Divergent Fire Regimes in Two Contrasting Mediterranean Chestnut Forest Landscapes

The chestnut tree (Castanea spp.) is an important resource worldwide. It is cultivated due to the high value of its fruits and wood. The evolution between Castanea biodiversity and humans has resulted in the spread of chestnut genetic diversity. In 2019, the chestnut tree area worldwide was approximately 596 × 103 ha for fruit production (Southern Europe, Southwestern United States of America, and Asia). In Europe 311 × 103 t were produced. Five genetic poles can be identified: three in Greece, the northwest coast of the Iberian Peninsula, and the rest of the Mediterranean. Over the years, there have been some productivity changes, in part associated with climate change. Climate is considered one of the main drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem change. In the future, new challenges associated with climate change are expected, which could threaten this crop. It is essential to identify the impacts of climate change on chestnut trees, improving the current understanding of climate-tree interconnections. To deal with these projected changes adaptation strategies must be planned. This manuscript demonstrates the impacts of climate change on chestnut cultivation, reviewing the most recent studies on the subject. Furthermore, an analysis of possible adaptation strategies against the potentially negative impacts was studied.

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“… The distribution area of sweet chestnut ( Castanea sativa ) forests throughout Europe (2020), according to [ 16 , 17 , 18 ]. …”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Europe, chestnut trees are documented since Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire [ 15 ]. As above mentioned, Castanea sativa , commonly known as European sweet chestnut, is the most important species in Europe, mainly located in Western and Southern Europe ( Figure 2 ) [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Climate Change on Chestnut Trees: A Review

Freitas

Santos

Silva

et al. 2021

Plants

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“…Very low CHAR at Tiemblo could be related to a certain type of limitation on the spread of fire at mid‐elevations or reduced forest fuel availability, for example, under cooler summer temperatures. It could be also linked to the fact that chestnut forest is constantly under anthropic management for the exploitation of its fruits (chestnuts) and timber, making it more difficult to burn (Seijo et al, ). Fire has been also a major disturbance affecting Gredos range landscapes during the last 300 years (Modern period), when both fire frequency and fire episodes have increased in these mountains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleofire Dynamics in Central Spain during the Late Holocene: The Role of Climatic and Anthropogenic Forcing

López‐Sáez¹,

Vargas

Fernández

et al. 2017

Land Degrad Dev

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The use of fire and, consequently, its severity and incidence on the environment have grown steadily during the last millennia throughout the Mediterranean. This issue can be assessed in several mountain ranges of central Iberia where changes in the management policy on anthropic activities and exploitation of high‐mountain environments have promoted a remarkable increase on fire frequency. Our research focuses on fire dynamics throughout the last 3,000 years from three peat bog charcoal records of the Gredos range (central Iberia). Our aim is to reconstruct past fire regimes according to forest vegetation typology (Castanea sativa, Pinus pinaster, and Pinus sylvestris). Charcoal influx shows low values between 3,140 and 1,800 cal. year bp when forests were relatively dense in both high and mid‐mountain areas. Fire appeared synchronous between 1,800 and 1,700 cal. year bp for Lanzahíta and Serranillos and around 1,400–1,240 cal. year bp for the three sites, suggesting anthropogenic fire control between the Late Roman and Visigothic periods that can be related to the cultivation of olive trees in the valleys and a greater human impact in high‐mountain areas. By contrast, during the Muslim period (1,240–850 cal. year bp), fire dynamics becomes asynchronous. Later, fires turn again coeval in the Gredos range during the Christian period (850–500 cal. year bp) and can be also correlated with drought phases during the Late Medieval Warm Episode. In short, our study demonstrates that fire activity has been enormously variable during the late Holocene in response to both short‐term and long‐term regional and global climate, vegetation dynamics, and land use changes. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…The "dehesa" is one of these traditional landscape types characterized by an open, old growth forest structure with an abundant grass understory. The decline of extensive agro-silvopastoral activities, the re-orientation of the rural economy towards intensive forestry and agricultural practices, tourism and residential uses and the increase in forest fires are convergent phenomena in the woodlands of Spain which threaten landscape resilience to global environmental change drivers (Seijo et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Currently, the abandonment of management for the sake of "rewilding" and the evolution of these traditionally open canopy oak forests to closed canopy oak forests is not devoid of both social and ecological risks (Cronon 1996;Moreira et al, 2020). In particular, it is difficult to monetize the added value of these "rewilded" forests for local economies and the resulting new forested landscapes generate uncertainties regarding their mitigation potential to new global environmental challenges such as carbon sequestration, drought resilience, wildfire risk, hydrology, etc., overall decreasing the ecosystem services/ disservices ratio (Sjölund and Jump 2013;Seijo et al, 2017;Domingo et al, 2020;Varela et al, 2020). Hence, the development of local initiatives in favor of traditional pollarding tree practices and agro-silvopastoralism constitutes an opportunity for sustainable forest management and biodiversity preservation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Can Neo-Rural Initiatives Bolster Community Resilience in Depopulated Coupled Human and Natural System?: Insights From Stakeholder Perceptions in Central Spain

Sansilvestri¹,

Lúcio

Seijo³

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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Preindustrial era agro-sylvopastoral land uses have influenced structure, function and disturbance in Mediterranean type mountainous landscapes for millennia. In this study we analyze through semi-structured interviews, stakeholder perceptions of coupled human and natural system (CHANS) community resilience in one such landscape; the municipality of Puebla de la Sierra, Madrid. The municipality is part of the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra del Rincon and the Natura 2000 network and as such is subject to various conservationist regulations emanating from multiple levels of governance. In the preindustrial past most municipal lands formed an oak “dehesa” or open forest CHANS that made biomass extraction through pollarding compatible with pastoralism and shifting agriculture. After a period of rapid land-use change in the early 20th century—marked by the state led plantation of coniferous forests, the final decades of the last century were characterized by rural abandonment and the collapse of traditional forms of land use as well as the gradual transformation of the municipality into an eco-touristic, exurban destination for Madrid residents. More recently, the municipality has experienced an influx of neo-rural settlers in the area wishing to connect traditional knowledge and management with modern agro-environmental practices. In our study, we identify two limiting factors to community resilience in Puebla de la Sierra; governance and financing. The current governance model is perceived by respondents to be contrary to their reality and needs, which translates into environmental, urban and health regulations that, in their views, penalizes agroecological and small-scale economic activities. In addition, respondents believe there is a dearth of material and financial resources to initiate these transformative local actions which further weakens community resilience. Stakeholders however also identified other factors that reinforce community resilience such as a collective willingness to revive key traditional ecosystem management practices such as pollarding, the networks of trust existing between the people participating in these new initiatives and the capacity for deliberating between different visions of future development pathways amongst local stakeholders.

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Divergent Fire Regimes in Two Contrasting Mediterranean Chestnut Forest Landscapes

Cited by 12 publications

References 43 publications

Influence of Climate Change on Chestnut Trees: A Review

Influence of Climate Change on Chestnut Trees: A Review

Paleofire Dynamics in Central Spain during the Late Holocene: The Role of Climatic and Anthropogenic Forcing

Can Neo-Rural Initiatives Bolster Community Resilience in Depopulated Coupled Human and Natural System?: Insights From Stakeholder Perceptions in Central Spain

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