Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Combining Environmental Factors and Agriculturalists’ Observations of Environmental Changes in the Traditional Terrace System of the Amalfi Coast (Southern Italy)

  • Report
  • Published:
AMBIO Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Terraces are traditional engineered ecosystems that affect the hydro-geological equilibrium, slope stability, and local communities. The aims of this paper are (i) identifying environmental factors that affect terrace stability in the Amalfi Coast, (ii) defining agriculturalists’ observations on environmental changes within that system and (iii) exploring potentiality of these observations to better define conservation strategies. All available data on physical and ecological factors recognized to affect the terrace system were collected and analyzed. Interviews were conducted with agriculturalists to obtain long-term observations on environmental factors that interact with this system. Landslides are more frequent where rainfall is high and during winter. Fires have an uneven annual distribution, with higher frequency during summers. Agriculturalists detailed complex interactions among environmental factors, economic elements, and terraces. These observations represent a valuable resource for defining causes and effects of abandonment and for better addressing conservation strategies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

References

  • Annali Idrologici. 1959–1999. Watersheds of the Tyrrhenian sector between Garigliano and Bussento and between Noce and Garigliano. Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri, Servizi Tecnici Nazionali (in Italian).

  • Attorre, F., M. Alfo, M. De Sanctis, F. Francesconi, and F. Bruno. 2007. Comparison of interpolation methods for mapping climatic and bioclimatic variables at regional scale. International Journal of Climatology 27: 1825–1843.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baeza, M.J., J. Raventós, A. Escarré, and V.R. Vallejo. 2006. Fire risk and vegetation structural dynamics in Mediterranean shrubland. Plant Ecology 187: 189–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkes, F., and M.K. Berkes. 2009. Ecological complexity, fuzzy logic, and holism in indigenous knowledge. Futures 41: 6–12.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blasi, C., R. Di Pietro, and P. Fortini. 2000. A phytosociological analysis of abandoned terraced olive grove shrublands in the Tyrrhenian district of Central Italy. Plant Biosystems 134: 305–331.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bolte, J.P., D.W. Hulse, S.V. Gregory, and C. Smith. 2006. Modeling biocomplexity—Actors, landscapes and alternative futures. Environmental Modelling & Software 22: 570–579.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bond, W.J., and J.E. Keeley. 2005. Fire as a global ‘herbivore’: The ecology and evolution of flammable ecosystems. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20: 387–394.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bossard, M., J. Feranec, and J. Othael. 2000a. CORINE land cover technical guide—Addendum 2000. Technical report no. 40. European Environment Agency.

  • Bossard, M., J. Feranec, and J. Othael. 2000b. The revised and supplemented Corine land cover nomenclature. Technical report no. 38. European Environment Agency.

  • Brancucci, G., and G. Paliaga. 2006. The hazard assessment in a terraced landscape: preliminary result of the Liguria (Italy) case study in the Iterreg III Alpter Project. In Proceedings of the conference on geohazards, ed. F. Nadim, R. Pottler, H. Einstein, H. Klapperich, and S. Kramer, Paper no. 16. Lillehammer, Norway.

  • Bridges, K.W., and W.C. McClatchey. 2009. Living on the margin: Ethnoecological insights from Marshall Islanders at Rongelap atoll. Global Environmental Change 19: 140–146.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Budillon, F., C. Violante, A. Conforti, E. Esposito, D. Insinga, M. Iorio, and S. Porfido. 2005. Event beds in the recent prodelta stratigraphic record of the small flood-prone Bonea Stream (Amalfi Coast, Southern Italy). Marine Geology 222–223: 419–441.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Buttner, G., J. Feranec, and G. Jaffrain. 2002. Corine land cover Update 2000. Technical guidelines. Technical Report no. 89. European Environment Agency.

  • Calcaterra, D., M. Parise, B. Palma, and L. Pelella L. 2000. The influence of meteoric events in triggering shallow landslides in pyroclastic deposits of Campania, Italy. In Proceedings of the 8th international symposium on landslides, ed. E. Bromhead, N. Dixon, and M.L. Ibsen, 209–214. Cardiff: AA Balkema.

  • Cancellieri, L. 2008. Study on the vegetation dynamics on the Lattari Mountains (Campania). PhD thesis, Rome: University Roma Tre (in Italian).

  • Caneva, G., and L. Cancellieri. 2007. Vegetation landscape of the Amalfi Coast. Rome: Gangemi Ed (in Italian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Caneva, G., G. Galotta, L. Cancellieri, and V. Savo. 2009. Tree roots and damages in the Jewish catacombs of Villa Torlonia (Roma). Journal of Cultural Heritage 10: 53–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capitanio, R., and C. Carcaillet. 2008. Post-fire Mediterranean vegetation dynamics and diversity: A discussion of succession models. Forest Ecology and Management 255: 431–439.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cascini, L., and S. Ferlisi. 2002. Historical data of landslides in the Amalfi Coast. Incontro Annuale dei Ricercatori di Geotecnica—IARG 2002.

