Large-scale socioeconomic changes in recent decades have driven shifts in the structure of Spanish rural landscapes, particularly in those located at the forest-agriculture interface (FAI), as well as in their wildfire regime. Using data from more than 200 16 km 2 landscape plots in Spain surveyed between 1956 and 2008 through the SISPARES monitoring framework, we assessed the FAI vulnerability to wildfires and identified the main landscape structural factors related to an increased number of wildfire events. We found that the most vulnerable landscapes were those with high road density, high diversity of land uses and, most importantly, with fine-grained forest-agriculture mixtures. Ignition frequency was lower in those landscapes where crops and woodlands coexisted but distributed in large and well-separated patches, and much lower where both land uses were combined within an integrated production and management system (''dehesas''). We discuss the geographical distribution patterns and temporal trends of the different FAI types during recent decades. We conclude that such approach is useful to forecast the mutual interactions between land use pattern changes and wildfire regime in the Mediterranean agroforestry mosaics. This would also provide an ecological base for developing a complementary, cost-effective and durable passive strategy of wildfire management targeted to modify the inherent FAI susceptibility to ignition events.

There is a well defined policy requirement for a practical and reproducible procedure for surveillance and monitoring of habitats in Spain that can subsequently be fitted into a European framework. Any such procedure also needs to incorporate records of the Spanish habitat classification.A procedure is described that will satisfy those requirements and has been field tested both in Spain and in Europe. Rigorous rules and training are required; otherwise changes from baseline records cannot reliably be separated from background noise. The procedure uses the classical plant life forms long used in biogeography and is based on their statistical relationship with the environment. This relationship has been validated statistically and the procedure has also been tested in the field in all European environmental zones and widely in Spain. 130 General Habitat Categories are defined and these are enhanced in the field by recording environmental, site and management qualities to produce a flexible database that can then be interrogated. The rules for mapping the habitats mean that they can be used for descriptive purposes or for monitoring. In conjunction with stratification and subsequent sampling, national estimates of stock and change can then be produced.Finally, based on the previous experience of SISPARES, a methodological scheme is proposed for adapting the approach to Spain. The proposal will allow links to be made between European scale surveillance and monitoring to those already obtained for Spain.Key words: field recording, stratification, biodiversity, life forms, BIOHAB, SISPARES. Resumen Estructura europea para la supervisión y el seguimiento de hábitats: aproximación metodológica para EspañaExisten en España políticas bien definidas que demandan procedimientos prácticos y reproducibles para llevar a cabo la supervisión y seguimiento de los hábitats, de modo que subsecuentemente puedan ajustarse al marco Europeo. Cualquier procedimiento de estas características necesita poder incorporar datos registrados de la clasificación española de hábitats.Aquí se describe un procedimiento que satisface dichos requisitos y que ha sido probado tanto en España como en el resto de Europa. El método exige reglas rigurosas y entrenamiento de campo; si no los cambios en los registros bá-sicos no se podrán separar de manera fiable de los errores subjetivos cometidos durante la toma de datos. El procedimiento utiliza las clásicas formas de vida, ampliamente utilizadas en estudios biogeográficos y está basado en sus relaciones con el medio ambiente. Esta relación ha sido validada estadísticamente y el procedimiento ha sido probado en el campo en todas las zonas ambientales de Europa.En España, se han definido 130 Categorías Generales de Hábitats y se han verificado en el campo mediante el registro de atributos ambientales, estacionales y de manejo, de forma que puedan ser incluidas en una base de datos suficientemente flexible. Las directrices para la cartografía de hábitats posibilitan su uso descriptivo y permiten su...

Aim of the study: To analyse the decline in aged holm oak coppice forests as regards above-ground and below-ground fractions and physiological features.Area of study: Centre of the Iberian Peninsula (Guadalajara province). Material and methods: 26 pairs of holm oak stools with different vigour but with similar site and structural characteristics within each pair were selected. Morphological (basal area, number of stools, maximum height) and physiological traits (leaf water potential, stomatal conductance) of the standing stools were assessed. Their aerial and underground parts were extracted and different size fractions of both their above and below-ground biomass were quantified. Linear mixed models were built to test the effect of 'Stool vigour' on the mean behaviour of the measured variables. Additionally, for the aerial part, linear regressions between the weights of the different size fractions and the basal area at breast height were performed using 'Stool vigour' as a fixed factor.Main results: For the same site, root depth, and number and diameter of shoots than good vigour stools, poor vigour stools displayed: lower predawn water potential, greater leaf mass per unit of area; lower total leaf area; lower above-ground biomass (in total as well as per fractions); lower fine roots biomass; lower proportion of leaf biomass and a greater proportion of biomass of both all roots and those with diameter 2-7 cm.Research highlights: The above-ground physiological and morphological characteristics of declined stools are interpreted as poorer adaptation to site conditions. Root system architecture was found to be relevant to explain this behaviour.Additional keywords: decay; stool; above-ground biomass; below-ground biomass; drought; global change.

In the present chapter, we provide a basis for discussing some of the main issues concerning the dynamic behavior of landscape systems, and ways to assess their changes over time. We present an illustrative description of a particular Spanish monitoring program in which the authors have been involved. First, we describe landscapes as complex systems with ecosystems that exhibit inherently dynamic behavior. In the following section, we cover the topic of how to study landscape changes, and discuss some of the tools that have been most widely used in recent years. Section 2 discusses the main restrictions and limitations of these approaches, and Sect. 3 discusses the basic procedures used for landscape monitoring and assessment. Finally, Sect. 4 describes one assessment and monitoring program, the Spanish Rural Landscape Monitoring System (SISPARES), identifi es bottlenecks, and assesses the system's strengths and weaknesses. The overall purpose of the chapter is to provide readers with methodological tools to identify and evaluate structural and functional changes in landscapes, thereby supporting the development of guidelines for effective and sustainable landscape management. The problem of monitoring complex systemsLandscapes show high levels of structural and functional ecological complexity, as well as dynamic behavior. Most current landscapes consist of diverse systems composed of a range of different ecosystem types that have developed in a given area

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