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Desde el inicio del siglo XXI, la población rural de muchos municipios de España ha disminuido considerablemente. Este fenómeno demográfico, conocido como la España vaciada, se considera ampliamente como un motor de abandono de tierras. El objetivo principal de este estudio fue, por tanto, analizar espacialmente este fenómeno, comparando los datos actuales sobre variables como la población total, el uso/cubierta del suelo, el número de animales de ganadería y el número de incendios forestales con los datos obtenidos hace dos décadas, para comprobar si el abandono de tierras (el cese de las actividades agrícolas en un determinado terreno) es notable (fácilmente detectable en un mapa a escala nacional) en estos territorios. El fenómeno de la España vaciada afecta a 5.084 de los 8.043 municipios nacionales, que abarcan 320.000 km2, es decir, más del 60% del territorio español. En las zonas despobladas, más de 37.000 km2 de tierras agroforestales tradicionales han sufrido una transformación del uso del suelo. De estas tierras, 24.000 km2 se han convertido en pastizales, brezales o bosques, 8.500 km2 se han convertido en tierras agrícolas intensivas (incluyendo viñedos, olivares y otras plantaciones de árboles frutales) y otros 3.000 km2 se han convertido en pastos intensivos (intensificación de la ganadería). En general, los datos muestran que el abandono de los sistemas agrícolas tradicionales extensivos y, al mismo tiempo, la expansión de los usos agrícolas intensivos de la tierra son dos procesos coexistentes que han tenido lugar en toda la España vaciada. En términos ecológicos, estas tendencias de cambio de uso del suelo pueden provocar una simplificación del paisaje, con los consiguientes riesgos de degradación del suelo y deterioro medioambiental.

Extremadura is the region that stores the greatest amount of fresh water in Spain. Such water is mainly used for power generation, irrigation in agriculture, biodiversity conservation, tourism, recreation, and human and livestock consumption. Nevertheless, crucial information on the total number of water bodies and their geometrical characteristics and spatial distribution patterns are still missing. Thus, our main goal was to characterize the Extremenian water bodies geometrically and spatially through different statistical techniques such as kernel density, Moran’s index, the Getis-Ord Gi*, and principal component analysis (PCA). Firstly, all existing hydrological information was gathered, and using aerial aircraft imagery and satellite images, each water body (WB) was then carefully collected, checked, and corrected. We have inventoried 100,614 WBs (mean density: 2.45 WB km2), irregularly distributed on the territory. WBs with an area 2 (100 ha) represent 64.5% of the total. A multivariate statistical study was conducted, showing that livestock, aridity of the climate, and topography are the main factors controlling the density of water bodies (WBs) in this area. It can be concluded that monitoring of small bodies is crucial to understand their spatial distribution, since they are spread over areas in which extensive farming and commercial crops such as tobacco strongly influence the way of living of many families.

Winemaking in Chile is a long tradition that is recognized around the world. It is especially important in the Maule region where more than 40% of the total wine in the country is produced. However, there is a lack of studies related to soil erosion in vineyards in Chile, especially considering the extreme rainfall events that occur in the country. This research estimates soil erosion mobilization rates before and after a rainy season between April 2020 and May 2020 using the "improved stock unearthing method" on two inter-row plots in a vineyard located in the Maule region of Chile. This method relies on the graft union as a bioindicator for assessing soil surface-level changes. Maps of the soil surface were obtained to show how soil depletion and accumulation points within the inter-row areas could be detected. It has been estimated that a total soil mobilization of 85.7 and 130 Mg ha yr(-1) had occurred in the inter-row areas 1 and 2, respectively, since the establishment of the plantation. However, a single rain event mobilized soil at rates of 5.5 and 3.5 Mg ha yr(-1), respectively, in the inter-row areas 1 and 2. We have demonstrated that erosive processes present in the study area exceed the rates of soil formation and the tolerable rates of erosion on a global scale. The results allow re-thinking of agricultural practices and management of soil systems to improve the sustainability of conventional Chilean vineyards and their soils., Universidad de Granada/CBUA, Comunidad de Madrid, BBVA Foundation

