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This essay approaches land degradation by targeting its ultimate thermodynamic causes, rather than its immediate environmental consequences. The objective is to make some propositions that could help understand the essence of the process, and contribute to a theoretical framework to be developed. These propositions are: 1. Human populations are an ecosystem component, not an external driver. 2. Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) tend to increase their overall complexity over time. CHANS complexity cannot feasibly be managed. 3. CHANS are made up of two types of subsystems, a consuming Foreland (FL) consisting of the human population, and a producing Backland (BL) in its environment. 4. The FL maintains its order at the expense of simplifying the BL, which becomes an entropy sink. This is the essence of ecological degradation, which is inherent to CHANS persistence. 5. Land degradation is an ecological state, not a landscape type. Hence it should be assessed within a complete range of states of ecological maturity. 6. Land use creates degradation proportional to the simplification of the ecosystems involved. Such degradation can be defined as a decrease in exergy, and results in loss of management options. Three associated corollaries are: a) A more effective target may be to regulate rather than attempt to eliminate land degradation; b) Monitoring ecological degradation trajectories may be more effective than assessing land degradation states; c) Land degradation can be decreased by maximizing the potential for interconversion between land uses.
Gabriel del Barrio; Maria E. Sanjuán; Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; Alberto Ruiz; Juan Puigdefábregas. Land degradation means a loss of management options. Journal of Arid Environments 2021, 189, 104502 .
AMA StyleGabriel del Barrio, Maria E. Sanjuán, Jaime Martínez-Valderrama, Alberto Ruiz, Juan Puigdefábregas. Land degradation means a loss of management options. Journal of Arid Environments. 2021; 189 ():104502.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGabriel del Barrio; Maria E. Sanjuán; Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; Alberto Ruiz; Juan Puigdefábregas. 2021. "Land degradation means a loss of management options." Journal of Arid Environments 189, no. : 104502.
The stabling of livestock farming implies changes in both local ecosystems (regeneration of forest stands via reduced grazing) and those located thousands of kilometers away (deforestation to produce grain for feeding livestock). Despite their importance, these externalities are poorly known. Here we evaluated how the intensification and confinement of livestock in Spain has affected forest surface changes there and in South America, the largest provider of soybeans for animal feed to the European Union. For this purpose, we have used Spanish soybean import data from Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina and a land condition map of Spain. The area of secondary forest in Spain that has regenerated as a result of livestock stabling has been ~7000 kha for the decade 2000–2010. In the same period, 1220 kha of high value South American ecosystems (e.g. Chaco dry Forest, Amazonian rainforest or Cerrado) have been deforested. While these figures may offer a favorable interpretation of the current industrial livestock production, it is not possible to speak of compensation when comparing the destruction of well-structured ecosystems, such as primary South American forests, with the creation of secondary forest landscapes in Spain, which are also prone to wildfires. Our results highlight how evaluating land use change policies at a national or regional level is an incomplete exercise in our highly telecoupled and globalized world.
Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; María Sanjuán; Gabriel del Barrio; Emilio Guirado; Alberto Ruiz; Fernando Maestre. Mediterranean Landscape Re-Greening at the Expense of South American Agricultural Expansion. Land 2021, 10, 204 .
AMA StyleJaime Martínez-Valderrama, María Sanjuán, Gabriel del Barrio, Emilio Guirado, Alberto Ruiz, Fernando Maestre. Mediterranean Landscape Re-Greening at the Expense of South American Agricultural Expansion. Land. 2021; 10 (2):204.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJaime Martínez-Valderrama; María Sanjuán; Gabriel del Barrio; Emilio Guirado; Alberto Ruiz; Fernando Maestre. 2021. "Mediterranean Landscape Re-Greening at the Expense of South American Agricultural Expansion." Land 10, no. 2: 204.
Distribution area and surface are both parameters of paramount importance for habitat management, monitoring and conservation. Here we present the distribution of eight zonal forest types of mainland Spain that are consistent with the Habitat Types (HT) listed in Annex I of the European Union Habitats Directive 92/43 EC. Their dominant species and HT codes are Fagus sylvatica (9120, 9130 and 9150), Quercus robur and Q. pyrenaica (9230), Q. suber (9330), Pinus uncinata (9430), P. nigra ssp. salzmannii (9530) and P. pinea (subset of 9540). These distributions are based on tesserae from the 1:50,000 Spanish Forest Map and are the result of sorting assisted by supplementary databases. The distributions are presented as vector coverages, and provide three information levels of increasing detail: geographic distribution, basic forest type and structural forest patch. Two R scripts are also included with the dataset. They implement a segmented regression approach to investigate forest fragmentation on these or other patch-like data.
Rut Sánchez de Dios; Maria E. Sanjuán; Helios Sainz; Alberto Ruiz; Jaime Martínez Valderrama; Gabriel del Barrio. A dataset with complete geographic distributions of eight zonal monospecific forest types in mainland Spain. Data in Brief 2020, 34, 106681 .
AMA StyleRut Sánchez de Dios, Maria E. Sanjuán, Helios Sainz, Alberto Ruiz, Jaime Martínez Valderrama, Gabriel del Barrio. A dataset with complete geographic distributions of eight zonal monospecific forest types in mainland Spain. Data in Brief. 2020; 34 ():106681.
