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Mediterranean ecosystems

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The Mediterranean Basin has a peculiar climate that takes its name from this territory. In winter it is not very cold, it rains at that time, in autumn and spring, with great variation from year to year, and summer is always very hot and very dry. This occurs on relatively small surfaces of the planet. Thus, together with the Mediterranean Basin, a part of California, central Chile and southern Africa and Australia have a "Mediterranean climate".

A large part of the Spanish territory is characterized by this climate and among its ecological conditions, those imposed by the summer drought should undoubtedly be highlighted. Let's say that this drought requires very characteristic biological adaptation mechanisms. Those of plants are varied and it is worth considering that the vast majority of its herbaceous species die in summer, leaving their offspring dormant in the soil as a seed bank and propagate them. Almost all woody plants keep their leaves throughout the year and resist drought by closing their stomata and transpiring little. Animal species do not seem very exclusive to this climate, especially the best known, and most of them have to emigrate in summer. In some way, the end of the summer drought is what means in the Mediterranean the restart of life each year, the return of travelers and the reorganization of biological communities. The physical phenomena and interrelated biological processes that occur under this climate constitute the Mediterranean ecosystems, which offer the image of dynamic landscapes, with great local and regional variation(1). The spatial limits of these landscapes, like those of ecosystems, are not easy to establish, although some naturalists and geographers venture to create maps that, on the other hand, are very useful(2,3). It also happens that in the Mediterranean an ancient culture has been adding other very relevant anthropogenic processes to these natural phenomena, so that ecosystems function highly conditioned by them(4,5). The territory therefore offers clearly cultural landscapes, with multiple uses based on hunting activities practiced since Prehistory, as well as mining and agricultural exploitations that are also very old.

Mediterranean forestIn the recent evaluation of the millennium ecosystems carried out in Spain(6), the territories with "sclerophyllous forests and scrublands"(7) stand out for currently maintaining the landscapes that are probably the wildest in appearance in the Mediterranean Basin. However, as has been said, ecosystems function historically highly conditioned by rural culture. The Iberian Peninsula is a country of holm oaks and cistus. The "Mediterranean mountain"(8), of which those forests and scrublands are a part, occupies territories on this peninsula that, in summary, vary from dry-thermal environments (with cork oaks and halepo pines in more siliceous environments and with cebuches in more basophilic) to thermal-humid (with carob trees and, depending on the case, wild olives and cork oaks). Holm oak forests and stone pine forests, historically heavily intervened due to their rapid growth, occupy intermediate situations between these two extremes, being at the same time the most widespread. It is a set of "marginal" territories notable for the aforementioned seasonal drought and notable poverty in their soils. The lithological components of the landscape have not been altered by cultural activities. Almost the same thing happens with the geomorphological components. However, together with the wild biological communities, the agricultural uses and the races, varieties and forms of plants and domestic animals associated with them, are clearly cultural (. The forest is recognized as having a high ecological value and socioeconomic potential, especially for constitute a formidable genetic, cultural, agrarian and educational reservoir (Fig. 1).The territories with the best representation of woody forest with forest and sclerophyll scrub are those in which this vegetation maintains a good connection with annual herbaceous pastures, with which that limit. The limits are quite clear borders forming a kind of mosaic as a whole. These pastures are usually "dehesas". The forest would occupy about 25 million hectares (about 10 of forest, 8 of woody forest and almost the same amount of open forest with grasslands), that is, around half of the country's surface. The woody forest-grassland connection is an essential process in the functioning of the forest. A large part of its animal production and its water and bio-biological cycles depend on it. geo-chemicals, the role these sites play for human society and the 'services' they consequently provide. Emblematic species of vertebrates breed in the woody forest, many of which have to feed on the more productive neighboring pastures. In the whole there is a high biological wealth and an almost unknown, but very high, diversity of herbaceous plants that, in addition, allow meat production of exceptional quality.