Más de un centenar de trabajos académicos son presentados anualmente en las facultades españolas con el objetivo de obtener un título de Graduado en Turismo. Muchos de ellos, se mantienen inéditos, a pesar de la utilidad de los datos que recopilan, bien por aspectos formales o por la escasa envergadura que presentan en sí de manera aislada. En este trabajo, por tanto, se han recopilado y analizado los datos de una serie de estudios que han sido llevados a cabo por estudiantes de turismo, y cuyo objetivo era analizar la oferta y la demanda turística de zonas de baño de Extremadura con diferentes características: embalses, gargantas, balnearios y una antigua cantera. Todas ellas comparten fortalezas como la pertenencia a espacios protegidos y la cercanía a numerosos recursos turísticos pero se observan diferentes aprovechamientos en términos de oferta hotelera y de restauración. Respecto a la demanda, predomina el turismo nacional, con vínculos a las localidades cercanas y con una mayor concentración en los fines de semana. More than a hundred academic works are presented annually in Spanish faculties with the aim of obtaining a degree in Tourism. Many of them remain unpublished, despite the usefulness of their data, either because formal aspects or the limited size of their studies. In this work, we have collected and analyzed a sort of academic works in which tourist supply and demand of bathing areas of Extremadura (reservoirs, gorges and an old quarry) have been the core of the study. All of them share strengths such as belonging to protected areas and the proximity to numerous tourist resources but different uses are observed in terms of hotel and restaurant offer. Regarding demand, national tourism linked to nearby towns with a greater concentration on weekends is predominant.

Chestnut cultivation is a type of traditional centennial exploitation in southern areas of Extremadura. Currently, chestnut is in danger of extinction due to the effects of climate change, some diseases (e.g. Cryphonectria parasitica) and land mismanagement. The high temporal variability of rainfall leads to soil erosion in chestnut cultivation. New forms of management are proposed to try, among other things, to reduce soil losses. This study quantifies soil losses in areas under tree canopies and open areas considering two different age plantations; 1990s and 1960s. To achieve the proposed goal 18 erosion plots were installed as paired plots under tree canopies and open areas in both plantations. The total amount of rainfall per event, tree cover, bare soil, runoff coefficient and sediment concentration were also measured in every plot. The results showed that the highest percentage of bare soil (> 45%) coincides with the period of greatest tree cover (> 75%). The open areas and the youngest plantation showed soil losses higher than the areas under the tree and the oldest plantation. In addition, soil losses increase as higher percentages of bare soil are recorded. We conclude that the size of the trees and a better soil stability in older plantations help reduce soil losses.

Thousands upon thousands of travellers have visited the Royal Monastery of Guadalupe (Spain) in leisure time since 1389. They might have experienced moral feelings along the picturesque paths that ...

Semiarid ecosystems of Chile with Mediterranean climate support high demographic rates and maintain important economies associated with the productivity of the natural environment; however, they strongly depend on the water availability and their future is compromised by climate variations. This study tries to define the role of hydrological variables on the growth of herbaceous biomass under the current climate and under future weather variations. For this, the authors used meteorological stations which let them estimate the water balance at plot scale and spectral reflectance sensors which let them follow the dynamics of the NDVI of herbaceous plants. In this context, the NDVI value was about 0.7, which means approximately 3700 kg DM ha1. However, under the worst-case climate change scenarios (RCP 8.5), annual precipitation showed a reduction of up to 31.6% regarding the present period. In this situation, the NDVI could be reduced up to 80% respect to the current situation. Thus, if climate changes to its worst scenario, it could threaten the maintenance and productivity of these ecosystems.

Navezuelas is a good example of the rural area from Inner Spain that is experiencing serious problems of depopulation (862 inhabitants in 1990 vs. 637 inhabitants in 2019) although its land surface covered by fruit trees has increased twofold since the year 2000 (from 475 ha to 886 ha). So, the authors have analyzed data from Corine Land Cover (CLC) and Official Agrarian Censuses and interviewed key agents to understand what is behind this “illogical” cause-effect relationship. The results have shown a reduction in the number of farms below 20 ha in size. Also, the number of farmers has been drastically reduced, particularly in the intervals under 34 years old and between 35 and 54. Finally, the amount of hectares utilized for agriculture has increased both by property as land tenure and by share-cropping. Some of the possible reasons for these figures given by the experts have been the mechanization within the farms and a good tendency in the price of chestnuts since it is the main fruit collected in the municipality.

Forests, including their soils, play an important role since they represent a large reservoir of biodiversity. Current studies show that the diversity of soil fauna provides multiple ecosystem functions and services across biomes. However, anthropogenic practices often pose a threat to soil fauna because of changes in land use and soil mismanagement. In these terms, rangelands in the southwest of Spain present several problems of soil degradation related to livestock activity and soil erosion, the intensity of which compromises the soil fauna&rsquo, s functions in the ecosystem. Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the response of community metrics and the spatial distribution of soil microarthropods to livestock activity and vegetation in such ecosystems. A photo interpretation analysis of an experimental catchment used as a study area was developed to identify and classify the intensity of livestock pressure. A total of 150 soil samples were collected throughout 2018. Soil biological (CO2 efflux) and physical-chemical parameters (pH, bulk density, organic matter, and water contents), and such meteorological variables as precipitation, temperature, and evapotranspiration were considered as variables affecting the composition of microarthropod communities in terms of taxa diversity, abundances, and their adaptation to soil environment (evaluated by QBS-ar index). Results showed higher abundance of microarthropods and higher adaptation to soil environment outside the influence of trees rather than beneath tree canopies. Moreover, the classification of livestock pressure revealed by the photo interpretation analysis showed low correlations with community structure, as well as with the occurrence of well-adapted microarthropod groups that were found less frequently in areas with evidence of intense livestock activity. Furthermore, abundances and adaptations followed different spatial patterns. Due to future climate changes and increasing anthropogenic pressure, it is necessary to continue the study of soil fauna communities to determine their degree of sensitivity to such changes.

