Changes in the<i>Erica ciliaris</i>Loefl. ex L. peat bogs of southwestern Europe from the 17th to the 20th centuries<scp>ad</scp>

Sousa, Arturo; Morales, Julia; García-Barrón, Leoncio; García‐Murillo, Pablo

doi:10.1177/0959683612455545

Cited by 24 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The system of ponds on Doñana's aeolian sands is a good example of Mediterranean temporary ponds. They have been declining with climate change by an increased aridification since the "Little Ice Age" [10][11][12]53,54] but have also been suffering an increased anthropogenic pressure [1,55]. It has been documented how groundwater abstraction for agriculture [13] or for tourism resorts has negatively influenced or dessicated certain ponds in the system [34].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Protection Level in the Hydroperiod of Water Bodies on Doñana’s Aeolian Sands

2016

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Mediterranean temporary ponds on Doñana's aeolian sands form an extensive system of small dynamic water bodies, dependent on precipitation and groundwater, of considerable importance for biodiversity conservation. Different areas of the aeolian sands have received different levels of environmental protection since 1969, and this has influenced the degree of conservation and the flooding dynamic of these temporary surface waters. We use the Landsat series of satellite images from 1985 to 2014 to study the temporal dynamic of small temporary water bodies on the aeolian sands in relation to the protection level and to distance to water abstraction pressures from agriculture and residential areas. The results show that even with small and ephemeral water bodies optical remote sensing time-series are an effective way to study their flooding temporal dynamics. The protected areas of the aeolian sands hold a better preserved system of temporary ponds, with a flooding dynamic that fluctuates with precipitation. The unprotected area shows an increase in mean hydroperiod duration, and surface flooded, and a decline in hydroperiod variability. This seems to be due to the creation of irrigation ponds and the artificialization of the flooding regime of the natural temporary ponds, that either receive excess irrigation water or dry-up due to the lowering of the groundwater table level. Although a decline in hydroperiod duration of temporary ponds is seen as negative to the system, an increase in hydroperiod of surface waters due to artificialization, or a decline in variability cannot be considered as positive compensatory effects.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Protection Level in the Hydroperiod of Water Bodies on Doñana’s Aeolian Sands

2016

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“…Thus, the rainfall concentration after a summer period, with poorly developed vegetation, results in greater rainfall erosivity. Several studies have proved how periods of high rainfall irregularity induce clogging processes in the lagoons (Sousa et al, ) and streams in the southwest of Spain (Sousa et al, ) and Portugal (Devereux, ). Alternation of dry and rainy periods, sometimes with the overlapping of human activity that alters the use of soil, has generated periods of greater dynamism in the activity of the layers of quaternary sands of the southwest of Spain (Sousa and García‐Murillo, ; Sousa et al, ), particularly accentuated at the end of the Little Ice Age in western and central Mediterranean areas (Diodato et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intra‐annual rainfall variability in the Spanish hydrographic basins

García-Barrón

Alba

Morales

et al. 2017

Intl Journal of Climatology

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Understanding the intra‐annual distribution of rainfall is an important element for climatic classification and serves as a basis for natural resources management. The present study analyses multi‐annual irregularities of the rainfall distribution throughout the year in the period 1941–2010, in the hydrographic basins of the Iberian Peninsula. In order to analyse its variation, the rainfall centralisation and dispersion parameters throughout the annual cycle were previously defined and calculated for each year. Inter‐annual series of both parameters were generated, which allowed detecting their temporal behaviour in each of the basins and relating differentiated geographic areas. Independent of the total annual rainfall, greater temporal simultaneity is observed in the fluctuations of the intra‐annual parameter ‘centralisation’ in the Atlantic basins and wider inter‐annual oscillations in the Mediterranean basins. Around the year 1970, there was a displacement in the predominance of autumn rains, although the process is inverted in the last decades. Also from the decade of 1970 there is a general increase in the inter‐annual variability of the ‘dispersion’ parameter, especially in the basins that drain towards the Atlantic Ocean. The ‘dispersion’ parameter allows detecting latitudinal (Cantabrian vs. Guadalquivir) and longitudinal (Atlantic vs. Mediterranean) patterns of intra‐annual rainfall distribution irregularity in the Iberian Peninsula. The results obtained are also associated to atmospheric general circulation patterns of the North Atlantic Oscillation and the Western Mediterranean Oscillation. The monthly winter values of the North Atlantic Oscillation present a marked influence on dispersion, especially in the basins that discharge into the Atlantic Ocean, which show a double gradient: decreasing longitudinally from the Atlantic coast to the Mediterranean coast and latitudinally from north to south.

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“…In addition, land use may also play a role. In south‐western Spain, many areas were uninhabited until the middle of the 20 th century because of the low fertility of the soil and the high risk of malaria; consequently, local flora and fauna were at least partly protected (Sousa, García‐Barrón, García‐Murillo, Vetter, & Morales, ; Sousa, Morales, García‐Barrón, & García‐Murillo, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying areas of aquatic plant richness in a Mediterranean hotspot to improve the conservation of freshwater ecosystems

Rodríguez‐Merino

Fernández‐Zamudio

García‐Murillo

2019

Aquatic Conservation

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Identifying priority conservation areas is essential for minimizing the loss of biodiversity. Aquatic plants are of particular interest because their contribution to biodiversity is poorly understood and they play a central role in aquatic inland ecosystems. This study thus aimed to identify the areas on the Iberian Peninsula that contain the most aquatic plant species. It also explored the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in conserving aquatic plants. To describe macroecological patterns of aquatic plant richness, species distribution models based on bioclimatic factors were generated using maximum entropy modelling. The results were used to identify high‐richness areas of potential conservation interest. Employing gap analysis, the overlap between these areas and the Natura 2000 network was examined to evaluate the effectiveness of the network. The species studied had been recorded in just 34.98% (2172/6209) of the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) grid cells examined, meaning that 65.02% of the cells contained no species records. The gap analysis indicated that at least 2.27% of the cells represented areas of high conservation potential. This research underscores the limited effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network in protecting aquatic plants and shows that a high proportion of the aquatic ecosystems studied are subject to severe human pressures. The results of this work provide highly relevant and valuable information on the less‐studied regions of the Iberian Peninsula. Overall, the findings presented here should greatly inform the development of more objective strategies for conserving zones with a high diversity of aquatic plants. The information acquired should be used in future efforts to identify new priority conservation areas and assess those already in place.

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Changes in theErica ciliarisLoefl. ex L. peat bogs of southwestern Europe from the 17th to the 20th centuriesad

Cited by 24 publications

References 57 publications

Effect of Protection Level in the Hydroperiod of Water Bodies on Doñana’s Aeolian Sands

Effect of Protection Level in the Hydroperiod of Water Bodies on Doñana’s Aeolian Sands

Intra‐annual rainfall variability in the Spanish hydrographic basins

Identifying areas of aquatic plant richness in a Mediterranean hotspot to improve the conservation of freshwater ecosystems

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