Chicago/Turabian StyleRut Sánchez de Dios; Maria E. Sanjuán; Helios Sainz; Alberto Ruiz; Jaime Martínez Valderrama; Gabriel del Barrio. 2020. "A dataset with complete geographic distributions of eight zonal monospecific forest types in mainland Spain." Data in Brief 34, no. : 106681.
This study quantifies patchiness of eight types of zonal forests in three biogeographic regions of mainland Spain (Atlantic, Alpine and Mediterranean) which together occupy 1,726,578 ha. Their dominant species and European Habitat Type codes (EU Directive 92/43 EEC) are: Fagus sylvatica (9120, 9130 and 9150), Quercus robur and Q. pyrenaica (9230), Q. suber (9330), Pinus uncinata (9430), P. nigra ssp. salzmannii (9530) and P. pinea (subset of 9540). We applied the Korcak’s exponent B, which describes a hyperbolic relationship between the cumulative frequency of the number of patches and their sizes. The objectives were: 1) detect possible patch size intervals in which B varies significantly, explicitly identifying area thresholds, and 2) contribute to development of a robust forest mass fragmentation indicator. Exponent B was found by segmented regression analysis. The vector data were extracted from a filtered version of the Spanish Forest Map 1:50,000 (1997–2006). After validating the procedure by applying it to a previously published dataset, we found that in all cases the patch size range could be split into two significant intervals around relatively small threshold areas of 27–101 ha. In the one on the left, the rate at which relatively large patches become less abundant was always very slow (B = 0.017–0.094). After this threshold had been passed, the rate increased abruptly (B = 1.100–2.590). Both this high fragmentation and its lack of parsimony were unexpected in zonal forest types. General interpretations converge to the coexistence of forest patches of different ages due to human pressure events.
Gabriel del Barrio; Helios Sainz; Maria E. Sanjuán; Rut Sánchez de Dios; Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; Alberto Ruiz. Abrupt fragmentation thresholds of eight zonal forest types in mainland Spain. Forest Ecology and Management 2020, 482, 118788 .
AMA StyleGabriel del Barrio, Helios Sainz, Maria E. Sanjuán, Rut Sánchez de Dios, Jaime Martínez-Valderrama, Alberto Ruiz. Abrupt fragmentation thresholds of eight zonal forest types in mainland Spain. Forest Ecology and Management. 2020; 482 ():118788.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGabriel del Barrio; Helios Sainz; Maria E. Sanjuán; Rut Sánchez de Dios; Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; Alberto Ruiz. 2020. "Abrupt fragmentation thresholds of eight zonal forest types in mainland Spain." Forest Ecology and Management 482, no. : 118788.
This work illustrates the application of a simulation model to analyse how swiftly large-scale land-use changes can drive broad territories to collapse. In this sense, the economic needs of a population should not clash with the natural environment but rather be reconciled with it. Abundant literature deals with the integration of socioeconomic drivers, ecological aspects, farming management, and climatology related to Algerian rangeland degradation. The present study seeks to compare the time course of Alfa grass biomass and the livestock raised on these distinctive rangelands under two different land-use strategies. The traditional one has nomads as the main inhabitants of these lands. For centuries, their strategy for alleviating pressure on resources was to move from one area to other. The more recent sedentary land-use leads to overgrazing supported by the massive use of cheap supplemental feed. Additionally, the model was used as a platform to launch scenarios for sustainable land-use management under a competitive market-economy. A key finding for preserving grazing resources was the increment of supplemental feed prices, which is compatible with stocking rates higher than the historical ones.
Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; Javier Ibáñez; Gabriel Del Barrio; Francisco J. Alcalá; Maria E. Sanjuán; Alberto Ruiz; Azziz Hirche; Juan Puigdefábregas. Doomed to collapse: Why Algerian steppe rangelands are overgrazed and some lessons to help land-use transitions. Science of The Total Environment 2017, 613-614, 1489 -1497.
AMA StyleJaime Martínez-Valderrama, Javier Ibáñez, Gabriel Del Barrio, Francisco J. Alcalá, Maria E. Sanjuán, Alberto Ruiz, Azziz Hirche, Juan Puigdefábregas. Doomed to collapse: Why Algerian steppe rangelands are overgrazed and some lessons to help land-use transitions. Science of The Total Environment. 2017; 613-614 ():1489-1497.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJaime Martínez-Valderrama; Javier Ibáñez; Gabriel Del Barrio; Francisco J. Alcalá; Maria E. Sanjuán; Alberto Ruiz; Azziz Hirche; Juan Puigdefábregas. 2017. "Doomed to collapse: Why Algerian steppe rangelands are overgrazed and some lessons to help land-use transitions." Science of The Total Environment 613-614, no. : 1489-1497.