Rangeland (known as Dehesas or Montados) is a characteristic ecosystem of the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula that occupies approximately 3.5 million ha, representing the most important agrosilvopastoral system in Europe. Nowadays, this situation is changing, being under circumstances of threat due to different aspects that are causing degradation of holm oaks and cork oaks throughout the Iberian Peninsula. These problems are of various kinds, accentuating the disease or syndrome of seca, tree death caused by Phytophthora cinnamomi. For the development of death susceptibility models, maximum entropy algorithms (MAXENT) were used, often widely used in ecological niche models. In the development of models, a wide range of variables (dependents and predictive), both climatic or bioclimatic, geological or soil, vegetation and economic and geographical characteristics were used. The study was carried out at two scales, the Autonomous Community of Extremadura in its entirety, and another more specific work scale, such as seca focus in protected natural areas within the Natura 2000 Network. The regional model showed a total of 1,179,639 ha prone to be affected by this condition, among which, 383,339 ha showed a high potential risk level of seca presence. These models, carried out at local scale in 4 polygons selected within the Natura 2000 Network, showed more than 70% of the land surface studied as areas with risk of suffering seca.

Gully erosion in valley bottoms is a frequent process with negative consequences in the dehesa environment. Soil loss, decrease of soil and descend in biomass are among the negative aftereffect of gully erosion processes. Studies conducted in agrosilvopastoral systems described the dynamics of gullied channels by means of fixed topographic cross sections or with low spatial resolution Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). Currently, high spatial and temporal resolution DEMs can be produced with spatially distributed information due to the development of new systems, platforms and sensors. Additionally, the rainfall and sediment discharge could also be monitored. This control allows us to relate gully erosion with catchment hydrology. The goals are (1) to quantify the sediment budgets by the spatio-temporal distribution of erosion and/or deposition in the gullied channel, (2) to interpret the geomorphic processes driving erosion and deposition and (3) to analyze the relationship between the morphological change and the catchment runoff and the sediment load. The studied area is a gullied channel located in the SW Iberian Peninsula and developed over a recent sedimentary deposit. The channel reaches an extension of 1 km in length and 2 m in depth. The methodology included the following steps: (1) flying the same study area with different time periods using a fixed-wing small Unmanned Aerial System (sUAS) to capture high-resolution aerial images and surveying Ground Control Points (GCPs) using a GNSS, (2) Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry processing using the acquired images and the GCPs to produce high-resolution DEMs for each date, (3) Applying the DEMs of difference approach to estimate topographic changes and to quantify the sediment budget and finally (4) analyzing the relationship between rainfall events, discharge, sediment load and changes in the channel previously estimated. Resulting DEMs and orthophotographs showed a Ground Sampling Distance of 0.02 m with a georeferencing Root Mean Square Error of 0.03 m. A spatially variable threshold (to differentiate actual geomorphic change from noise or errors) was produced using a Fuzzy Inference System and considering photogrammetric errors, slope and vegetation as factors. The applied method proved to be suitable to interpret the geomorphic changes for the gullied channel. For the 2016–2018 period, the gully showed a positive balance indicating accumulation of sediments coming from the hillslopes of the catchment. It is the period with the highest rainfall when numerous events generated runoff. On the contrary, for the period 2018–2019 a total soil loss of −119 m3 was estimated.

