Oak ® eGeneration · Trends of Mediterranean Wood-Pastures Quercus suber and Quercus rotundifolia Main goal Understanding the structural dynamics of Mediterranean evergreen oaks

Recent Trends of Mediterranean Wood-Pastures

Oak ®eGeneration

Major ecological implications at Southern Portugal

Augusta Costa & Tobias Plieninger| 27.09.2016 | World Congress – Silvo-Pastoral Systems 2016 |Évora |Portugal

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-PasturesQuercus suber and Quercus rotundifolia

Main goalUnderstanding the structural dynamics of Mediterranean

evergreen oaks (cork oak and holm oak)

Fragmentation dynamics1. Habitat area

2. Habitat connectivity

3. Habitat edges

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-PasturesHypothesis

Habitat

area

Fragmentation dynamics

Habitat

connectivity

Habitat

boundaries

Patch-size

distributionIsolation

Proximity

Edge

contrast

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-PasturesMethodology

2012

CORINE Land

Cover

1990 2000 2006

NUT II – Alentejo

Class-level : 244 - Agro-foretry areas

Validation

Filtering

Checking for classification quality

Checking for image interpretation (1995 and 2006 aerial photos)

ReclassificationSimplification of CORINE LandCover (merging objects)

Creating border for edge contrast

Fragmentation patterns

Output

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-Pastures

Results

Agro-forestry areas

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-PasturesAgro-forestry areas

General results

250

350

450

550

650

750

1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

Are

a (1

03h

a)

Year

Agroforestry areas in NUT II - Alentejo

Decrease of agro-forestry areas (1990 – 2006 – 2012)

Area decrease: < 1% of total area per decade

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-Pastures

Results on habitat area

Patch-size Frequency distribution

Between 1990 and 2012 - Increase of smaller areas

Agro-forestry areas

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-Pastures

Results on habitat isolation

Nearest Neighbor analysis

Between 1990 and 2012 - similar Isolation/ Proximity

Agro-forestry areas

Agro-forestry areas 1990 - 2006

Isolation/Proximity

N 1.0 (0.2)

AWNnd 1.0 (0.02)

AWProx 1.0 (0.03)

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-Pastures

Results on Habitat boundaries

Edges contrast

Agro-forestry areas

Agro-forestry areas [244] 1990 - 2006

Edges contrast

Agriculture [211- 243] 1.0 (0.02)

Shrublands [321- 324] 1.0 (0.04)

Forest [311- 313] 1.0 (0.00)

Between 1990 and 2012 – dominant edges with agriculture

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-PasturesCONCLUSIONS

The trend of variables related to the

structure, edges, connectivity and

interspersion showed that:

1. Wood - pastures are (still) stable

systems

2. Wood - pasture edges are slightly

increasing in length and

sharpness with shrublands

Trends of Mediterranean Wood-PasturesCONCLUSIONS

The trend of variables related to the

structure, edges, connectivity and

interspersion:

1. is different in the wood - pastures

with cork oak and with holm oak

2. is noticeable in sensitive areas

(and have negative ecological

implications)

1.Costa A & Plieninger T (2015). Is fragmentation affecting regime shifts occurrence in Mediterranean oak woodlands? A case study in southern Portugal. 21st International Sustainable Development Research Society Conference Tipping Point: Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity. 21-22 July, Melbourne, Australia

http://programme.exordo.com/isdrs2015/delegates/presentation/213/

2.Costa A*, Madeira M, Santos JL & Plieninger T (2014). Recent dynamics of Mediterranean evergreen oak wood pastures in Southwestern Iberia (Portugal and Spain). In: Tibor H & Plieninger T (eds), European wood pastures in transition: a social-ecological approach, Earthscan-Routledge, pp. 70 - 89.

https://www.routledge.com/European-Wood-pastures-in-Transition-A-Social-ecological-Approach/Hartel-Plieninger/p/book/9780415869898

3.Costa A*, Madeira M, Lima Santos J, Plieninger T & Seixas J (2014). Fragmentation patterns of evergreen oak woodlands in Southwestern Iberia: identifying key spatial indicators. Journal of Environmental Management 133:18-26. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.22013.11.026

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479713007196

4.Costa A*, Madeira M & Plieninger T (2014). Cork oak woodlands patchiness: a signature of imminent deforestation? Applied Geography, 54: 18-26. doi: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.07.006

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0143622814001623

References

INIAV - Instituto Nacional de Investigação Agrária e Veterinária, I.P.

CENSE - New University of Lisbon (Project UID/AMB/04085/2013)

University of Copenhagen

FCT - Augusta Costa’s Post Doc Grant (SFRH/BPD/97166/2013)

Thanks

World Congress – Silvo-Pastoral Systems 2016

Évora University 27- 30th September |Évora |Portugal