  • Certini, G. 2005. Effects of fire on properties of forest soils: A review. Oecologia 43: 1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cinque, A., G. Robustelli, and M. Russo. 2000. The consequences of pyroclastic fallout on the dynamics of mountain catchments: Geomorphic events in the Rivo D’Arco basin (Sorrento Peninsula, Italy) after the plinian eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. Geografia Fisica e Dinamica Quaternaria 23: 117–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dallari, D., C. Iadanza, A. Trigila, I. Rischia, and F. Fumanti. 2006. Slope stability and vegetation cover ecological efficiency. Paper presented at the European Geoscience Union General Assembly, Wien, Austria, 02–07 April 2006.

  • Di Crescenzo, G., and A. Santo. 2007. High-resolution mapping of rock fall instability through the integration of photogrammetric, geomorphological and engineering–geological surveys. Quaternary International 171: 118–130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Di Pietro, R., and G. Filibeck. 2000. Abandoned terraces and colonization of natural vegetation: The case study of M.ti Aurunci. Informatore Botanico Italiano 32: 17–30 (in Italian).

    Google Scholar 

  • Diodato, N., and M. Ceccarelli. 2004. Multivariate indicator kriging approach using a GIS to classify soil degradation for Mediterranean agricultural lands. Ecological Indicators 4: 177–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frazier, T.G., N. Wood, and B. Yarnal. 2010. Stakeholder perspectives on land-use strategies for adapting to climate-change-enhanced coastal hazards: Sarasota, Florida. Applied Geography 30: 506–517.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez-Baggethun, E., V. Reyes-García, P. Olsson, and C. Montes. 2012. Traditional ecological knowledge and community resilience to environmental extremes: A case study in Doñana, SW Spain. Global Environmental Change 22: 640–650.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goovaerts, P. 2000. Geostatistical approaches for incorporating elevation into the spatial interpolation of rainfall. Journal of Hydrology 228: 113–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Guadagno, F.M., and P. Revellino. 2005. Debris avalanches and debris flows of the Campania Region (southern Italy). Debris-flow Hazards and Related Phenomena 2005: 489–518.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harfouche, R. 2007. History of the Mediterranean terraced landscape: Development and agriculture. Oxford: Archaeopress (in French).

  • Huntington, H., T. Callaghan, S. Fox, and I. Krupnik. 2004. Matching traditional and scientific observations to detect environmental change: A discussion on Arctic terrestrial ecosystems. AMBIO 2004: 18–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Incerti, G., E. Feoli, A. Giovacchini, L. Salvati, and A. Brunetti. 2007. Analysis of bioclimatic time series and their neural network-based classification to characterize drought risk patterns in south Italy. International Journal of Biometeorology 51: 253–263.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • ISTAT. 2001. Agriculture census. Retrieved 20 November, 2011, from http://www.census.istat.it/wibdsi/default.asp (in Italian).

  • Jiao, J., H. Zou, Y. Jia, and N. Wang. 2009. Research progress on the effects of soil erosion on vegetation. Acta Ecologica Sinica 29: 85–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lal, R. 2001. Managing world soil for food security and environmental quality. In Advances in agronomy, ed. D.L. Sparks. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasanta, T., J. Arnáez, M. Oserín, and L.M. Ortigosa. 2001. Marginal lands and erosion in terraced fields in the Mediterranean mountains: A case study in the Camero Viejo (Northwestern Iberian System, Spain). Mountain Research and Development 21: 69–76.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Llovet, J., A.G. Mayor, S. Bautista, J. Bellot, and V.R. Vallejo. 2006. Scale relationships in the hydrological and erosional response to fire in a Mediterranean terraced landscape. Geophysical Research Abstracts 8: 10470.

    Google Scholar 

  • Martınez-Fernandez, J., M.A. Esteve-Selma, and J.F. Calvo-Sendın. 2000. Environmental and socioeconomic interactions in the evolution of traditional irrigated lands: A dynamic system model. Human Ecology 28: 279–299.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Montanarella, L. 2007. Trends in land degradation in Europe. In Climate and land degradation, ed. M.V. Sivakumar, and N. Ndiangui. Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nearing, M.A., V. Jetten, C. Baffaut, O. Cerdan, A. Couturier, M. Hernandez, Y. Le Bissonnais, M.H. Nichols, et al. 2005. Modeling response of soil erosion and runoff to changes in precipitation and cover. Catena 61: 131–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neary, D.G., C.C. Klopatek, L.F. de Bano, and P.F. Folliott. 1999. Fire effects on belowground sustainability: A review and synthesis. Forest Ecology and Management 122: 51–71.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Omura, K. 2005. Science against modern science: The socio-political otherness in Inuit TEK (traditional ecological knowledge). Senri Ethnological Studies 67: 323–344.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Neal, M.R., M.A. Nearing, R.C. Vining, J. Southworth, and R.A. Pfeifer. 2005. Climate change impacts on soil erosion in Midwest United States with changes in crop management. Catena 61: 165–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petheram, L., K.K. Zander, B.M. Campbell, C. High, and N. Stacey. 2010. ‘Strange changes’: Indigenous perspectives of climate change and adaptation in NE Arnhem Land (Australia). Global Environmental Change 20: 681–692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pickett, S.T.A., M.L. Cadenasso, and J.M. Grove. 2005. Biocomplexity in coupled natural-human systems: A multidimensional framework. Ecosystems 8: 225–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Progetto IFFI. 2006. http://www.isprambiente.gov.it/it/progetti/iffi-inventario-dei-fenomeni-franosi-in-italia.