Chile is famous for being the longest country in the world from north to south. It means it ranges from polar to desert conditions, water being one of the main limiting factors. In fact, Chile stores a high amount of water (695 mm y−1), but people are not located in the regions where water is more abundant (e.g. in the south). This territorial imbalance is accompanied both by a global context of climate change in which water will be presumably scarcer and by the effects of the current economic activities that are progressively more demanding in water consumption. In this work, we have compared both the current and future availabilities of water for the different regions of Chile in order to provide relevant and useful information on the water balance for land planners. The Metropolitan and Valparaíso regions (Mediterranean climate) along Antofagasta, Atacama, and Tarapacá regions (desert climate) showed the lowest mean values of water availability from 1970 to 2000 (

Watering ponds are an important source of drinking water supply for livestock in semi-arid rangelands. Understanding the hydrological functioning of this kind of infrastructures is crucial for efficient water management in areas where water resources are often scarce. In this line, we have analyzed temporal patterns of water availability in a set of watering ponds located in Iberian rangelands and their relationship with temporal rainfall variability. In addition, the effectiveness of the ponds for conserving stored water during dry periods and some influencing factors (pond size and catchment area) have also been assessed. The results showed a high correlation between water availability and precedent rainfall, confirming, on the one hand, the capacity of storage of these infrastructures and, on the other hand, the importance of temporal rainfall patterns in their hydrological behavior. Our findings point to a minimum pond area of 2000 m2 and a catchment area/storage capacity ratio around 100 m&minus, 1 in order for watering ponds can face the dry summer period with certain guarantees, at least in regular hydrological years. Nonetheless, the vulnerability shown by the majority of the watering ponds in times of drought limits their usefulness as unique sources of water supply in many farms.

Watering ponds are the main source of drinking water supply for livestock in the rangelands of the SW Iberian Peninsula. Most of these ponds consist of small earth dams which collect surface runoff from intermittent streams, with pond sizes rarely exceeding 1 ha. Understanding the hydrological functioning of this type of infrastructures is crucial for an efficient water management in extensive livestock farms, especially in semi-arid areas, where water resources are often scarce.In this line, we have analysed the temporal patterns of water availability in a sample of representative livestock watering ponds in the SW Iberian Peninsula, being the objectives (1) to determine the influence of temporal rainfall variability on water availability in the ponds; (2) to examine the influence of factors such as pond size and catchment area on the effectiveness of the ponds, understood as their capacity to keep water during dry periods; and (3) to suggest minimum values for those factors, which can serve as a guide for the design of watering ponds in comparable rangeland areas. The applied methodology was primarily based on the analysis of aerial photographs and rainfall data available from public sources, requiring only few field measurements, and could therefore be used in areas with data scarcity.High correlation coefficients were obtained between the water availability observed in the ponds and the antecedent rainfall at several time scales, evidencing the principal role of precipitation in the hydrological dynamics of these infrastructures in the study area. The accumulation periods (AP) of antecedent rainfall that best explained the hydrological response of the ponds depended largely on pond size. In those ponds whose maximum flooded area (Amax) was less than 2000 m2, water availability in the ponds was greatly influenced by AP between 2 and 5 months, while for the ponds larger than 2000 m2, the best correlations were obtained for AP greater than 6 months. These results highlight the key role of the size of the ponds in their effectiveness. Thus, since the dry season usually lasts in the study area for 3-4 months, the large ponds (Amax > 2000 m2) could remain operational throughout the summer, if it rains enough during the wet season and if their watersheds are large enough to allow a sufficiently high pond water level to be reached at the end of the wet season. In relation to the latter, the analyses carried out led us to suggest, for the study area, a minimum value of the catchment-area/pond-capacity ratio around 100 m-1.Moreover, the analysis of the water availability observed in the ponds under drought conditions (i.e., with an antecedent rainfall substantially lower than normal for the corresponding time of year) revealed a high vulnerability to droughts in most of the ponds, which limits their use as the sole source of water supply in many farms.

Gully erosion in agrosilvopastoral systems of SW Spain represents a common degradation process, but has been hardly analysed. The suitability of using the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) and Structure from Motion photogrammetry (SfM) workflow to map small valley-bottom gullies in these landscapes was tested. The results showed centimetre-level accuracy. Observed strengths and limitations of the UAV+SfM workflow in the study areas are discussed. The resulting cartography allowed mapping soil erosion forms at outstanding spatial scales. All study areas showed evidences of degradation.

No-tillage and inter-crops have been progressively introduced into traditional Brazilian tobacco plantations. However, there is a lack of information about their impact on soil erosion rates and so...

