Soil Erosion and Runoff Generation Related to Land Use Changes in the Pyrenees

García‐Ruiz, José María; Lasanta, Teodoro; Valero, Blas; Martí, C.; Beguerı́a, Santiago; López‐Moreno, Juan I.; Regüés, D.; Lana-Renault, Noemí

doi:10.1007/1-4020-3508-x_32

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Several studies related the increase of gullying processes to land use changes (Vanwalleghem et al, ; Lesschen et al, ). In Mediterranean region changes have been associated to vineyards (Martínez‐Casasnovas et al, ), cultivated areas in catchments and grazing intensity (Gómez Gutiérrez et al, ) as well as abandonment of the agricultural lands (Vacca et al, ; Bakker et al, ; García‐Ruiz et al, ; Cammeraat et al, ; Nunes et al, ). Often gully initiation seems to be also linked to deforestation and forest fires (Valentin et al, ; Menéndez‐Duarte et al, ; Cannon et al, ), but in our study fire was not significantly related to gully occurrence.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

“…During recent decades the landscape has undergone transformations because of the abandonment of traditional practices. Since the 1950s, there has been a steady abandonment of farmland, especially in mountain areas, leading to an increase in forestlands, and urban areas have been enlarged because of growing population (Poyatos et al, 2003;García-Ruiz et al, 2005;López-Moreno et al, 2006). Another common feature of the region is the recurrence of large fires, especially in recent decades (González & Pukkala, 2007), that often have left large areas with no vegetation and thus vulnerable to soil erosion (Pardini et al, 2004).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing Gully Erosion Occurrence in Forest Lands in Catalonia (Spain)

Selkimäki

2016

Land Degrad Dev

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Gully erosion is an important land degradation process affecting soils around the world. This paper studies gully erosion in forest lands, analysing related local and environmental factors influencing its occurrence in Catalonia (north-east Spain). The data on gully erosion are based on observations from the Third Spanish National Forest Inventory, and include 157 plots with gully erosion and 9932 non-eroded plots for reference. The variables studied as potentially related to gully erosion occurrence included characteristics of the forest plots and variables describing drainage areas, such as land use configuration and edaphic and geological characteristics. For evaluating these factors affecting on gully erosion occurrence, a binary logistic model with stepwise selection of variables was used. The final model explained 30·4% of the variance. According to the results, the probability of gully erosion occurrence was increased with larger drainage area, steeper slope, presence of fine textured soils, increased urban land use and presence of unpaved roads. On the other hand, the dominance of forest and the presence of paved roads on the drainage area diminished gully erosion probability. The presented model can be used for mapping the areas with higher gully erosion risk, in an effort to direct land use planning and management in order to mitigate soil losses.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 65%

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Gully Erosion Occurrence in Forest Lands in Catalonia (Spain)

Selkimäki

2016

Land Degrad Dev

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“…A first priority was not to increase soil erosion, as soil is a very scarce and unstable resource in the Pyrenees (García- Ruiz et al, 2005). Ruiz-Flaño et al (1992) show the significant roles that slope and human management have on triggering different erosion processes with variable erosion rates.…”

Section: Development Of Scenariomentioning

confidence: 99%

Using landscape ecology to evaluate an alternative management scenario in abandoned Mediterranean mountain areas

Lasanta

Gonzalez‐Hidalgo

Vicente‐Serrano

et al. 2006

Landscape and Urban Planning

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108

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The main characteristic of landscape evolution in the Pyrenees during the 20th century is the increased presence of shrubs in old fields. Revegetation is mainly recorded on medium and low slopes because of land abandonment. The increase in shrubs causes the loss of grazing resources during winter, landscape homogenization and an increase in fire risk. The objective of this paper was to create a scenario for land use change by combining Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Landscape Ecology Analysis (LEA). To improve the present seasonal imbalance in pastoral resources, the scenario proposes to convert shrubland areas to grasslands without an excessive increase in soil erosion or landscape fragmentation. The results obtained indicate that the strategy produces greater landscape diversity and an increase in annual pasture resources (16.7%), which exceeds 60% of total in winter. The effects of landscape fragmentation on biodiversity, fire risk control and the imbalance of pastures are discussed. The scenario would improve extensive livestock farming, which is the most important economic activity in this area and other Mediterranean mountains.

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“…Since the 1950s, there has been a steady abandonment of farmland, especially in mountain areas, leading to an increase in the forest land area. In addition, urban areas have been enlarged due to the combined dynamics of population growth and the movement of people from rural areas to cities (Poyatos et al 2003;García-Ruiz et al 2005;López-Moreno et al 2006).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ameztegui et al 2015;Cervera et al 2019). In addition, landuse changes to vineyards (Martínez-Casasnovas et al 2009) and abandonment of agricultural lands (García-Ruiz et al 2005) have been associated with increased sediment losses from gullying processes. The results related the increase of the urban areas to gully erosion occurrence, as urban construction typically causes changes in the local hydrology, reducing soil infiltration capacity, increasing surface run-off and increasing the soil erosion risk near urban areas (Junior et al 2010;Leh et al 2013).…”

Section: Landscape-level Factors Related To Erosionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating erosion risk into forest management in Catalonia, Spain

Selkimäki¹

2020

Diss. For.

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Soil erosion processes are common in Mediterranean areas due to its climatic conditions, abrupt topography, and its long history of human influence and intensive land management. Forests have a fundamental protective role in combatting soil erosion and land degradation. This research focused on i) assessing soil erosion on forest lands linked to forest variables, and ii) integrating erosion risk into forest management and planning. In more detail, the first goal focused on the relation between erosion occurrence and possible influencing factors such as forest structure and composition, site and land-use characteristics, and, based on this, integrating erosion protection as an objective into multi-functional forest management. The data source was the Spanish National Forest Inventory, which provided erosion records as well as traditional tree and plot measurements. The modelling methods used included classification trees and binary logistic regression analysis. Models were developed for the stand and landscape levels to predict the probability of erosion. Erosion risk was also studied spatially by producing maps based on the predictions of the models. Finally, the models were integrated into a simulation optimisation system in order to assess management alternatives. The results show that, at the stand level, a higher probability of surface erosion occurrence was strongly related to the forest type and stand structure. For example, sparse stands on slopes in semiarid areas and dense stands with large trees in pure Abies alba and Facus sylvatica forest had higher erosion probability. At the landscape level, a low stand basal area, andisol and cambisol soil types, large size and steep slope of the drainage area, the presence of unpaved roads and increased urban land use resulted in a higher probability of gully erosion. Based on the developed models, erosion protection was used as the management objective in multi-functional forest planning at the stand level, together with timber production and structural diversity. The results demonstrated evident trade-offs between these ecosystem services, depending on the steepness of the slope. The results of this work can help to identify forest areas vulnerable to soil erosion. It provides tools to integrate erosion risk into forest planning, thus enhancing the use of forests in erosion protection in sensitive Mediterranean areas.

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Soil Erosion and Runoff Generation Related to Land Use Changes in the Pyrenees

Cited by 4 publications

References 18 publications

Assessing Gully Erosion Occurrence in Forest Lands in Catalonia (Spain)

Assessing Gully Erosion Occurrence in Forest Lands in Catalonia (Spain)

Using landscape ecology to evaluate an alternative management scenario in abandoned Mediterranean mountain areas

Integrating erosion risk into forest management in Catalonia, Spain

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