This work analyzes the determinants associated with main land use/cover changes in the Iberian Peninsula during the 1990–2012 period using a decision tree model. Our main objective is to identify broad-scale patterns that associate the characteristics of geographic areas with the dominant land use/cover change process based on CORINE Land Cover (Coordination of Information on the Environment) and defined in a previously published work. Biophysical, structural and socioeconomic variables were considered as potentially explanatory of the dominant change process at municipal scale. The resulting model allowed identification of a common pattern in Portugal and Spain (urbanization being highly associated to areas already densely populated in the previous period), but also some diverging ones. In particular, dominant trends in Portuguese territory appear to be highly determined by wildfire occurrence. In contrast, Spanish municipalities showed more diverse patterns, usually associated to biophysical determinants like average forest productivity or average terrain slope.
This work aims to provide a comprehensive, wall-to-wall analysis of land use/cover changes in the continental areas of Portugal and Spain between 1990 and 2012. This overall objective is developed into two main research questions: (1) Whether differences between the extent and prevalence of changes exist between both countries and (2) which are the hotspots of change (areas where a given land use/cover transition dominates the landscape) in each country. We used Corine Land Cover in three different points in time (1990, 2000, 2012) to explore eight characteristic land cover transitions and carried out a cluster analysis at LAU2 level (municipalities in Spain, parishes in Portugal) that allowed to identify the areas in which each transition was dominant. The main findings include the decline of agricultural area and the increase of urbanized and artificial covers in both countries, but different trends followed by forest cover, with an increase in Spain and a decrease in Portugal. At the same time, the spatial analysis provided an overview of the main gradients of change related to tensions between agricultural intensification–extensification, on the one hand, and deforestation–afforestation, on the other.
El paisaje de la comarca del Bierzo, en el noroeste de España, ha experimentado una serie de cambios durante las últimas décadas. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo principal proporcionar un análisis exhaustivo de los cambios de uso/cobertura del suelo en esta comarca utilizando Corine Land Cover durante dos períodos diferentes (1990-2000 y 2000-2012). Esto nos permite analizar las principales tendencias y procesos a los que se vio sometido este territorio. Los principales hallazgos tienen relación con los procesos de abandono que sufre esta comarca, motivado por los cambios en hectáreas totales hacia matorral, procedentes sobre todo de los usos forestales y agrícolas. Casi la mitad de la superficie pertenece al dominio del matorral en 2012, al ocupar en torno a 151 000 hectáreas. En otro orden se sitúa el aumento de las plantaciones de chopos por reforestación que también ha sido importante sobre el conjunto, provocando la expansión de las frondosas en la zona. Otros procesos como la intensificación productiva se han producido cerca de las infraestructuras de regadío, aunque no son tan importantes sobre el total regional.
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