The municipality of Navezuelas (Caceres, Spain) is regionally known for the cultivation of chestnut trees on steep slopes, which form a landscape of bocage dominated by small farms (family property). Nowadays, this traditional system is endangered, on one hand, as consequence of ageing, depopulation and land abandonment, and on the other hand, due to the reduction of rainfall, tree diseases and changes in land management that are provoking land degradation processes little studied so far. Soil erosion is probably the most important process since farmers need to keep large patches of bare soil (particularly beneath the trees) in autumn in order to facilitate the collection of chestnuts from the ground. Therefore, the main goal of this research was to study soil erosion in chestnut tree farms aimed at verifying whether it is a remarkable process. To achieve this goal, 18 erosion plots (≈2 m2 in size) were installed to quantify soil and water losses in paired plots (open vs. tree) within a farm of 5 ha with chestnut trees planted in different times (1960s vs. 1990s). Total rainfall per event, runoff coefficient, the percentage of bare soil and tree cover and the concentration of sediments were quantified after each significant event in each plot during the whole hydrologic year 2017/2018. The results showed average values of bare soil above 50% during the harvesting (October–November) and above 40% in winter when sheep were introduced to eat the remains of the harvest. Tree cover followed a natural cycle of deciduous trees excepting an occasional pruning. Regarding soil erosion the highest rates were observed in open spaces within the part of the farm with younger trees (av. 57.1 g m-2 yr-1, range: 35.6–87.3 g m-2 yr-2) and the lowest one beneath the trees within the part with older trees (av. 3.4 g m-2 yr-2, range: 0.4–22.7 g m-2 yr-2). In fact, the highest single valued quantified was 67.2 g m-2 in an event of 37.5 l m-2 in October (≈100% bare soil). Obviously, these erosion rates were positively correlated with the runoff coefficient (r: 0.755, p < 0.001) that averaged 8.5% in the open spaces near the youngest trees. Our findings suggest soil erosion is not a problematic process yet in Navezuelas and confirm the protector effect of trees avoiding soil erosion. Nevertheless, they are only preliminary results measured during a relative dry year (626.9 l m-2, ≈60% out of a normal year).

Monitoring soil erosion processes and measuring soil and water yields allow supplying key information to achieve land degradation neutrality challenges. Vineyards are one of the most affected agricultural territories by soil erosion due to human and natural factors. However, the spatial variability of soil erosion, the number of sampling points, and plot size necessary to estimate accurate soil erosion rates remains unclear. In this research, we determine how many inter-rows should be surveyed to estimate the soil mobilization rates in the viticulture area of Tierra de Barros (Extremadura, SW Spain) using the Improved Stock Unearthing Method (ISUM). This method uses the graft union of the vines as a passive biomarker of the soil surface level changes since the time of plantation and inter-row measures. ISUM was applied to three inter-row and four rows of vines (5904 sampling points) in order to determine how many surfaces and transects must be surveyed as all the previous surveys were done with only one inter-row. The results showed average values of soil depletion reaching &minus, 11.4, &minus, 11.8, and &minus, 11.5 cm for the inter-rows 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The current soil surface level descended 11.6 cm in 20 years. The inter-rows 1, 2, and 3 with a total area of 302.4 m2 each one (2016 points) recorded 71.4, 70.8, and 74.0 Mg ha&minus, 1 yr&minus, 1, respectively. With the maximum number of sampling points (5904), 71.2 Mg ha&minus, 1 were obtained. The spatial variability of the soil erosion was shown to be very small, with no statistically significant differences among inter-rows. This could be due to the effect of the soil profile homogenization as a consequence of the intense tillage. This research shows the potential predictability of ISUM in order to give an overall overview of the soil erosion process for vineyards that follow the same soil management system. We conclude that measuring one inter-row is enough to get an overview of soil erosion processes in vineyards when the vines are under the same intense tillage management and topographical conditions. Moreover, we demonstrated the high erosion rates in a vineyard within the viticultural region of the Tierra de Barros, which could be representative for similar vineyards with similar topographical conditions, soil properties, and a possible non-sustainable soil management system.

In semi-arid and arid areas, soil salinity has adverse effects both on the environment and agricultural production. The main causes of this salinization come from natural or anthropogenic processes, which is certainly an environmental problem that affects more than 20% of the world's land. This study was made in order to map the spatial distribution of soil salinity of the irrigated perimeter of El Ghrous in southeastern Algeria. These maps were performed based on data collected from 190 soil samples from 0 to 15 cm deep. We used ordinary kriging (OK) to analyze the spatial variability of soil salinity, while indicator kriging (IK) was used to analyze salinity versus threshold values. The salinity map predicted by the electrical conductivity (EC) values using the ordinary kriging (OK) method showed the different classes of salinity according to Durand's classification with moderately saline 3rd order dominance, while the unsalted soil (EC < 0.6 dS m-1) represents a very low percentage (1.5%). The indicator kriging (IK) was carried out by four thresholds which correspond to the salinity class limits: EC > 0.6, EC > 1, EC > 2, EC > 3, and EC > 4 dS m-1, for developing probability maps to determine risk areas. This study has shown the spatial trend of soil salinity by geolocation of different classes, and to carry out risk maps using geostatistical techniques.

