RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 Landscape Implications of Contemporary Abandonment of Extensive Sheep Grazing in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System
A1 Fernández García, Víctor
A1 Calvo Galván, María Leonor
A2 Ecologia
K1 Ecología. Medio ambiente
K1 Mountains of León
K1 Transhumant sheep
K1 Landsat
K1 Landscape diversity
K1 Land cover
K1 3103 Agronomía
K1 3106 Ciencia Forestal
AB [EN], In Southern Europe, the abandonment of the traditional transhumant system where sheep graze lowland areas during winter and distant mountain systems during summer has led to an important cultural loss and still poorly understood ecological consequences. We investigate the landscape-scale implications of contemporary sheep grazing patterns in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). Our analysis showed a heterogeneous use of mountain grazing areas between 1990 and 2020. The areas most used by sheep had more abundance of pasture, fewer forests, and structurally different landscapes than those that had been fully abandoned by sheep. Likewise, we have detected decreasing trends in landscape diversity in those areas not used by sheep over the study period, whereas landscape heterogeneity is maintained in those areas grazed by sheep. Our study constitutes an original analysis of landscape patterns and shifts in relation to extensive sheep grazing by using novel approaches that combine interviews, updated satellite time series, and state-of-the-art landscape analysis techniques. Likewise, our results constitute a benchmark as they inform on the importance of preserving extensive sheep grazing if we aim to maintain the cultural heritage, and traditional diverse landscape and the semi-natural grasslands in the Mountains of León.
PB MDPI
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10612/15967
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10612/15967
NO Fernández-García, V., & Calvo, L. (2023). Landscape Implications of Contemporary Abandonment of Extensive Sheep Grazing in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. Land, 12(4), 780. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/land12040780
DS BULERIA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de León
RD Jul 11, 2024