La dehesaThe pasture systems are a paradigm of nature conservation in Europe, especially considering that they occupy regions called "marginal", in terms of agricultural productivity. These are large spaces dedicated to pastures with scattered trees that give it a savannah appearance. They mainly occupy ridged reliefs of poor siliceous substrates, especially in phosphorus, occupying an area of ​​slightly more than 2 million ha in the center and west of the Iberian Peninsula. Today they are known as dehesas ("montados" in Portugal). In the past, the term dehesa, like that of "oquedal" (today equivalent to that of hollow mountain in some regions), seems to have also been applied to closed forest (a), the name being used today also for open grassland areas without any trees . It is a cultural landscape in which most of the woody plant mass that must have existed in the original forest no longer exists. This unproductive biomass is now replaced by an annual herbaceous tapestry (of "therophyte" plants), much more productive, provided that cattle eat it, although with hardly any biomass. The origin attributed to the meadow is not entirely clear. For some authors it is very old and for others it is relatively recent. In the High Middle Ages it could have had a notable development and perhaps its apogee, when transhumance also reached it -the seasonal transfer of cattle in latitudinal and altitudinal directions, essentially fleeing the summer drought-, although the pasture is not a system of use for transhumant cattle, but for precise control of the low stocking rate that it can maintain. The meadow surprises by the intelligent way of its management throughout history. Among other things, it represents an exceptional "offer" of a traditional cultural landscape dedicated to a basically silvo-pastoral activity, although it can also be hunting. In the pasture we can highlight the provision of supply "services" linked to food (one of its products, Iberian acorn-fed ham, is considered one of the most valuable jewels of Spanish gastronomy) and to the wild and domestic genetic reserve. The meadow also offers climate and water regulation services and relevant cultural services. Connected to the woody forest, the pasture maintains a high biological diversity. Conservationists recognize a great importance in this, although they generally refer to biological richness (biodiversity) and, more commonly, to the presence of rare, emblematic species, of a certain size and appearance, dependent on transfers between that forest and the pasture. and considered threatened. Although the pasture contains these species, it is in the herbaceous pastures where there is considerable plant richness – some five hundred species of therophytes are frequent here – and a diversity that almost reaches six bits(b) with an adequate load of herbivores. This diversity supposes the offer of an extraordinary menu for them.

(a)Martín Vicente, A. & Fernández Alés, R. 2006. 67:19-28. (b) A diversity value representing a community with sixty-four species, each of which had exactly the same number of individuals.

