Changes in Land Management of Iberian Rangelands and Grasslands in the Last 60 Years and their Effect on Vegetation

Abstract

Rangelands and grasslands occupy now more than 3 million ha in the Iberian Peninsula representing one of the most valuable ecosystems. They are particularly interesting due to their great geographical spread and heterogeneity in land management. Significant changes have been undergone in the last 60 years affecting vegetation. The main goal in this study was to compile existing information about the changes in the Iberian rangelands and grasslands, their geographical distribution, typologies, main characteristics as well as past and recent land management based on a thorough bibliographical review and serious research. This has been subdivided into five large groups according to climate and human drivers: (1) Mediterranean rangelands and steppes, (2) oceanic grasslands, (3) mountainous meadows, (4) semi-arid steppes and (5) Portuguese rangelands and grasslands. Two milestones over the past 60 years were remarkable as main driving forces: rural exodus in the 1960s and 1970s and Spain and Portugal joining the European Union in 1986. They have provoked both processes of intensification and extensification at the same time on different scales. Many farms have been progressively fragmented using wire fences, and the numbers of livestock have been significantly increased. Land abandonment and grazing exclusion have provoked a large shrub encroachment of species such as Retama sphaerocarpa or Cistus ladanifer.

Regenerative rangeland management farmers in Spain: enthusiastic among a great diversity in farming conditions

“…Beyond the valuable animal products that grazing systems used to produce from low-value resources (Mottet et al, 2017), rangelands are important providers of ecosystem services (Schils et al, 2022) and social well-being (van den Pol-van Dasselaar et al, 2018). intensification, coupled with rural abandonment, have been the main drivers of rangeland management in the last decades (Pulido-Fernández et al, 2018). These drivers add an important pressure, leading to higher dependence on inputs like feed or fossil fuels in both the global and the Spanish livestock systems (Bajan et al, 2021;Gaspar et al, 2009;Lassaletta et al, 2016;Wang et al, 2018).…”

The Most Meridional Border in Europe. Demographic and Environmental Changes

“…Even so, the alterations that abandonment is causing in ecosystems are not clear, in some cases it is causing a beneficial effect on diversity, but in other circumstances, this effect is the opposite, these changes being reflected in the heterogeneity of landscapes [20][21][22][23][24].…”

The Problem of Water Use in Rural Areas of Southwestern Spain: A Local Perspective

“…The SW of Spain (Extremadura, Andalusia and Castilla-La Mancha regions) is a vast geographical area where the effects of global warming on erratic Mediterranean rainfall pattern are accompanied by the dominance of impermeable (siliceous) rocks such as shales and granites [6] and shallow soils (e.g., Leptosols and epileptic Cambisols) with scarce capacity of retaining water [7]. It means extreme events exceed the infiltration capacity of the soils and Hortonian flow occurs regularly, therefore, large quantities of water are lost as surface runoff, including the soil particles that are detached and the associated nutrients that are usually concentrated in the top 5 cm of soil [8,9].…”