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Building on Margalef: Testing the links between landscape structure, energy and information flows driven by farming and biodiversity

Title of the magazine or publication: 
Science of The Total Environment

Volume: 
674

Authors:

  • Joan Marull (Institut Metròpoli)
  • Sergi Herrando (Museu d'Història Natural de Catalunya)
  • Lluís Brotons (Museu d'Història Natural de Catalunya)
  • Yolanda Melero (CREAF, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
  • Joan Pino (CREAF, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
  • Claudio Cattaneo (Masaryk University)
  • Manel Pons Sanvidal (Institut Metròpoli)
  • Jordi Llobet Domingo (Institut Metròpoli)
  • Enric Tello (Universitat de Barcelona)

[*] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Publication date:
2019

Resume:

The aim of this paper is to test two methodologies, applicable to different spatial scales (from regional to local), to predict the capacity of agroecosystems to provide habitats for the species richness of butterflies and birds, based on the ways their socio-metabolic flows change the ecological functionality of bio-cultural landscapes. First, we use the more general Intermediate Disturbance-Complexity (IDC) model to assess how different levels of human appropriation of photosynthetic production affect the landscape functional structure that hosts biodiversity. Second, we apply a more detailed Energy-Landscape Integrated Analysis (ELIA) model that focusses on the energy storage carried out by the internal biomass loops, and the energy information held in the network of energy flows driven by farmers, in order to correlate both (the energy reinvested and redistributed) with the energy imprinted in the landscape patterns and processes that sustain biodiversity. The results obtained after applying both models in the province and the metropolitan region of Barcelona support the Margalef’s energy-information-structure hypothesis by showing positive relations between butterflies’ species richness, IDC and ELIA, and between birds’ species richness and energy information. Our findings support the view that strong relationships between farming energy flows, agroecosystem functioning and biodiversity can be detected, and highlight the importance of farmers’ knowledge and labour to maintain bio-cultural landscapes.

DOI:
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.129

Read the article Building on Margalef: Testing the links between landscape structure, energy and information flows driven by farming and biodiversity

How to cite this publication?

Herrando, S. [Sergi]; Brotons, L. [Lluís]; Melero, Y. [Yolanda]; Pino, J. [Joan]; Cattaneo, C. [Claudio]; Tello, E. [Enric]; Marull, J. [Joan]; Pons Sanvidal, M. [Manel]; Llobet Domingo, J. [Jordi]. (2019). Building on Margalef: Testing the links between landscape structure, energy and information flows driven by farming and biodiversity. Science of The Total Environment, 674, .https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.129
https://www.institutmetropoli.cat/en/articles-a-revistes/building-on-margalef-testing-the-links-between-landscape-structure-energy-and-information-flows-driven-by-farming-and-biodiversity-3/