosch andHewlett 1982, Bent 2001).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%