Mitigation strategies are crucial for desertification given that once degradation starts, other solutions are extremely expensive or unworkable. Prevention is key to handle this problem and solutions should be based on spotting and deactivating the stressors of the system. Following this topic, the Spanish Plan of Action to Combat Desertification (SPACD) created the basis for implementing two innovative approaches to evaluate the threat of land degradation in the country. This paper presents tools for preventing desertification in the form of a geomatic approach to enable the periodic assessments of the status and trends of land condition. Also System Dynamics modelling has been used to integrate bio-physical and socio-economic aspects of desertification to explain and analyse degradation in the main hot spots detected in Spain. The 2dRUE procedure was implemented to map the land-condition status by comparing potential land productivity according to water availability, the limiting factor in arid lands, with plant-biomass data. This assessment showed that 20% of the territory is degraded and an additional 1% is actively degrading. System Dynamics modelling was applied to study the five desertification landscapes identified by the SPACD. The risk analysis, implemented on these models, concluded that ‘Herbaceous crops affected by soil erosion’ is the landscape most at risk, while the Plackett-Burman sensitivity analysis used to rank the factors highlighted the supremacy of climatic factors above socioeconomic drivers.
Jaime Martínez-Valderrama; Javier Ibáñez; Gabriel del Barrio; María E. Sanjuán; Francisco Alcala; Silvio Martínez-Vicente; Alberto Ruiz; Juan Puigdefábregas. Present and future of desertification in Spain: Implementation of a surveillance system to prevent land degradation. Science of The Total Environment 2016, 563-564, 169 -178.
AMA StyleJaime Martínez-Valderrama, Javier Ibáñez, Gabriel del Barrio, María E. Sanjuán, Francisco Alcala, Silvio Martínez-Vicente, Alberto Ruiz, Juan Puigdefábregas. Present and future of desertification in Spain: Implementation of a surveillance system to prevent land degradation. Science of The Total Environment. 2016; 563-564 ():169-178.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJaime Martínez-Valderrama; Javier Ibáñez; Gabriel del Barrio; María E. Sanjuán; Francisco Alcala; Silvio Martínez-Vicente; Alberto Ruiz; Juan Puigdefábregas. 2016. "Present and future of desertification in Spain: Implementation of a surveillance system to prevent land degradation." Science of The Total Environment 563-564, no. : 169-178.
States of ecological maturity and temporal trends of drylands in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia north of 28°N are reported for 1998–2008. The input data were Normalized Difference Vegetation Index databases and corresponding climate fields, at a spatial resolution of 1 km and a temporal resolution of one month. States convey opposing dynamics of human exploitation and ecological succession. They were identified synchronically for the full period by comparing each location to all other locations in the study area under equivalent aridity. Rain Use Efficiency (RUE) at two temporal scales was used to estimate proxies for biomass and turnover rate. Biomass trends were determined for every location by stepwise regression using time and aridity as predictors. This enabled human-induced degradation to be separated from simple responses to interannual climate variation. Some relevant findings include large areas of degraded land, albeit improving over time or fluctuating with climate, but rarely degrading further; smaller, but significant areas of mature and reference vegetation in most climate zones; very low overall active degradation rates throughout the area during the decade observed; biomass accumulation over time exceeding depletion in most zones; and negative feedback between land states and trends suggesting overall landscape persistence. Semiarid zones were found to be the most vulnerable. Those results can be disaggregated by country or province. The combination with existing land cover maps and national forest inventories leads to the information required by the two progress indicators associated with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification strategic objective to improve the conditions of ecosystems and with the Sustainable Development Goal Target 15.3 to achieve land degradation neutrality. Beyond that, the results are also useful as a basis for land management and restoration.
Gabriel Del Barrio; Maria E. Sanjuan; Azziz Hirche; Mohamed Yassin; Alberto Ruiz; Mohamed Ouessar; Jaime Martinez Valderrama; Bouajila Essifi; Juan Puigdefabregas. Land Degradation States and Trends in the Northwestern Maghreb Drylands, 1998–2008. Remote Sensing 2016, 8, 603 .
AMA StyleGabriel Del Barrio, Maria E. Sanjuan, Azziz Hirche, Mohamed Yassin, Alberto Ruiz, Mohamed Ouessar, Jaime Martinez Valderrama, Bouajila Essifi, Juan Puigdefabregas. Land Degradation States and Trends in the Northwestern Maghreb Drylands, 1998–2008. Remote Sensing. 2016; 8 (7):603.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGabriel Del Barrio; Maria E. Sanjuan; Azziz Hirche; Mohamed Yassin; Alberto Ruiz; Mohamed Ouessar; Jaime Martinez Valderrama; Bouajila Essifi; Juan Puigdefabregas. 2016. "Land Degradation States and Trends in the Northwestern Maghreb Drylands, 1998–2008." Remote Sensing 8, no. 7: 603.
Climate archives are time series. They are used to assess temporal trends of a climate-dependent target variable, and to make climate atlases. A high-resolution gridded dataset with 1728 layers of monthly mean maximum, mean and mean minimum temperatures and precipitation for the NW Maghreb (28°N–37.3°N, 12°W–12°E, ~1-km resolution) from 1973 through 2008 is presented. The surfaces were spatially interpolated by ANUSPLIN, a thin-plate smoothing spline technique approved by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), from georeferenced climate records drawn from the Global Surface Summary of the Day (GSOD) and the Global Historical Climatology Network-Monthly (GHCN-Monthly version 3) products. Absolute errors for surface temperatures are approximately 0.5 °C for mean and mean minimum temperatures, and peak up to 1.76 °C for mean maximum temperatures in summer months. For precipitation, the mean absolute error ranged from 1.2 to 2.5 mm, but very low summer precipitation caused relative errors of up to 40% in July. The archive successfully captures climate variations associated with large to medium geographic gradients. This includes the main aridity gradient which increases in the S and SE, as well as its breaking points, marked by the Atlas mountain range. It also conveys topographic effects linked to kilometric relief mesoforms.