Services recognized in the ecosystemIn the aforementioned evaluation of ecosystems, the one corresponding to this mountain(10) highlights as the most important services for human society those due to the functions of the soil, biodiversity and the mountainous landscape that results from this ecosystem . a) Soil. There are key ecological factors for the forest regulation services that find their explanation in the soils of these environments. Forests and bushes tend to occupy headwaters of basins, moors, hills and high slope areas, so that surface and underground water flow and the productivity of "neighboring" environments depend to a great extent on the maintenance of this important conductive thread of the ecosystem. The roots of the trees, bushes and grasslands retain the substrate and the living structure itself, preventing the erosion of the slopes and reducing the risk of desertification as long as the soil horizons are kept in good condition. The woody plant canopy acts as an umbrella, and to a lesser extent the herbaceous one, avoiding the impact of rain on the ground. The humus formed from dead organic matter is a sponge that retains water and slows down its subsurface circulation downslopes. Runoff is thus reduced and infiltration is facilitated, increasing the available water in the substrate. The woody canopy also decreases the solar radiation that reaches the ground, which favors the permanence of water and edaphic microorganisms, reduces the albedo and mitigates the speed and force of the wind in the forest. In the aforementioned environmental conditions –a system seasonally stressed by drought– the role of these phenomena in the water economy is very important, since it prolongs the time between the "inputs" and "outputs" of water. Inputs are produced by precipitation and interception of mist by leaves and branches (horizontal rain), and outputs by evapotranspiration along the "steam-water-soil-plant-air" continuum. The system can store water in the soil and plants in variable amounts, generating subsurface runoff and water recharge from neighboring environments. These outlets should not be considered, therefore, as losses in the strict sense, but as key phenomena of "territorial ecological connectivity"(11), that is, as an important part of the functioning of the entire ecosystem. Although Spanish agriculture occupies barely 7% of the country's surface, it has enormous water needs and represents the highest water expenditure by sector of the national economy. The industry directly linked to agriculture contributes very little economic investment to the value added by the use of water. So, only in this context, and not being the only one, the water regulation service based on the interception of rain by the vegetation of the mountain and the infiltration of the soil acquires a notable importance in large territories. The protection of the soil by the vegetation of the forest is evident at different scales and the regulation of water flows in a semi-arid environment is an essential service recognizable in this ecosystem. The described circumstances are also a reference to understand the local climate regulation services (mesoclimatic) based on the described process. The soil also matters in the retention of carbon of atmospheric origin. A young, growing forest operates with net photosynthetic uptake of atmospheric carbon. In the already formed forest, this uptake becomes similar to the emission of CO2 by community respiration, so that in maturity there is little net carbon sequestration and very low oxygen production. In any case, all the carbon accumulated in the support and transport structures, such as wood, as well as humus and organic matter in the soil, remains retained over time without emission into the atmosphere. The mature forest is thus a reservoir but not a carbon sink. The annual grasses that are part of the forest can constitute good sinks for this element in recalcitrant forms of edaphic organic matter (12,13). The commented interactions allow to recognize the soil protection services of the Mediterranean forest, as well as the interest of it in the economy of water, reduction of seasonal water stress and reduction of the erosive action of storms. Likewise, it allows assessing the environmental cost of erosion. b) Biodiversity. The mountain is the habitat of numerous emblematic plant and animal species. The functioning of ecosystems is related to the values ​​reached by their biological diversity. Depending on the number of species, complex forms of functionality can be maintained in biological communities, within certain thresholds(14-17).This stabilizes the system in the long term in different ways ("resilience", different buffer effects) against disturbances that are infrequent or intense. Biodiversity is in itself a genetic reserve of species and a cultural service, not just recreational or touristic. The destruction of habitats supposes breaks in important processes that support organized life in communities (18). The annual pastures of the mountain have an extraordinary plant diversity. Its consumption by wild and domestic herbivores should not be considered a form of "ecosystem disturbance" even in its most restrictive theoretical meaning. This consumption, stabilized over time, generates a semi-natural grass of excellent nutritional quality, adapted to the continuous cutting of the teeth of these animals, resulting in herbaceous plant communities ("majadales") that reach record values ​​of biological diversity. The withdrawal of these herbivores (something associated with rural abandonment that we will refer to later) is far from being a good thing from any sensible perspective. This withdrawal entails a sharp drop in diversity, the appearance of less palatable plants and the "scrubbing" of entire regions as a natural way of recovering the forest. Neither the scrub nor the forest reach, however, such high values ​​of plant diversity(19-21). The aforementioned circumstances serve to support habitat maintenance services and biodiversity protection of the ecosystem considered. c) Landscape. The nature and the historical-cultural framework of the Mediterranean mountain offer images that today acquire great relevance in a demanding society in recreational possibilities, tourism and environmental education. The uncompetitive agricultural productive capacity of these territories, in comparison with other specifically intensive agricultural places, has as a counterpart, without disdaining its great interest in livestock and hunting, a valuable landscape offer in "nature" (persistence of landscapes with a wild appearance and high biodiversity), "tradition" (generational maintenance of sustainable forms of exploitation and material and spiritual enjoyment of resources) and "the imprint of rural culture" on the landscape (paradigmatic use of areas considered marginal, but very valuable, among other things , as hunting and producers of fibers and foods of very high quality). The underdeveloped economy of services in the territories with Mediterranean forests and scrub and associated grassland systems is favored by cultural tourism that is increasingly interested in nature and the countryside. The interest can be merely contemplative or also recreational and outdoor activities. Many of these spaces are crossed by ancestral cattle tracks or old abandoned railway tracks. These structures have lost their traditional use and functionality today, but they are excellent "greenways" for hiking, education and cultural tourism with an offer of landscapes of exceptional appearance and seasonality. In addition, hunting and fishing play an important role as recreational activities and generate direct benefits in the regions themselves that can be further developed. The services of outdoor recreation and cultural enjoyment of the rural world are justified, then, very well in the mountains. In this environment the feeling of general well-being is evident. The character of the walk in these sites with woody vegetation and grasslands has a formidable attraction (seasonality, smells, colors, fauna, flora, native livestock, rural culture). Without the valuation criteria of this landscape being yet well established as an appraisal indicator, the price of houses increases in "normal" periods of the economy if they are located in these places and have infrastructures. The mountain has a special meaning for certain groups of people. It can contain religious, spiritual, traditional values, be a source of trades, translate into opportunities for cognitive and ascetic development. These circumstances justify the potential of the services to improve the quality of life provided by the Mediterranean mountain landscape.