Brazil is one of the main producers of pork meat in the world. It is well-known that the agricultural sector is a key component of the economic development of this country, where super-intensive fields are only competitive in the globalized market. For the farmers, the application of swine manure to fertilize the soil can increase the yearly income, but it also may cause serious environmental problems related to soil health and soil quality. In this research, we assessed the effects of applying liquid swine manure in a tropical soybean (Glycine max) plantation to better understand when this technique stops being effective and starts causing a threat to soil health and quality. Therefore, we compared values of several soil properties and the soybean yield on treated fields at 10 random points belonging to 7 different plots that were treated with the liquid swine manure over a period ranging from 0 to 15 years. The results showed a positive linear trend in soybean production from 2.45 to 3.08 Mg ha&minus, 1 yr&minus, 1. This positive trend was also recorded for some key soil parameters such as porosity and exchangeable cations content (Ca, Mg, K, and Al). Additionally, positive effects were also found for organic matter content after 10 years of application. Our findings suggest that the use of liquid swine manure has a positive effect on soybean yield and improves soil quality, particularly on mixed farms where pigs are intensively raised nearby cultivated fields.

Land degradation is becoming a serious concern for the sustainability of traditional agrosilvopastoral systems such as the Brazilian faxinal. The IAP (Environmental Institute of the Federal State of Paran&aacute, ) is favoring the partial exclusion to grazing for 10 years as strategy both to recover degraded lands and to reduce negative effects. Nevertheless, this strategy is being followed by a reduced number of owners (faxinalenses) and little is known about the effectiveness of these measures due to either lack of field data and knowledge on faxinalenses&rsquo, perceptions. We have identified one out of few farms that have followed this official strategy and, within the same farm, we have compared values of some soil properties (bulk density, porosity, water holding capacity, penetration resistance, soil organic matter and root density) from an excluded area to grazing for 10 years, with some areas that represent a gradient of grazing intensity (natural forest, secondary forest, degraded forest, grassland and a degraded area by pigs). In addition, we have interviewed some faxinalenses (one faxinal farm is owned by several farmers) in order to better understand how the risk of land degradation is perceived by them and their opinions about the usefulness of partial grazing exclusion as a strategy to improve the management of their farms. The results have shown that soil quality increases considerably as a consequence of grazing exclusion, in spite of land has been used for cropping yerba mate during the exclusion time, but faxinalenses are not mindful of these benefits and they are no longer interested in excluding other areas of their farms. They think this strategy is simply an obligation imposed by the environmental authority.

The increase in world population increases the pressure on soil resources and triggers land degradation. Agricultural and grazing environments are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems to this process. Degradation affects importantly soil fertility. Millions of hectares are affected and soil productivity is endangered. This decreases soil ability to provide ecosystem services in quantity and quality. Managers and decision-makers should be open to adopt environmentally-friendly practices and contribute to land degradation neutrality. This chapter focuses on the problems induced by some of the most common soil degradation processes caused by in agriculture and grazing activities. Review the main causes of degradation: depletion of organic matter and biological diversity, structural stability, erosion, compaction, crusting, acidification, alkalization and salinization. Each process (subsection) has a description of the negative impacts of agriculture and grazing activities and potential solutions for sustainable management and restoration.

Pilgrimage is one of the most ancient forms of tourism. Nowadays, it is becoming a mass phenomenon that can lead to serious problems of environmental degradation in valuable sites. In this work, we have analysed by means of a structural equation model how religious consciousness is inspired in the religiosity/spirituality of each pilgrim. It could predict its effects on tourists regarding an improved (i.e., sensitised and more sustainable) attitude towards nature. The study was carried out in Guadalupe, Spain, which is a commonly known pilgrimage destination since 1389. A total of 203 visitors were surveyed using a questionnaire composed of 16 questions, divided into 4 dimensions (enriched attitudes toward nature, religious consciousness, sustainable development, and environmental human development), which were used as constructs in the model. The results showed how religious consciousness positively influences sustainable development (&beta, = 0.657, t = 11.306) and environmental human development (&beta, = 0.566, t = 8.255) explaining 75.6% of religious travellers&rsquo, more sensitive attitudes towards nature. Our findings suggest that a deeper research, on the role played by religiosity as a seed of fostering sustainability, is still needed.

This article analyses from a post-Marxist view, particularly, an ecological and gender-oriented perspective, the perception and attitudes of the Mexican people by gender, political affiliation and income level towards such current environmental issues as global warming, water shortage, water pollution and the influence of economic growth on the environment, among others. It highlights the influence of political ideology on the environment and of gender awareness on conservation and a more positive attitude towards ecological issues, despite women having usually been excluded from the administrative and decision-making arenas. A new theoretical model is proposed related to the Responsibility Footprints, a new concept more critical than the neoliberal Corporate Social Responsibility. The data for this study come from the 2012 International Social Survey Program. The results analysed brought to light some relevant questions for designing public policies that will greatly bolster initiatives to prompt better female professional involvement in the conservation of natural resources.