Alberto Ruiz; Maria E. Sanjuan; Juan Puigdefabregas; Gabriel Del Barrio. A 1973–2008 Archive of Climate Surfaces for NW Maghreb. Data 2016, 1, 8 .
AMA StyleAlberto Ruiz, Maria E. Sanjuan, Juan Puigdefabregas, Gabriel Del Barrio. A 1973–2008 Archive of Climate Surfaces for NW Maghreb. Data. 2016; 1 (2):8.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAlberto Ruiz; Maria E. Sanjuan; Juan Puigdefabregas; Gabriel Del Barrio. 2016. "A 1973–2008 Archive of Climate Surfaces for NW Maghreb." Data 1, no. 2: 8.
Ashraf Afana; Gabriel Del Barrio. Insights on channel networks delineated from digital elevation models. Monitoring and Modelling Dynamic Environments 2015, 225 -245.
AMA StyleAshraf Afana, Gabriel Del Barrio. Insights on channel networks delineated from digital elevation models. Monitoring and Modelling Dynamic Environments. 2015; ():225-245.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAshraf Afana; Gabriel Del Barrio. 2015. "Insights on channel networks delineated from digital elevation models." Monitoring and Modelling Dynamic Environments , no. : 225-245.
Dragon is a cooperation Programme between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of the P.R. China. The Programme, initiated in 2004, focuses on the exploitation of ESA, Third Party Missions (TPM) and Chinese Earth Observation (EO) data for geo-science and applications development in land, ocean and atmospheric applications. In particular, the Programme brings together joint Sino- European teams to investigate 50 thematic projects. In this paper, the results of the research projects1 in the thematic field “Land and Environment” will be briefly presented, whereas emphasis will be given in the assessment of the usefulness of the results for an integrated assessment of the state of the environment in the respective study areas. Furthermore new knowledge gained in such fields as desertification assessment, drought and epidemics’ monitoring, forest modeling, cropwatch monitoring, climate change vulnerability (including climate change adaptation and mitigation plans), urbanization monitoring and land use/cover change assessment and monitoring, will be presented. Such knowledge will be also linked to the capacities of Earth Observation systems (and of the respective EO data) to support the temporal, spatial and spectral requirements of the research studies. The potential of DRAGON to support such targets as “technology and knowledge transfer at the bilateral level”, “common EO database for exploitation” and “data sharing and open access data policy” will be also presented. Finally special consideration will be given in highlighting the replication potential of the techniques as developed in the course of the projects, as well as on the importance of the scientific results for environmental policy drafting and decision making.
C. Cartalis; D. N. Asimakopoulos; Y. Ban; Y. Bao; Y. Bi; P. Defourny; G. Del Barrio; J. Fan; Z. Gao; H. Gong; J. Gong; P. Gong; C. Li; S. Pignatti; A. Sarris; G. Yang. EARTH OBSERVATION IN SUPPORT OF SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD “LAND AND ENVIRONMENT”: SYNTHESIS RESULTS FROM THE ESA-MOST DRAGON COOPERATION PROGRAMME. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences 2015, XL-7/W3, 1075 -1081.
AMA StyleC. Cartalis, D. N. Asimakopoulos, Y. Ban, Y. Bao, Y. Bi, P. Defourny, G. Del Barrio, J. Fan, Z. Gao, H. Gong, J. Gong, P. Gong, C. Li, S. Pignatti, A. Sarris, G. Yang. EARTH OBSERVATION IN SUPPORT OF SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD “LAND AND ENVIRONMENT”: SYNTHESIS RESULTS FROM THE ESA-MOST DRAGON COOPERATION PROGRAMME. The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. 2015; XL-7/W3 ():1075-1081.
Chicago/Turabian StyleC. Cartalis; D. N. Asimakopoulos; Y. Ban; Y. Bao; Y. Bi; P. Defourny; G. Del Barrio; J. Fan; Z. Gao; H. Gong; J. Gong; P. Gong; C. Li; S. Pignatti; A. Sarris; G. Yang. 2015. "EARTH OBSERVATION IN SUPPORT OF SCIENCE AND APPLICATIONS DEVELOPMENT IN THE FIELD “LAND AND ENVIRONMENT”: SYNTHESIS RESULTS FROM THE ESA-MOST DRAGON COOPERATION PROGRAMME." The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences XL-7/W3, no. : 1075-1081.
Land degradation in Inner Mongolia, China is much severe. Remote sensing application on land degradation assessment can provide scientific basis for land degradation prevention in the study area. In this paper, land degradation was assessed by applying two improved relative Rain Use Efficiency (RUE) indicators based on time series MODIS NDVI data and high-resolution meteorological data from 2001 to 2010. The results show that 76.74% land of the whole study area with good or unusually good condition, it indicates that the most areas have normal or good vegetation production capacity. The unusually degraded and degraded lands account for 11.94% of the study area, especially they are less degraded lands distributing in Beijing and Tianjin sandstorm source region within the Inner Mongolia, it indicates that some ecological engineering projects implemented in this area have achieved significantly for restoration of degraded ecosystems in recent 10 years.
Zhihai Gao; Bin Sun; Gabriel Del Barrio; Xiaosong Li; Hongyan Wang; Lina Bai; Bengyu Wang; Wangfei Zhang. Land degradation assessment by applying relative rue in Inner Mongolia, China, 20012010. 2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2014, 1449 -1452.
AMA StyleZhihai Gao, Bin Sun, Gabriel Del Barrio, Xiaosong Li, Hongyan Wang, Lina Bai, Bengyu Wang, Wangfei Zhang. Land degradation assessment by applying relative rue in Inner Mongolia, China, 20012010. 2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. 2014; ():1449-1452.
Chicago/Turabian StyleZhihai Gao; Bin Sun; Gabriel Del Barrio; Xiaosong Li; Hongyan Wang; Lina Bai; Bengyu Wang; Wangfei Zhang. 2014. "Land degradation assessment by applying relative rue in Inner Mongolia, China, 20012010." 2014 IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium , no. : 1449-1452.
Conservation networks, such as the European Natura 2000, are sets of designated reserves, the persistence of which requires the contribution of the non-protected territory in terms of connectivity. For that reason, the European Union´s Habitats Directive urges the improvement of its ecological coherence. This work reports a spatial modelling methodology to complete the existing Natura 2000 network in the Basque Country with elements of ecological connectivity. It is based on cost surfaces built for a set of target species associated with the dominant habitats of the region. Least-cost paths were then used to identify zones of probable connection between reserves. The final network is made of core areas, link corridors, link areas and buffer zones, all with an explicit spatial allocation. The regional government of the Basque Country subsequently incorporated this ecological network as a reference for the evaluation of regional development plans in 2005.
Mikel Gurrutxaga; Pedro J. Lozano; Gabriel del Barrio. GIS-based approach for incorporating the connectivity of ecological networks into regional planning. Journal for Nature Conservation 2010, 18, 318 -326.
AMA StyleMikel Gurrutxaga, Pedro J. Lozano, Gabriel del Barrio. GIS-based approach for incorporating the connectivity of ecological networks into regional planning. Journal for Nature Conservation. 2010; 18 (4):318-326.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMikel Gurrutxaga; Pedro J. Lozano; Gabriel del Barrio. 2010. "GIS-based approach for incorporating the connectivity of ecological networks into regional planning." Journal for Nature Conservation 18, no. 4: 318-326.
22 páginas, 10 figuras, 6 tablas.Some highways were built in the Basque country before environmental impactud assessment processes required the implementation of wildlife crossing structures. Some highwayud sectors were selected because they intersected with sites of high landscape connectivity betweenud protected natural areas. These were identified using a Geographic Information System-basedud connectivity model that represented the spatial ecology of large and medium-sized mammalud species. Permeability of road sectors was analysed by calculating the density of crossingud structures considered adequate for target species and comparing it with the recommended densityud in technical prescriptions for new highways. Additionally, factors that could limit movementud across these structures were also analysed, such as the shortage of forest cover in the surroundingsud or the presence of obstacles. An approximation of permeability deficits has been obtained, and aud set of corrective measures that must be implemented into landscape defragmentation frameworksud has been identified.This research was supported by: ‘Red de corredores ecolo´ gicos de la CAPV’ projectud from the Environment and Regional Planning Department of the Basqueud Government commissioned to IKT, S.A.; ‘Sistema´ tica, biogeografı´ a y dina´ mica deud poblaciones’ Research Group (IT317-10) from the Department of Education,ud Universities and Research of the Basque Government; UE07/02 project from theud University of Basque Country and IKT, S.A.; and ‘Eko-lurraldea’ project fromud Basque Government.Peer reviewe
Mikel Gurrutxaga; Pedro J. Lozano; Gabriel Del Barrio. Assessing Highway Permeability for the Restoration of Landscape Connectivity between Protected Areas in the Basque Country, Northern Spain. Landscape Research 2010, 35, 529 -550.
AMA StyleMikel Gurrutxaga, Pedro J. Lozano, Gabriel Del Barrio. Assessing Highway Permeability for the Restoration of Landscape Connectivity between Protected Areas in the Basque Country, Northern Spain. Landscape Research. 2010; 35 (5):529-550.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMikel Gurrutxaga; Pedro J. Lozano; Gabriel Del Barrio. 2010. "Assessing Highway Permeability for the Restoration of Landscape Connectivity between Protected Areas in the Basque Country, Northern Spain." Landscape Research 35, no. 5: 529-550.
Diagnosis of land condition is a basic prerequisite for finding the degradation of a territory under climatic and human pressures leading to desertification. Ecosystemic approaches, such as the one presented here, address ecosystem maturity or resilience. They are low cost, not very prone to error propagation and well-suited to implementation on remotely sensed time–series data covering large areas. The purposes of this work were to develop a land condition surveillance methodology based on the amount of biomass produced per unit rainfall, and to test it on the Iberian Peninsula. In this article, we propose parallel and complementary synchronic assessment and diachronic monitoring procedures to overcome the paradox of monitoring as a sequence of assessments. This is intrinsically contradictory when dealing with complex landscape mosaics, as relative estimators commonly produced for assessment are often difficult to set in a meaningful time sequence. Our approach is built on monthly time–series of two types of data, a vegetation density estimator (Green Vegetation Fraction-GVF) derived from Global Environmental Monitoring satellite archives, and corresponding interpolated climate fields. Rain Use Efficiency (RUE) is computed on two time scales to generate assessment classes. This enables detrended comparisons across different climate zones and provides automatic detection of reference areas to obtain relative RUE. The monitoring procedure uses raw GVF change rates over time and aridity in a stepwise regression to generate subclasses of discriminated trends for those drivers. The results of assessment and monitoring are then combined to yield the land condition diagnostics through explicit rules that associate their respective categories. The approach was tested in the Iberian Peninsula for the period 1989 to 2000 using monthly GVF images derived from the 1-km MEDOKADS archive based on the NOAA-AVHRR sensors, and a corresponding archive of climate variables. The resulting land condition was validated against independent data from the Natura 2000 network of conservation reserves. In very general terms, land was found to be healthier than expected, with localised spots of ongoing degradation that were associated with current or recent intensive land use. Static or positive vegetation growth rates were detected almost everywhere, including Mediterranean areas that had undergone increased aridification during the study period. Interestingly, degrading or static trends prevailed in degraded or unusually degraded land, whereas trends to improve were most represented in land in good or unusually good condition.
Gabriel Del Barrio; Juan Puigdefábregas; Maria E. Sanjuán; Marion Stellmes; Alberto Ruiz. Assessment and monitoring of land condition in the Iberian Peninsula, 1989–2000. Remote Sensing of Environment 2010, 114, 1817 -1832.
AMA StyleGabriel Del Barrio, Juan Puigdefábregas, Maria E. Sanjuán, Marion Stellmes, Alberto Ruiz. Assessment and monitoring of land condition in the Iberian Peninsula, 1989–2000. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2010; 114 (8):1817-1832.
Chicago/Turabian StyleGabriel Del Barrio; Juan Puigdefábregas; Maria E. Sanjuán; Marion Stellmes; Alberto Ruiz. 2010. "Assessment and monitoring of land condition in the Iberian Peninsula, 1989–2000." Remote Sensing of Environment 114, no. 8: 1817-1832.
G Del Barrio; G Tsiourlis; V Papanastasis; Tobias Kuemmerle. Geomatics-based characterization of spatial and temporal trends in heterogeneous Mediterranean rangelands of Northern Greece. International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Book Series 2009, 281 -299.
AMA StyleG Del Barrio, G Tsiourlis, V Papanastasis, Tobias Kuemmerle. Geomatics-based characterization of spatial and temporal trends in heterogeneous Mediterranean rangelands of Northern Greece. International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Book Series. 2009; ():281-299.
Chicago/Turabian StyleG Del Barrio; G Tsiourlis; V Papanastasis; Tobias Kuemmerle. 2009. "Geomatics-based characterization of spatial and temporal trends in heterogeneous Mediterranean rangelands of Northern Greece." International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing (ISPRS) Book Series , no. : 281-299.
In this study a link was established between anomalies in climatic and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)/Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data in Spain for the period from 1989 to 1999 on a monthly and annual basis using multivariate distributed lag (DL) models and generalized least‐square (GLS) parameter estimation. In most areas significant time‐delayed correlation between anomalies of monthly rainfall and NDVI data was confined to an interval of 1 month. Locally higher lag orders of up to 3 months were found. By contrast, relationships between surface temperature and the NDVI were insignificant in the multivariate context at most locations. The multiple correlation coefficients of the DL models achieved 0.6 in the maximum. Regions characterized by the most significant NDVI–rainfall correlations include the southern forelands of the Pyrenees in Catalũna, rainfed agricultural areas in Extremadura, Andalusia, and the western parts of Castilla y Leon. Average ratios of rainfall to potential evapotranspiration (PET) in the sensitive areas ranged between 0.5 and 2, with annual rainfall amounts less than 700 mm. For each land‐cover class a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was carried out to assess the environmental factors that might explain the differences in the NDVI–rainfall relationships. The highest discriminant coefficients and factor loadings were recorded for those factors that recurrently trigger water deficit in the sensitive regions, such as low total annual rainfall, large seasonal rainfall variability, high average PET and surface temperature. On the annual basis the lagged correlation of the NDVI and rainfall data was confined to natural vegetation (grassland and scrubland) areas in western Spain. This region suffered from a severe drought in the early 1990s, after which biomass production lagged several years behind improved rainfall conditions. The approach presented is useful for assessing the influence of climatic variables on the pattern of temporal anomalies in the NDVI or related vegetation parameters.