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Mediterranean Ecosystems

Trends observed in ecosystem servicesThere is a valuable "natural capital" derived from the functioning of the forest, recognizing that traditional agricultural uses play an important role in this functioning. It is a "socioecological" system (22). Consequently, changes in land use have led to alterations in the traditional systems of the regions that contain this capital in recent decades. This is the case of the industrial development of agriculture and timber production. Rural abandonment, for its part, must be considered as a serious cost whatever the point of view adopted. Several transformation trends can be highlighted in recent history (last forty years) that serve as indicators of both the condition and the use of the potential of the ecosystem services contemplated. Regarding the condition, "rural abandonment" and some problems related to "agrarian intensification" can be cited. Regarding the use of potentialities, there is currently a growing demand for "cultural tourism", to which the Administration still pays little attention in comparison with the classic demand for "sun and sand". a) Rural abandonment. Although erosion is basically conditioned by the weather, rural abandonment also affects the stability of certain soils. An average loss of 20 t/ha.year of substrate has been estimated in the provinces where the forest ecosystem is well represented. This represents in many regions a clear decrease in the aforementioned water regulation service. Rural abandonment is associated with fires that contribute to an almost irreversible affectation of this service. Abandonment can be seen in the last decade in the percentage stagnation of the employed population in sectors directly related to the forest. Although this stagnation is comparable to that of other sectors, the absolute number of workers is very low and their aging and masculinization are evident. Towns with fewer than 2,000 inhabitants have suffered a drop of more than 30% in the past decade and many of these are part of regions with mountains. In some territories, rural abandonment means loss of terraces and crops on the hillside with a consequent erosion of substrata laboriously stabilized since ancient times. The abandonment is paradoxically linked to an insistent persistence of pastoralism(23) in some regions, something very positive for the valorization of the landscape, rural productivity and the conservation of the biodiversity of these rural systems. As for fires, the number of them is an endemic disease that has not subsided in Spain in recent decades. The regularly burned forest surface represents a considerable loss of around 85,000 ha/year in the last decade, a third of them directly affecting this forest (and 5% of these correspond to pastures, although the effects of fire are here less important). Fire is a natural factor in the Mediterranean, but the vast majority of fires are caused (only 3-5% are due to lightning). Compared to the northern peninsular territories, the number of fires that affect the thermo- and mesomediterranean forest, particularly Quercus vegetation, is relatively small(24), but the burned areas are equivalent and the loss of services caused by the fires is significant. . In relation to biodiversity, the "red lists" indicate a proportion of vertebrates that, assigned to the sclerophyllous forest, would affect an indeterminate number of species in the near future if conservation measures are not taken. It is important that these measures are based on maintaining the functioning of ecosystems and the connectivity of their physical and biological phenomena, and not on the mere delimitation of spaces whose management sometimes resembles that of open-air zoos. Along with wild biological diversity, the list of native breeds that have been considered threatened would account for more than half of the existing ones, with pigs and cattle perhaps being the most striking. The landscape is changing rapidly. Certain scenarios of recent socioeconomic change entail notable modifications to the rural landscape (25,26) and both the declaration of protected natural areas and agricultural intensification require much greater attention to the role of traditional rural activities in the management of natural resources(27, 28). In this context, the figure of the Biosphere Reserve should be strengthened as a common thread of ecosystem services to local populations. Although estimating the surface changes assignable to this ecosystem is not very objective,The increase in extension of the woody vegetation of the mount (the aforementioned scrub) is associated with a rural abandonment that supposes a serious cultural loss. In recent decades, this increase coincides with the decline in pastures and extensive crops, the entrenchment of fires, and perhaps a hardly recoverable loss of biodiversity. The recent net change (in the 1990s) in land use in the communities with the best representation of this mountain has led to a change in the forest area of ​​around 2%, but with a large variance between counties, as well as barely 1 % in formations of scrub with grasslands, but interesting in different ways about 10 million ha. b) Agricultural intensification. It is the other end of a trend of change that ends in the aforementioned rural abandonment. The usual management of the forest continuously incorporates mechanization. This represents progress –protagonism of the local population in profitable economic models that can take into account the value of the landscape (for example, pruning aimed at obtaining trees in the shape of a cup, not an umbrella, to facilitate mechanized racking, which represents an acceptable change in the meadow landscape)–. It also means setbacks –erosion, lack of social cohesion, loss of ancestral cultures that are compatible with progress–. The Administration usually forgets this. Their initiatives depend on the motivations of the people. Thus, it limits details such as goat grazing and the influences that had unfortunate laws persist(29), while the livestock association without picaresques should be promoted and pastoralism in forest management strengthened, and not hindered, especially in protected areas whose values in large part they were due precisely to this use. Native breeds need great attention from the Administration and the marketing of products with denomination of origin a more determined initiative and regulation. There are some excellent examples(30,31). The lack of this also results in rural abandonment and industrialization that is sometimes incompatible with the function of traditionally based ecosystems. On the other hand, it is well known that in recent history, abusive fast-growing tree plantations, mainly conifers and eucalyptus, were carried out in many forests. c) Cultural tourism. He is increasingly interested in the landscape of these sites. It constitutes a way of revaluing them and it is not seen that it negatively affects ecosystem services or its general state of conservation(32,33,34). Given the marginal nature of systems like this, particularly in some territories in the southeast of the peninsula, it is observed, however, that a very accentuated socioeconomic change towards this sector of the economy also generates rural abandonment. The process of change therefore requires continuously updated management plans and programs, taking into account that the establishment of industries in the sector seems to be consolidating in the mentioned territories (accommodation, catering and, apart from hunting, gastronomic routes, hiking, gathering, Adventure trip). Cultural tourism is undoubtedly a very prominent activity among those aimed at the active conservation of these ecosystems and the promotion of their services. It has been commented before that these spaces are crossed by cattle tracks and old railways. They are formidable greenways for hiking, education and cultural tourism with the offer of exceptional landscapes. The exploitation of these resources depends largely on the initiative and capacity of each Autonomous Community (35). Especially here, the idea of ​​a Biosphere Reserve could take on greater prominence. Today this type of tourism is more focused on National Parks, although it is true that the Mediterranean forest, although present in this figure of protection with a few parks, enjoys little protected area as a cultural landscape. The balance of benefits and costs of the declared protected natural spaces in these environments deserves a detailed analysis((36), considering socioeconomic aspects and real achievements in the conservation of the landscape and biodiversity.

