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

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Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the research project HAR2012-38920-C02-02 funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the international Partnership Grant SSHRC-895-2011-1020 ‘Sustainable farm systems: long-term socio-ecological metabolism in western agriculture’ funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. We also thank the comments received in the oral presentation made in the European Conference on ‘Linking Biological and Cultural Diversity in Europe’ held in Florence (08-11/04/2014) for the Implementation of the UNESCO-SCBD Joint Programme on Biological and Cultural Diversity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Barcelona Institute of Regional and Metropolitan Studies, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain

    Joan Marull, Francesc Coll & Elena Domene

  2. Department of Economic History and Institutions, University of Barcelona, 08034, Barcelona, Spain

    Enric Tello

  3. Department of Geography, University of the Balearic Islands, 07122, Palma, Spain

    Nofre Fullana & Ivan Murray

  4. Research History Institute, University of Girona, 17071, Girona, Spain

    Gabriel Jover

  5. Department of Mathematics, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193, Bellaterra, Spain

    Carme Font

  6. Department of Urban Planning, University IUAV of Venice, 30135, Venice, Italy

    Veronica Leoni & Trejsi Decolli

Authors
  1. Joan Marull
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  2. Enric Tello
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  3. Nofre Fullana
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  4. Ivan Murray
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  5. Gabriel Jover
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  6. Carme Font
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  7. Francesc Coll
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  8. Elena Domene
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  9. Veronica Leoni
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  10. Trejsi Decolli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joan Marull.

Additional information

Communicated by Mauro Agnoletti.

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Marull, J., Tello, E., Fullana, N. et al. Long-term bio-cultural heritage: exploring the intermediate disturbance hypothesis in agro-ecological landscapes (Mallorca, c. 1850–2012). Biodivers Conserv 24, 3217–3251 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0955-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0955-z

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