Long-term bio-cultural heritage: exploring the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in agro-ecological landscapes (Mallorca, c. 1850–2012)

Marull, Joan; Aragay, Enric Tello; Fullana, Onofre; Murray, Ivan; Avellà, Gabriel Jover; Font, Carme; Coll, Francesc; Domene, Elena; Leoni, Veronica; Decolli, Trejsi

doi:10.1007/s10531-015-0955-z

Cited by 56 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 105 publications

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“…In the western part of Crete, human immigration from arid mountains has led to the decline in agricultural land area by almost 40% between 1945 and 1990, favouring the recovery of forest ecosystems dominated by the coniferous Cupressus sempervirens and Pinus brutia. The same process occurs on the Balearic Islands where drastic changes have occurred (Marull et al 2015). Forests covered by Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis) multiplied their surface by more than five in Mallorca during the last century.…”

Section: Widespread Human Impacts and Land Use Changesmentioning

confidence: 81%

The specific vulnerability of plant biodiversity and vegetation on Mediterranean islands in the face of global change

2017

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To cite this version:Frederic Medail. The specific vulnerability of plant biodiversity and vegetation on Mediterranean islands in the face of global change.Abstract The numerous Mediterranean islands ([10,000) are very important from a biodiversity point of view, both in term of plant species (numerous endemics, presence of 'climate relicts') and of ecosystems' assemblage. These patterns can be explained by complex interactions between a highly heterogeneous historical biogeography and ecological processes related to diverse island conditions. Furthermore, most of the ups and downs of this biodiversity were closely linked with human pressures which have changed many times through the long socio-ecological history of these island landscapes since the Neolithic period. At present, insular plant biodiversity and rural landscapes are threatened by diverse global environmental changes related to urbanization, habitat fragmentation, unsustainable tourism and other practices (e.g. overgrazing, forest fires), and by other more recent drivers such as climate warming and aridification, sea-level rise and biological invasions. Some of these impacts will be exacerbated on islands because of no (or highly limited) adjacent areas of expansion, notably on the smallest ones (i.e. size \ ca. 1000 ha). With regards to the biome crisis facing the Mediterranean basin and induced by human activities, islands constitute key ecological systems and 'current refugia' to ensure the long-term preservation of coastal plant biodiversity. They also represent fascinating ecological systems to disentangle the role of environmental versus human pressures on spatially simplified communities of the Mediterranean coastal areas. Future detailed studies of these 'natural island microcosms' could greatly improve our knowledge of the functional and evolutionary processes induced by rapid environmental changes in this region.

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Section: Widespread Human Impacts and Land Use Changesmentioning

confidence: 81%

The specific vulnerability of plant biodiversity and vegetation on Mediterranean islands in the face of global change

2017

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“…The relative decrease in unharvested biomass on cropland negatively affects biodiversity [46,47]. Other factors, such as the use of biocides and the destruction of the diverse territorial matrix, typical of traditional agriculture, are also responsible for the decline of biodiversity in Spanish agroecosystems [49,50]. Thirdly, the massive importation of N in feed and mineral fertilizers (553 and 1150 Gg in 2000, respectively) increased the surplus and the losses of N, which in turn pollute water resources and could have a negative impact on biodiversity [43,46].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decoupling Food from Land: The Evolution of Spanish Agriculture from 1960 to 2010

et al. 2017

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Abstract:For a large extent of historiography, the history of Spanish agriculture during the twentieth century is a story of success. However, this narrative has been built on monetary analysis, and it does not usually take into account the effects on rural society and agroecosystems. The aim of this paper is to analyze what has happened from a biophysical perspective to ascertain whether transformations linked with industrialization of agriculture have also been positive. For this, we have integrated the results-some unpublished and others already published-of a broader research project about different aspects of food production from a biophysical perspective in Spain, applying methodologies pertaining to the Social Metabolism. Our research seeks to provide a new narrative, emerging through the consideration of environmental aspects of the process, providing a more complex vision of the process of industrialization in European agriculture. The results show that the industrialization of Spanish agriculture has brought about profound changes in land uses and in the functionality of the biomass produced, increasing pressure on croplands and, paradoxically, facilitating the abandonment of an important proportion of pasture and croplands. This has led to the subordination of a very significant portion of Spanish agroecosystems to the feed demands of intensive livestock farming. This process has been based on the injection of large quantities of external energy. Agricultural production has undergone significant growth since the 1960s, but this has been insufficient to deal with the growing demand created by the change in the Spanish diet and the increasing trend to focus on livestock farming. The process of globalization has allowed both roles to be reconciled, although in recent decades Spain has accentuated its role as a net importer of biomass from a biophysical perspective, with very significant impacts on third party countries, particularly in Latin America. From a biophysical perspective, the industrialization of Spanish agriculture has entailed negative consequences that threaten the sustainability of Spanish agroecosystems and also negatively affect the sustainability of other territories.

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“…The second indicator we adopt is the Ecological Connectivity Index (ECI) [17], related to landscape functionality, which measures in a [0,1] range the capacity for connecting flows of biomass and information across a territorial unit of analysis, which is fundamental for supporting biodiversity and related ecosystem services: the higher the index, the more connected is the landscape, so that biodiversity can move more freely.…”

Section: Landscape Agroecology Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The current state of research in landscape agroecology is set in the outcomes of the Sustainable Farm Systems research project, which has focused on an innovative development of Energy Return on Investment (EROI) analysis [6,[11][12][13] also merging it with MuSIASEM [14], on nutrient cycles [15,16] and on the original development of Energy-Landscape Integrated Analysis [10,17,18], which in turn draw from previous work on social metabolism [9,19,20] and EROI analysis [21]. As well, these novel methods applied in landscape agroecology can bridge with and contribute to the land sharing/sparing debate [22], which is still a controversial issue [23,24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape Agroecology. The Dysfunctionalities of Industrial Agriculture and the Loss of the Circular Bioeconomy in the Barcelona Region, 1956–2009

2018

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The paper analyses how between 1956 and 2009 the agrarian metabolism of the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) has become less functional, losing circularity in biomass flows and in relationship to its landscape. We do so by adopting a Multi-Energy Return on Investment (EROI) and flow-fund (MuSIASEM) analyses and the nexus with landscape functional structure. The study of agricultural flows of Final Produce, Biomass Reused and External Inputs is integrated with that of land use, livestock, power capacity, and population changes between 1956 (at the beginning of agrarian industrialization) and 2009 (fully industrialized agriculture). A multi-scale analysis is conducted at the landscape scale (seven counties within the Barcelona metropolitan region) as well as for the functions deployed, within an agroecosystem, by the mutual interactions between its funds (landscape, land-uses, livestock, and farming population). A complex nexus between land, livestock, dietary patterns, and energy needs is shown; we conclude that, from the perspective of the circular bioeconomy the agrarian sector has gone worse hand in hand with the landscape functional structure. Therefore, a novel perspective in landscape agroecology is opened.

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Long-term bio-cultural heritage: exploring the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in agro-ecological landscapes (Mallorca, c. 1850–2012)

Cited by 56 publications

References 105 publications

The specific vulnerability of plant biodiversity and vegetation on Mediterranean islands in the face of global change

The specific vulnerability of plant biodiversity and vegetation on Mediterranean islands in the face of global change

Decoupling Food from Land: The Evolution of Spanish Agriculture from 1960 to 2010

Landscape Agroecology. The Dysfunctionalities of Industrial Agriculture and the Loss of the Circular Bioeconomy in the Barcelona Region, 1956–2009

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