This paper presents an integrated modelling study aimed at exploring the possible effects of drivers of change in commercial natural annual grasslands. We consider drivers as factors that affect the rangeland but are not affected by it. Thus, the stocking rate is not treated as a driver, but as an endogenous factor ultimately determined by drivers. This approach, which call for integrated multidisciplinary studies, is rare in the rangeland literature. We try to alleviate this lack by presenting and utilizing a novel multidisciplinary integrated system-dynamics model (108 equations) which represents an area of privately owned extensive farms, its farmers (their numbers and decisions), herds or flocks, herbage production, soil erosion and the linked local markets. By means of a global sensitivity analysis of this model we evaluated the sensitivities of key endogenous factors to the same percentage variation in 70 factors, including economic and climate drivers. The analysis considered the behaviours of 288,000 variants of the modelled system, each under a different 300-year driver scenario. We found that the environmental component of the model was almost exclusively sensitive to biophysical factors, whereas the socio-economic component was almost exclusively sensitive to socio-economic factors, despite the model takes account of key feedbacks connecting both components. Our results suggest that cautiously-managed commercial natural grasslands could socially and economically cope with climate change, especially in a scenario of rising prices of animal products, and also that, even though stocking rates would increase due to an increase in the demand for livestock products, the main threat to the provision of ecosystem services in the studied system would be climate change.

Graft unions of cultivated plants have been used as passive bio-indicators to assess long-term soil erosion rates. By taking complementary topographical measures in inter-row areas, soil erosion can be more accurately estimated as done with the Improved Stock Unearthing Method (ISUM) in vineyards. As vines are not the only plants that are grafted, ISUM could be also applied to other crops. Most fruit trees are planted in ridges and our objective was to test if ISUM could be applied in a ridge planted persimmon plantation. This update in the methodology will allow the scientific community to expand measurements that will contribute to assessing soil erosion processes in intensive and non-sustainable plantations, where soil erosion is a key factor of land degradation. To achieve this goal, we carried out the research in a persimmon orchard plantation located in Canals municipality, Valencia, eastern Spain. The current soil surface and mobilized soils were estimated using ArcGIS, MATLAB, and SolidWorks software. The data showed soil erosion of 55.9, 50.4, and 50.2 Mg ha−1 yr−1, using ArcGIS, MATLAB, and SolidWorks, respectively. In the inter-row areas, soil erosion reached 58.9 Mg ha−1 yr−1 with mean LS factor of 1.5. In the row areas, soil erosion was 37.2 Mg ha−1 yr−1. Overall soil erosion rates ranged from 34.5 to 69.6 Mg ha−1 yr−1. We discuss the effect of tillage and ridges on soil redistribution, and the contribution of ISUM to improve scientific knowledge due to its long-term assessment. We concluded that soil erosion in the orchard was extremely high, non-sustainable and that there is a need to apply soil conservation strategies.

Spanish rangelands occupy more than 90,000km 2 of land grazed by millions of domestic and wild animals. Organic matter content of soil is an essential component for fertility and productivity in both, natural and human-induced ecosystems. Despite its importance to soil quality, soil organic carbon has been little studied in these rangelands. The main goal of this study is to assess the amounts and characteristics of soil organic matter in grazed open woodlands of SW Iberia as influenced by vegetation cover and land management. Soil properties were analysed from 22 environmental units selected from 10 farms distributed throughout the region of Extremadura being representative of different rangeland types: dehesas (wooded rangelands), scrublands of Retama sphaerocarpa and treeless grasslands. Some of the soil samples were used for a chemical fractioning of soil carbon. Farmer interviews were conducted in order to quantify livestock densities and stocking rates and to assess land management. Results showed that soils are generally shallow, acidic, with low soil organic carbon contents and poor in nutrients. Areas with higher soil carbon stocks corresponded to units encroached by Retama sphaerocarpa shrubs and dehesas with 49.2T·;ha -1 and 46.0T·ha -1 , respectively, particularly those developed on schist. Soil organic carbon concentrated mainly in the top 5cm soil layer, displaying large variability (mean: 2.30%). SOC was relatively high beneath the tree canopy (mean: 3.35%) and less concentrated and reduced in variability with depth. Regardless of the variation of total amount of carbon among cover types, the proportion of each carbon fraction from the total carbon was kept relatively constant whatever the cover type. A multivariate analysis performed and other results suggest that land mismanagement and excessive stocking rates could be related with the appearance of bare soil areas, therefore negatively affecting soil organic matter by removing the sensitive topsoil materials through water erosion. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Fodder shrub plantations ( Atriplex nummularia L.) were extensively introduced in dryland areas of central Morocco (Marrakech province, Ouled Dlim and Ouled Nejim municipalities) to rehabilitate degraded rangeland and to mitigate desertification processes. These interventions deeply modified the original rural landscape, characterized by sparse vegetation cover in relation to a long history of intense grazing and subsistence cropping, and by soils prone to surface crusting and to high runoff generation. The Landscape Function Analysis (LFA) was applied to study the effects of the Atriplex plantation on soil and landscape functions. The LFA landscape functional indicators (Landscape Organization Index, LOI; Patch Area Index, PAI; Number of Patches, NP; Patch Number Index, PNI) were measured along seventeen 50-m-long transects, established to compare five “actions” (CR, Cropped; GR, Grazed; MA, Mature plantation; YA-1, Young plantation with moderate biomass development; YA-2, Young plantation with good biomass development). The LFA soil surface indicators, and the related NC (Nutrient Cycling) and IR (Infiltration/Runoff) indices were assessed in the observed ecological patches and inter-patches, for a total number of 157 microsites. Biomass production was measured in all the studied plantations. Multiple group comparison analysis was performed to compare the mean values of the LFA indices according to action and patch types. Correlation analysis was carried out to study the relationships between biomass and functional indices. The results obtained show that the young and well developed plantations have the stronger impacts on all the LFA indices and that the plantation effects are mostly linked to the localized synergistic effect of the plant–furrow association. In the study area the LFA provided an effective metric to assess the relative effectiveness of the actions compared.