T. Udelhoven; Marion Stellmes; Gabriel Del Barrio; J. Hill. Assessment of rainfall and NDVI anomalies in Spain (1989–1999) using distributed lag models. International Journal of Remote Sensing 2009, 30, 1961 -1976.
AMA StyleT. Udelhoven, Marion Stellmes, Gabriel Del Barrio, J. Hill. Assessment of rainfall and NDVI anomalies in Spain (1989–1999) using distributed lag models. International Journal of Remote Sensing. 2009; 30 (8):1961-1976.
Chicago/Turabian StyleT. Udelhoven; Marion Stellmes; Gabriel Del Barrio; J. Hill. 2009. "Assessment of rainfall and NDVI anomalies in Spain (1989–1999) using distributed lag models." International Journal of Remote Sensing 30, no. 8: 1961-1976.
12 páginas, 10 figuras, 5 tablas.-- et al.Most of the recent studies and projections of precipitation patterns, based on records observed in the past and climate change scenarios for the Mediterranean basin, suggest a relatively slow decrease in rainfall amounts over the years but an increase in the frequency of extreme precipitation events. These are key factors in desertification processes and these will cause social and environmental impacts in the short term, mainly because changes in heavy rainfall events may have severe implications and impacts on soil erosion, resulting in increased risk of soil degradation.ud ud The main objective of the present work is to evaluate the spatial–temporal dynamics of extreme precipitation events in southern Portugal, using a direct sequential simulation algorithm (DSS models) in order to assess the relationships between spatial and temporal extreme rainfall patterns. Local probability density functions (pdfs) and spatial uncertainty are evaluated by a set of equiprobable simulated images of the chosen extreme precipitation indices.ud ud The used dataset in this work comprises a set of 105 station records of observed daily precipitation within the period 1961–2000. Two indices of extreme precipitation were selected: one representing the frequency of extremely heavy precipitation events (R30) and another characterizing the occurrence of dry events (RL10), both obtained from observed daily precipitation series.ud ud Results show that the spatial continuity of extreme precipitation events has increased in the last 40 years in southern Portugal. It also demonstrates a decrease in spatial variability, implying that extreme precipitation events tend to be more spatially homogeneous, which may have a severe impact on water resources, agriculture and soil erosion, particularly when associated with desertification risks.This paper was developed in the framework of theud following projects: BioAridRisk – Space-Time Evaluationud of the Risks of Climate Change Based on anud Aridity Index (POCI/CLI/56371/2004FCT/MCTES),ud CIDmeg – Construction of a Desertification Susceptibilityud Index for the Left Margin of Guadianaud (POCI/CLI/58865/2004 FCT/MCTES) and SADMO –ud Système d’Évaluation et Contrôle de la Désertificationud dans la Méditerranée Occidentale (Programmeud Interreg IIIB, MEDDOC, CONVENTIONud n. 2005-05-4.4-P-105).Peer reviewe
R. M. Durão; Maria Joao Pereira; Ana Cristina Costa; J. Delgado; Gabriel Del Barrio; Amilcar Soares. Spatial-temporal dynamics of precipitation extremes in southern Portugal: a geostatistical assessment study. International Journal of Climatology 2009, 1 .
AMA StyleR. M. Durão, Maria Joao Pereira, Ana Cristina Costa, J. Delgado, Gabriel Del Barrio, Amilcar Soares. Spatial-temporal dynamics of precipitation extremes in southern Portugal: a geostatistical assessment study. International Journal of Climatology. 2009; ():1.
Chicago/Turabian StyleR. M. Durão; Maria Joao Pereira; Ana Cristina Costa; J. Delgado; Gabriel Del Barrio; Amilcar Soares. 2009. "Spatial-temporal dynamics of precipitation extremes in southern Portugal: a geostatistical assessment study." International Journal of Climatology , no. : 1.
The DesertWatch ESA DUE project, recently successfully completed, aimed at developing an integrated information system tailored on the specific user needs, built on the technological transfer of the most significant results of the related research projects. The resulting DesertWatch Information System, a user-friendly integrated Software remote sensing tool for monitoring desertification, have being installed and is now used in Italy, Turkey and Portugal.
M. Paganini; G. Pace; P. Castracane; Gabriel Del Barrio; H. Van Delden; M. Iannetta; J. Hill; C. Zucca; D. Fernandez-Prieto. Monitoring desertification using EO technologies: Experience of the ESA DUE DesertWatch project. 2009 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 2009, 3, III-302 -III-305.
AMA StyleM. Paganini, G. Pace, P. Castracane, Gabriel Del Barrio, H. Van Delden, M. Iannetta, J. Hill, C. Zucca, D. Fernandez-Prieto. Monitoring desertification using EO technologies: Experience of the ESA DUE DesertWatch project. 2009 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium. 2009; 3 ():III-302-III-305.
Chicago/Turabian StyleM. Paganini; G. Pace; P. Castracane; Gabriel Del Barrio; H. Van Delden; M. Iannetta; J. Hill; C. Zucca; D. Fernandez-Prieto. 2009. "Monitoring desertification using EO technologies: Experience of the ESA DUE DesertWatch project." 2009 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium 3, no. : III-302-III-305.
