Human impacts quantification on the coastal landforms of Gran Canaria Island (Canary Islands)

Ferrer-Valero, Nicolás; Hernández‐Calvento, Luis; Hernández‐Cordero, Antonio I.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2017.02.028

Cited by 40 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The decline of C. abies-marina in Gran Canaria has occurred in a period of pronounced urban and tourism development and, therefore, of many local impacts (Tuya et al 2014, Ferrer-Valero et al 2017. Today, the population, urbanization and infrastructure are heavily concentrated on the coast of the island, particularly in the northeast, east and south (Fig.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Massive decline of <em>Cystoseira abies-marina</em> forests in Gran Canaria Island (Canary Islands, eastern Atlantic)

et al. 2017

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Summary: Brown macroalgae within the genus Cystoseira are some of the most relevant "ecosystem-engineers" found throughout the Mediterranean and the adjacent Atlantic coasts. Cystoseira-dominated assemblages are sensitive to anthropogenic pressures, and historical declines have been reported from some regions. In particular, Cystoseira abies-marina, thriving on shallow rocky shores, is a key species for the ecosystems of the Canary Islands. In this work, we analyse changes in the distribution and extension of C. abies-marina in the last decades on the island of Gran Canaria. This alga dominated the shallow rocky shores of the entire island in the 1980s; a continuous belt extended along 120.5 km of the coastline and occupied 928 ha. In the first decade of the 21st century, fragmented populations were found along 52.2 km of the coastline and occupied 12.6 ha. Today, this species is found along 37.8 km of the coastline and occupies only 7.4 ha, mainly as scattered patches. This regression has been drastic around the whole island, even in areas with low anthropogenic pressure; the magnitude of the decline over time and the intensity of local human impacts have not shown a significant correlation. This study highlights a real need to implement conservation and restoration policies for C. abies-marina in this region.Keywords: marine forests; habitat-forming species; human pressures; Fucales; regression; Atlantic Ocean. Regresión aguda de los bosques de Cystoseira abies-marina en la isla de Gran Canaria (Islas Canarias, Atlántico este)Resumen: Las algas pardas pertenecientes al género Cystoseira se distribuyen a lo largo del Mediterráneo y las costas atlánticas adyacentes, siendo uno de los "ingenieros ecosistémicos" más relevantes. Los bosques constituidos por especies de Cystoseira son sensibles a perturbaciones de origen antropogénico y, por esta razón, se han registrado declives históricos en distintas regiones. Concretamente, Cystoseira abies-marina, una especie que habita en costas rocosas someras, es clave para la buena salud de los ecosistemas costeros de las Islas Canarias. En este trabajo, analizamos los cambios en la distribución y extensión de C. abies-marina en las últimas 4 décadas en la isla de Gran Canaria. Esta especie dominaba las costas rocosas poco profundas de toda la isla en la década de los 80; una banda continua se extendía a lo largo de 120.5 km de costa, ocupando 928 ha. A comienzos del siglo XXI, poblaciones fragmentadas cubrían 12.6 ha, a lo largo de 52.2 km de la línea de costa. Hoy en día, se distribuye a lo largo de 37.8 km del perímetro costero, en su mayoría como parches dispersos, ocupando una extensión de tan sólo 7.4 ha. Esta regresión ha sido drástica en toda la isla, incluso en zonas con baja presión antropogénica; no encontramos una correlación significativa entre el número de impactos locales y la magnitud del declive en el tiempo. Este estudio señala la necesidad real de implementar políticas de conservación y restauración para C. abies-marina en esta región.Palabras clave: bosq...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1805058 tourists in 2015, ISTAC 2015). This has led to the occupation and degradation of most coastal areas (Ferrer-Valero et al 2017). Importantly, however, populations of C. abies-marina in poorly impacted areas have also suffered significant regressions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Massive decline of <em>Cystoseira abies-marina</em> forests in Gran Canaria Island (Canary Islands, eastern Atlantic)

et al. 2017

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“…These indices have been widely applied in ecology and biodiversity studies (e.g. Izsák and Papp, ; Rumohr et al, ; Spellerberg and Fedor, ), as well as in pedodiversity (Ibáñez et al, , , ; Guo et al, ; McBratney and Minasny, ; Minasny et al, ), landscape heterogeneity (Nagendra, ; Uuemaa et al, ; Malinowska and Szumacher, ) and geodiversity issues (Benito‐Calvo et al, ; Ferrer‐Valero et al, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For that reason, an appropriate ad hoc geomorphological taxonomy was developed based on exhaustive observations of the coasts of the Canary Islands ( Figure 2, Appendix 1, Table AI). This classification constitutes an expansion of previous proposals (Ferrer-Valero et al, 2017;Ferrer-Valero, 2018). It (i) incorporates the complete spectrum of mesoscale landforms of the study area; (ii) is spatially consistent, i.e.…”

Section: Coastal Geomorphic Taxonomymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…S max k = total number of classes considered at order k. LANDSCAPES 1995LANDSCAPES , 1998LANDSCAPES , 2005Guo et al, 2003;McBratney and Minasny, 2007;Minasny et al, 2010), landscape heterogeneity (Nagendra, 2002;Uuemaa et al, 2011;Malinowska and Szumacher, 2013) and geodiversity issues (Benito-Calvo et al, 2009;Ferrer-Valero et al, 2017).…”

Section: Spatial Database and Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights of long‐term geomorphological evolution of coastal landscapes in hot‐spot oceanic islands

Ferrer-Valero

Hernández‐Calvento

Hernández‐Cordero

2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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The Canary Islands form a volcanic archipelago in which a west–east (W–E) chain of progressively older and less active islands can be observed. In the Canary Islands, unlike most hot‐spot archipelagos, certain geodynamic peculiarities have promoted longer periods of island survival, exceeding 20 Myr. This factor makes these islands a suitable context for this work, which aims to analyze extensively the coastal geomorphic structure on islands with different development states. For this, three islands in different volcanic phases were selected: La Palma (1.8 Myr), Gran Canaria (14.5 Myr) and Fuerteventura (22.6 Myr). An ad hoc landform‐based hierarchical taxonomy was designed to analyze the coastal geomorphic structure of the three islands. Based on a multi‐sourced analysis in geographic information system (GIS) and field recognition, a comprehensive cartographic database was collected using the coastline data‐storing (CDS) method as a feature abundance proxy. Three different aspects of the geomorphological structure were compared and related between the islands: (i) composition, (ii) abundance and (iii) diversity. Through their comparison, we attempt to explore geomorphological aspects of coastal evolution over geological spatiotemporal scales. Composition was explored analyzing the distribution of the feature's longshore frequencies (p). Abundance, by metrics of local abundance (N∩) and whole density (NU). Diversity, through four indices: normalized richness (S) and Margalef index (M) to estimate richness; Simpson index (D) and Shannon index (H’) to estimate evenness. We identified a systematic transformation in the dominant landform composition and a systematic trend in increasing geomorphological abundance and diversity from younger to older islands. The results show a long‐term structural pattern defined by the increase in coastal geomorphic complexity (abundance and diversity) over geological time, as the coasts evolve from predominantly rocky‐erosive to increasingly clastic‐depositional environments. This long‐term geomorphological pattern may be a general aspect of hot‐spot island archipelagos, which can bring a new perspective to the knowledge of their coastal evolution. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Coastal geomorphic chronosequences across broad spatiotemporal scales. Metrical observations from the Cape Verde hotspot

Ferrer-Valero

Hernández‐Calvento

2020

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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The study of the coastal landscapes of hotspot oceanic islands through comprehensive structural metrics and ecological estimators represents an opportunity to explore geomorphological transformations and broad spatiotemporal scale features of coastal evolution. As part of this approach, a new metrical comparative analysis is presented in this study, comprising four islands in different evolutionary stages. They belong to the Cape Verde archipelago, which forms a double insular chain in which an east–west gradient in age and evolution is particularly evident across the southern chain. A space‐for‐time (SFT) substitution approach is applied to the coasts of (1) Fogo, in the shield stage; (2) Santiago, in the early post‐erosional stage; (3) São Vicente, in the advanced post‐erosional stage; and (4) Boa Vista, in the last erosional stage. From the obtained spatial distributions and frequencies of landforms, the coastal landscapes of these islands are compared in relation to their (i) geomorphic composition, using similarity indices (Whittaker, βw, Sorensen, Cs) and nestedness estimators (NOFD, WNODF), (ii) geomorphic abundance, using morpho‐assembling densities (Dgm), and (iii) geomorphic diversity, using six alpha‐diversity indices (Richness, S, Menhinick, DMN, Simpson, D, Shannon, H', Berger‐Parker, d, and Brillouin, HB). An advanced geomorphological taxonomy is implemented for areas with limited open‐access data, including a set of planform features captured through scale‐frequency decomposition. Photographic, cartographic and fieldwork data are used for landform identification at 1200 random sampling points, empirically determined by a bootstrap method. The results show a chronological ordering of the compared variables and a possible co‐evolution towards an increase in organizational geomorphic complexity of coastal systems at broad space‐timescales. The method proposed in this study can contribute, from a metrical perspective, to finding new long‐term evolutionary features and constitutes an advance in the development of an integrated model of coastal evolution in oceanic islands. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Human impacts quantification on the coastal landforms of Gran Canaria Island (Canary Islands)

Cited by 40 publications

References 49 publications

Massive decline of <em>Cystoseira abies-marina</em> forests in Gran Canaria Island (Canary Islands, eastern Atlantic)

Massive decline of <em>Cystoseira abies-marina</em> forests in Gran Canaria Island (Canary Islands, eastern Atlantic)

Insights of long‐term geomorphological evolution of coastal landscapes in hot‐spot oceanic islands

Coastal geomorphic chronosequences across broad spatiotemporal scales. Metrical observations from the Cape Verde hotspot

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