State and trends of recognized forest servicesFrom the ecological and cultural plots of the forests and shrublands seen, the evaluation of the millennium ecosystems conveys to society the simple idea of ​​supplying various types of services, some more tangible or material than others. Table 1 briefly shows examples of these services for the Mediterranean forest. The trends observed in them appear in Table 2. Among the "supply services", along with the potential for solar energy management in forest areas, food services such as meats, cheeses or honey are very relevant; fibers and quality biotic and geotic materials, such as firewood, cork, skins; the water supplied from the headwaters of the basin to valleys and aquifers or the genetic reserve of emblematic species, breeds and varieties and microbial wealth associated with the aforementioned soil function and carbon storage(37). The most important "regulating services" refer to the slowing down of the water cycle in terrestrial environments and morphosedimentary attenuation, carbon storage in woody forest and its incorporation into grassland soils. Once these services are recognized and the importance of maintaining them, the potential of "cultural services" is also very relevant in the forest, emphasizing local knowledge, landscape functions or environmental education. In the evaluations of the ecosystems carried out in different countries, compromises between advantages and disadvantages (trade-offs) are recognized in the use of some services over others. Thus, the processes within the same ecosystem (a given region) are related to each other and, on more global scales, some systems are related to others. This is part of the ecological connectivity discussed. The services of different ecosystems are related and 'vary positively or negatively', so that the increase in the supply or use of one may lead to the degradation of others. Thus, a greater production of food due to an increase in the cultivated area and the use of fertilizers and biocides reduces biodiversity, assuming fewer regulation services as far as the function of biodiversity is concerned. However, agriculture also sets its own framework for biodiversity. This framework has been considered "positive" in numerous cases by conservationists. The ban on the use of biocides allows the establishment of animal communities of a steppe nature, highly valued by these naturalists. Likewise, it is understood that intensive agricultural systems generally increase supply services, but at the expense of regulation or, where appropriate, cultural ones, which tend to be recognized as showing "better condition" in ecosystems less controlled by the environment. man. These trends, however, deserve to be qualified with numerous details. On the one hand, the typology of intensive agricultural systems is very varied in conception and in consideration of their economic and ecological objectives (the appreciation of sustainability in each case) and, on the other, cultural services also admit a notable variability, from those considered traditional to the purely monetarist. Thus, there is a danger of trying to maintain a traditional cultural rural landscape-museum in a continuously changing socioeconomic context that does not admit it if it does not have at least complementary possibilities. Cultural and nature tourism is one of the most relevant. The very environmental quality requirements of this tourism represent the possibility of endogenous development in the local population, perhaps the only one capable of maintaining many traditional cultural landscapes. Consequently, it is admitted that there are compromises between advantages and disadvantages in the form of trade-offs or compensation for different services and also use relationships that generate "synergies". Knowledge of these relationships, both those of synergy between services and trade-offs, seems key to decision-making ensuring a varied flow of services for human well-being. Table 2 shows some examples if applied to the Mediterranean forest. Actually, the number of situations can be very high and the analysis of their costs and benefits can be an object of debate in different scenarios of global change. Implementing forms of management that provide for rural exploitation that is compatible with soil conservation, the function of biodiversity and the landscape is a challenge and an objective that governments must seriously address in this and other types of ecosystems. This implies a commitment to maintain a minimum rural population size, recognizing the importance of new technologies,apply them sensibly in the field, respecting the value of the landscape resource and, as a complement, promoting tourism in its cultural, nature and educational facets. Although the beneficiary of ecosystem services is obviously human society, maintaining and improving this provision requires the express intention that should govern all study and description of ecosystems: their functional analysis, rather than structural or mere appearance, that is, its systemic analysis. Appearance, as indicated, can be relevant when it comes to landscape, if its assessment is aesthetic and, therefore, subjective, cultural or ethnocentric. Recognition of the role of ecosystems for human well-being should avoid anthropocentric assessments of "good" or "bad," ecosystem "health," and other terms that have become popular in a long-running fashion of thematically familiar Spain as "environmental".