Mediterranean rangelands are unique marginal ecosystems, which are characterized by a highly heterogeneous structure and are often interwoven with other ecosystems. Traditionally, rangelands provided resources for livestock grazing in transhumantic rotation schemes. In recent times, there has been a trend towards semi-intensive grazing systems, which is partly connected to the European system of agricultural and infrastructural subsidies, and which effectuates both intensification and extensification. This study employed trend analysis of a remote sensing data time series for a retrospective assessment of rangeland processes, and interpreted these in the light of land-use practices and previous management interventions. We have selected a test area in Northern Greece that is representative of typical land-use transitions of the European Mediterranean. A time series of Landsat TM and ETM+ data covering the years 1984–2000 with one image per year was acquired, and for all images a geometric correction including digital elevation information and full radiative transfer modelling were carried out to attain surface reflectance data. For further analyses, proportional vegetation cover was selected as the target indicator, which was derived using Spectral Mixture Analysis. The resulting data set was used in a linear trend analysis to characterize spatio-temporal patterns of vegetation cover development. These could be interpreted based on knowledge of the local grazing regime and factors driving it, as well as using auxiliary spatial data sets. Results showed that temporal trends in the test area reflect the underlying pattern of potential livestock distribution at the per-pixel level, with a spatially differentiated pattern of both positive and negative trends in close proximity. On the other hand, no direct relation could be established between the development of vegetation cover and animal stocking rates at the community level. This suggests that this aggregation level is too coarse given the combination of highly heterogeneous landscapes with semi-intensive to intensive land tenure systems.
A. Röder; Th. Udelhoven; J. Hill; G. del Barrio; G. Tsiourlis. Trend analysis of Landsat-TM and -ETM+ imagery to monitor grazing impact in a rangeland ecosystem in Northern Greece. Remote Sensing of Environment 2008, 112, 2863 -2875.
AMA StyleA. Röder, Th. Udelhoven, J. Hill, G. del Barrio, G. Tsiourlis. Trend analysis of Landsat-TM and -ETM+ imagery to monitor grazing impact in a rangeland ecosystem in Northern Greece. Remote Sensing of Environment. 2008; 112 (6):2863-2875.
Chicago/Turabian StyleA. Röder; Th. Udelhoven; J. Hill; G. del Barrio; G. Tsiourlis. 2008. "Trend analysis of Landsat-TM and -ETM+ imagery to monitor grazing impact in a rangeland ecosystem in Northern Greece." Remote Sensing of Environment 112, no. 6: 2863-2875.
Leaning on concepts from landscape ecology and functional landscape connectivity, we formulated and developed an operational definition of regional connectivity using a cost-surface modelling approach to assess fire connectivity whereby its structural and spatial components are explicitly isolated. Once the model is calibrated, it allows comparing different scenarios of vegetation composition and moisture contents. The use of commonly available input data and an easy to implement method to code resistance to fire propagation for a given landscape facilitates the application of this approach to other areas of interest. Functional landscape connectivity with regard to fire propagation is expressed through cost surfaces that are computed from a fire friction map and a random set of ignition points. The spatial complexity of the cost surfaces is assumed to be proportional to the landscape connectivity, and its fractal properties are used to measure and describe such spatial complexity. The fractal dimension of a cost-surface serves to assess the regional connectivity in terms of the spatial structure of frictions to fire spread, while the mean value of a cost-surface describes the overall resistance to fire propagation across the landscape in a lumped, non-spatial form. The fire friction map is derived using objective and empirically confirmed techniques enabling to account for the major factors of general fire behaviour. Furthermore, an easy to implement and repeatable method is presented to select the optimum size of random sets of ignition points, implicitly fine-tuned to the spatial variation of the input data. The model was tested on running a number of landscape scenarios based on a NFFL fuel model map. An initial series of runs served to select an optimum number of ignition points and to assess the model sensitivity to fuel moisture. Then, a set of three scenarios of vegetation cover change was devised by replacing a fast fuel model by slower fuels, and the existing network of fuelbreaks was also overlaid. The model performed as expected by quantifying the differential resistance to fire spread implicit to such scenarios. As an overall result, our model indicates that reducing the length scale of the landscape texture has a greater effect preventing fire connectivity than creating large, homogeneous patches of fire resistant vegetation.
Jesus Rodriguez Gonzalez; Gabriel del Barrio; Beatriz Duguy. Assessing functional landscape connectivity for disturbance propagation on regional scales—A cost-surface model approach applied to surface fire spread. Ecological Modelling 2008, 211, 121 -141.
AMA StyleJesus Rodriguez Gonzalez, Gabriel del Barrio, Beatriz Duguy. Assessing functional landscape connectivity for disturbance propagation on regional scales—A cost-surface model approach applied to surface fire spread. Ecological Modelling. 2008; 211 (1-2):121-141.
Chicago/Turabian StyleJesus Rodriguez Gonzalez; Gabriel del Barrio; Beatriz Duguy. 2008. "Assessing functional landscape connectivity for disturbance propagation on regional scales—A cost-surface model approach applied to surface fire spread." Ecological Modelling 211, no. 1-2: 121-141.