Go back to publications

Long-term bio-cultural heritage: exploring the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in agroecological landscapes (Mallorca, c. 1850–2012)

Title of the magazine or publication: 
Biodiversity Conservation

Volume: 
24

Issue number: 
13

Authors:

  • Joan Marull (Institut Metròpoli)
  • Enric Tello (Universitat de Barcelona)
  • Nofre Fullana (Universitat de les Illes Balears)
  • Ivan Murray (Universitat de les Illes Balears)
  • Gabriel Jover (Universitat de Girona)
  • Carme Font (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
  • Francesc Coll Pujol (Institut Metròpoli)
  • Elena Domene Gómez (Institut Metròpoli)
  • Veronica Leoni (Università IUAV de Venezia)
  • Trejsi Decolli (Università IUAV de Venezia)

[*] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Publication date:
2015

Resume:

We applied an intermediate disturbance-complexity approach to the land-use change of cultural landscapes in the island of Mallorca from c. 1850 to the present, which accounts for the joint behaviour of human appropriation of photosynthetic capacity used as a measure of disturbance, and a selection of land metrics at different spatial scales that account for ecological functionality as a proxy of biodiversity. We also delved deeper into local land-use changes in order to identify the main socioeconomic drivers and ruling agencies at stake. A second degree polynomial regression was obtained linking socio-metabolic disturbance and landscape ecological functioning (jointly assessing landscape patterns and processes). The results confirm our intermediate disturbance-complexity hypothesis by showing a hump-shaped relationship where the highest level of landscape complexity (heterogeneity connectivity) is attained when disturbance peaks at 50–60 %. The study proves the usefulness of transferring the concept of intermediate disturbance to Mediterranean cultural landscapes, and suggests that the conservation of heterogeneous and well connected land-use mosaics with a positive interplay between intermediate level of farming disturbances and land-cover complexity endowed with a rich bio-cultural heritage will preserve a wildlife-friendly agro-ecological matrix that is likely to house high biodiversity.

DOI:
10.1007/s10531-015-0955-z

Read the article Long-term bio-cultural heritage: exploring the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in agroecological landscapes (Mallorca, c. 1850–2012)

How to cite this publication?

Tello, E. [Enric]; Fullana, N. [Nofre]; Murray, I. [Ivan]; Jover, G. [Gabriel]; Font, C. [Carme]; Leoni, V. [Veronica]; Decolli, T. [Trejsi]; Marull, J. [Joan]; Coll Pujol, F. [Francesc]; Domene Gómez, E. [Elena]. (2015). Long-term bio-cultural heritage: exploring the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in agroecological landscapes (Mallorca, c. 1850–2012). Biodiversity Conservation, 24(13), .https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0955-z
https://www.institutmetropoli.cat/en/articles-a-revistes/long-term-bio-cultural-heritage-exploring-the-intermediate-disturbance-hypothesis-in-agroecological-landscapes-mallorca-c-1850-2012-3/