NotesGonzález-Bernáldez, F. 1981. Ecology and landscape. Blume, Madrid. (2) Gómez Orea, D., Díaz Pineda, F. et al. 1975. Special Plan for the Protection of the Physical Environment of the Province of Madrid. ICON & COPLAC. Ministry of Public Works and Urbanism, Madrid. (3) Mata Olmo, R. & Sanz Herráiz, C. (eds.). 2003. Atlas of the landscapes of Spain. Ministry of the Environment, Madrid. (4) Berkes, F., Colding, J. & Folke, C. (eds.). 2003. Navigating Social-Ecological Systems: Building Resilience for Complexity and Change. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. (5) González-Bernáldez, F. 1991. Biological diversity, ecosystem management and new agricultural policies. In: Pineda, F.D., Casado, M.A., de Miguel, J.M. & Montalvo, J. (eds.): Biological Diversity. Biological Diversity. WWF-Areces Foundation, Madrid. SCOPE, Paris: 23-32. (6) Montes, C., Santos, F., Aguado, M., Martín López, B., González, J.A., Benayas, J., Piñeiro, C., Gomez Sal, A., Carpintero, O. & Díaz Pineda, F. 2011. Evaluation of the Millennium Ecosystems of Spain. Biodiversity Foundation. Ministry of the Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, Madrid. (7) Hard-leaved. (8) Humbert, A. 1980. Le ‘monte’ dans les chaines subbétiques centrales (Southern Spain). Publications du Department of Geography of the University of Paris-Sorbonne, vol 10. (9) González-Bernáldez, 1991. Op cit. (10) Acosta, B. & Díaz Pineda, F. 2011. Estimation of the state of the services of the operational type of ecosystem "Mediterranean Sclerophyllous Forest and Scrub". In: C. Montes et al. Op.cit. [Ecosystems and biodiversity for human well-being. Summary of results. Chap. 5. Biodiversity Foundation, Madrid: 232-236]. (11) Díaz Pineda, F., Schmitz, M.F., De Aranzabal, I., Hernández, S. & Bautista, C. 2010. Territorial ecological connectivity. Case study of ecological and socio-ecological connectivity. OAPN, Technical Series. Ministry of the Environment, Madrid. (12) Persiani, A.M., Maggi, O., Montalvo, J., Casado, M.A. & Pineda, F.D. 2008. Mediterranean grassland soil fungi: patterns of biodiversity, functional redundancy and soil carbon storage. Plant Biosystems 142: 111-119. (13) Acosta & Diaz Pineda, 2011. Op cit. (14) Davis, G.W. and Richardson, D.M. (Eds.) 1995. Mediterranean-Type Ecosystems. The function of Biodiversity. Ecological Studies 109. Springer-Verlag. (15) Tilman, D. Reich, P.B., Knops, J.M.H., Wedin, D., Mielke, T. & Lehmanh, C. 2001. Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment. Science 294:843-845. (16) Pineda, F.D., De Miguel, J.M., Casado, M.A. & Montalvo, J. 2002. Keys to understanding "biological diversity" and conserving "biodiversity". In: F.D. Pineda, J.M. DeMiguel, M.A. Casado and J. Montalvo (eds.). The Biological Diversity of Spain. Pentice Hall, Madrid: 7-30. (17) Valladares, F. (ed.). 2004. Ecology of the Mediterranean forest in a changing world. OAPN, Ministry of the Environment, Madrid. (18) Bascompte, J. & Jordano, P. 2008. Species mutualistic networks. Inv. and Science 208: 50-59. (19) Pineda, F.D., De Nicolás, J.P., Ruiz, M., Peco, B. & Bernaldez, F.G. 1981. Succession, diversity and niche amplitude in the pÃÂâturages du center of the Iberian Peninsula. Vegetatio 136: 47: 267-277. (20) Pineda, F.D. & Montalvo, J. 1995. Dehesa systems in the western Mediterranean. In: P. Halladay & Gilmour, D.A. (eds.). Conserving biodiversity outside protected areas. The role of traditional agro-ecosystems. IUCN, Gland: 107-122. (21) Casado, M.A., Castro, I., Ramírez-Sanz, L., Costa Tenorio, M., De Miguel, J.M. & Pineda, F.D. 2004. Herbaceous plant richness and vegetation cover in Mediterranean grasslands and shrublands. Plant Ecology 170: 83-91. (22) Berkes et al. 2003. Op.cit. (23) Schmitz, M.F., Sánchez, I.A. & De Aranzabal, I. 2007a. Influence of management regimes of adjacent land uses on the woody plant richness of hedgerows in Spanish cultural landscapes. Biological Conservation 135:542-554. (24) With the exception of the western zone of the Central Mountain Range and some peripheral edges (Catalonia, Levante, Southwest). See i) Vázquez de la Cueva, A. 1996. Fire regime in mainland Spain: 1974-94. Relations with the weather and the landscape. PhD thesis. Complutense University, Madrid. ii) WWF 2004. Forest Fires. Causes, current situation and proposals. WWF Spain, Madrid. (25) Schmitz, M.F., De Aranzabal, I., Aguilera, P. Rescia, A. & Pineda, F.D. 2003. Relationship between landscape typology and socioeconomic structure. Scenarios of change in Spanish cultural landscapes. Ecological modeling 168:343-356. (26) De Aranzabal, I. Schmitz, M.F., Aguilera, P. & Pineda, F.D. 2008. Modeling of landscape changes derived from the dynamics of socio-ecological systems. A case of study in a semiarid Mediterranean landscape.Ecological indicators 8:672-685. (27) RED. 2010. Management Report of the Spanish Rural Development Network. RRED, Madrid. www.redr.es (28) Schmitz, M.F., Gaspar, D., De Aranzabal, I., Ruiz Labourdette, D. & Pineda, F.D. 2012. Effects of a protected area on land-use dynamics and socioeconomic development of local populations. Biological Conservation (online). (29) Old Law of "Herbas, Pastures and Rastrojeras". (30) FOREMED and TECNOMED projects; creation of the SOCIEDAD MONTES DE SOCIOS, sponsored by the Forestry Association of Soria (2007-2011). (31) There are specific initiatives for tree plantations with native species, but resorting to the installation of isolated specimens with high mortality and not to the recovery of vegetation and soil through stands. (32) Lacitignola D, Petrosillo I, Cataldi M, Zurlini G. 2007. Modeling socio-ecological tourism-based systems for sustainability. Ecological Modeling 206:191–204. (33) Schmitz, M.F., de Aranzabal, I. & Pineda, F.D. 2007b. Spatial analysis of visitor preferences in the outdoor recreational niche of Mediterranean cultural landscapes. Environmental Conservation 34: 300-312. (34) De Aranzabal, I., Schmitz, M.F. & Pineda, F.D. 2009. Integrating landscape analysis and planning: a multi-scale approach for oriented management of tourist recreation. Environmental Management 44: 938-951. (35) The initiative of the Spanish Railways Foundation is worth considering. www.viasverdes.com (36) Schmitz et al., 2012. Op.cit. (37) Persiani et al. 2008. Op.cit.

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AUTHORS:

Francisco Díaz PinedaComplutense University of Madrid

Belén Acosta GalloComplutense University of Madrid

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