Villuercas-Ibores-Jara is one of the most socioeconomically deprived areas of the Spanish region of Extremadura. However, its geological heritage and other natural resources have still not been sufficiently used. The recent integration of this region in the European Geoparks Network can be considered an important milestone for the promotion of a local socioeconomic development based on the sustainable management of natural areas. An inventory of 44 geosites was identified by the geopark's scientific committee in 14 categories by their main scientific interest. This article proposes a more straightforward classification of these geosites using only a total of six classes.

Soil water repellency reduces infiltration capacity, enhancing overland flow and even runoff production, and may produce patchiness in water infiltration at the hillslope scale. Knowledge about hydrophobicity in rangelands of Mediterranean type climate and its relation with vegetation cover and land management is sparse. The objectives of the present work are to determine the degree and spatial occurrence of soil water repellency and to define its relationship with site characteristics, such as soil, vegetation and land management in rangelands of SW Spain. Field work was conducted in September 2009 in 22 environmental units belonging to 10 farms, distributed throughout the region of Extremadura. The Molarity of an Ethanol Droplet (MED) method was used for measuring water repellency of the soil surface. A total of 725 points were sampled and the study was combined with a detailed vegetation survey, the determination of soil properties and of land use and management characteristics. More than 70% of the measurement points were hydrophilic, however differences between farm units were found. The highest values of hydrophobicity were observed on soil surfaces below the canopy of holm oaks, as compared to the low values found below shrub canopies ( Retama sphaerocarpa ) and in open areas. With respect to ground cover, water repellency was highest at sites covered by holm oak litter. At soil surfaces covered by cork oak litter, dry grass and mosses the degree of repellency was lower. Almost all sites with a bare soil surface were hydrophilic, independent of whether these were located below a tree canopy or in open areas. A significant positive relationship between livestock density and the degree of bare soil existed, and consequently, areas with high animal numbers were dominantly hydrophilic. No significant relationships were encountered between the degree of soil water repellency and soil properties.

Interactions between land and atmosphere directly influence hydrometeorological processes and, therefore, the local climate. However, because of heterogeneity of vegetation covers these feedbacks can change over small areas, becoming more complex. This study aims to define how the interactions between soil moisture and vegetation covers influence soil temperatures in very water-limited environments. In order to do that, soil water content and soil temperature were continuously monitored with a frequency of 30 min over two and half hydrological years, using capacitance and temperature sensors that were located in open grasslands and below tree canopies. The study was carried out on three study areas located in drylands of Mediterranean climate. Results highlighted the importance of soil moisture and vegetation cover in modifying soil temperatures. During daytime and with low soil moisture conditions, daily maximum soil temperatures were, on average, 7.1 &deg, C lower below tree canopies than in the air, whereas they were 4.2 &deg, C higher in grasslands than in the air. As soil wetness decreased, soil temperature increased, although this effect was significantly weaker below tree canopies than in grasslands. Both high soil water content and the effect of shading were reflected in a decrease of maximum soil temperatures and of their daily amplitudes. Statistical analysis emphasized the influence of soil temperature on soil water reduction, regardless of vegetation cover. If soil moisture deficits become more frequent due to climate change, variations in soil temperature could increase, affecting hydrometeorological processes and local climate.