  • Pruski, F.F., and M.A. Nearing. 2002. Climate-induced changes in erosion during the 21st century for eight U.S. locations. Water Resources Research 38: 1298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Puigdefabregas, J. 1998. Implications of regional scale policies on land condition and land degradation in the Mediterranean basin. In Global change and terrestrial ecosystems. The Earth changing land. GCTE-LUCC, Open Science Conference on Global Change, GCTE, Barcelona.

  • Reedy, D., V. Savo, and W. McClatchey. 2013. Traditional climatic knowledge: Orchardists’ perceptions of and adaptation to climate change in the Campania region (Southern Italy). Plant Biosystems. doi:10.1080/11263504.2013.793753.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, J.P. 2006. Politics, culture, and governance in the development of prior informed consent in indigenous communities. Current Anthropology 47: 119–142.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruecker, G., P. Schad, M.M. Alcubilla, and C. Ferrer. 1998. Natural regeneration of degraded soils and site changes on abandoned agricultural terraces in Mediterranean Spain. Land Degradation and Development 9: 179–188.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Salvati, L., M. Petitta, T. Ceccarelli, L. Perini, F. Di Battista, and M.E. Venezian Scarascia. 2008. Italy’s renewable water resources as estimated on the basis of the monthly water balance. Irrigation and Drainage 57: 507–515.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Southworth, J., J.C. Randolph, M. Habeck, O.C. Doering, R.A. Pfeifer, D. Gangadhar Rao, and J.J. Johnston. 2000. Consequences of future climate change and changing climate variability on maize yields in the midwestern United States. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 82: 139–158.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The AVI Project. 2007. An inventory of areas affected by landslides and floods in Italy. Retrieved 1 December, 2011, from http://avi.gndci.cnr.it/welcome_en.htm.

  • UNESCO. 1997. Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. World Heritage Committee, 21st session.

  • UNESCO. 2007. Convention concerning the protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. World Heritage Committee, 31st session.

  • Venezian Scarascia, M.E., F. Di Battista, and L. Salvati. 2006. Water resources in Italy: Availability and agricultural uses. Irrigation and Drainage 55: 115–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Violante, C., M. Sacchi, A. Tesauro, T. Thot, and E. Vittori. 2006. The 25–26 October 1954 hyperpycnal flow at Bonea stream mouth (Amalfi Coast, Southern Italy): New data from ultra-high resolution acoustic surveys. Geophysical Research Abstracts 8: 10589.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, D., B.T. Ngairorue, A. Apollus, and H. Tjiveze. 2000. Perceptions and realities of land degradation in arid Otjimbingwe, Namibia. Journal of Arid Environments 45: 337–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolf, J., and S.C. Moser. 2011. Individual understandings, perceptions, and engagement with climate change: Insights from in depth studies across the world. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 2: 547–569.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the “Comunità Montana Monti Lattari” for supporting this research within the project “La valorizzazione delle specie vegetali tipiche della Costiera amalfitana con potenzialità economiche”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hakai Network for Coastal People, Ecosystems and Management, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada

    Valentina Savo

  2. Department of Science, University of Roma Tre, Viale G. Marconi 446, 00146, Rome, Italy

    Valentina Savo & Giulia Caneva

  3. Botanical Research Institute of Texas, 1700 University Drive, Fort Worth, TX, 76107-3400, USA

    Will McClatchey & David Reedy

  4. Department of Botany, University of Hawai`i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

    Will McClatchey & David Reedy

  5. Unit of Climatology and Meteorology Applied to Agriculture, Italian National Agricultural Research Council, Via del Caravita 7a, 00186, Rome, Italy

    Luca Salvati

Authors
  1. Valentina Savo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Giulia Caneva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Will McClatchey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David Reedy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Luca Salvati
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valentina Savo.

Electronic supplementary material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Savo, V., Caneva, G., McClatchey, W. et al. Combining Environmental Factors and Agriculturalists’ Observations of Environmental Changes in the Traditional Terrace System of the Amalfi Coast (Southern Italy). AMBIO 43, 297–310 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0433-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-013-0433-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation