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Temporal Changes in Socio-Ecological Systems and Their Impact on Ecosystem Services at Different Governance Scales: A Case Study of Heathlands

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Abstract

Heathlands are considered biodiversity hotspots of high conservation interest. However, they are at risk of degradation and disappearance in most parts of Europe mainly due to land abandonment, degradation, and conversion to other land uses. Heathlands are semi-natural systems: their maintenance and survival depends on specific practices such as extensive grazing or burning. Traditionally they provide a wide range of goods and services to societies. In this study we used the ecosystem services (ES) framework to analyze the changes in the demand for and delivery of ES for the heathland landscapes of the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain), since the 1950s. Particularly, we analyzed how the social changes since the 1950s have determined changes in stakeholders’ demand for provisioning, cultural and regulating services and how these changes have influenced the vegetation dynamics and conservation status of these systems. We identified a general shift from the provisioning of grazing facilities and local products for the local-regional market to the provisioning of conservation services to satisfy national–international demand. For the present situation we found a clear mismatch between the conservation demand, management practices, and land-use forms. This mismatch threatens to lead to further landscape changes and loss of biodiversity. The results of our multi-scale and -services study can help to increase awareness of the value of currently obtainable benefits from heathlands among stakeholders and managers. The ES approach can improve understanding of the functioning of the socio-ecological heathland system, and inform the development of new management strategies for heathland protection.

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Acknowledgments

The study was supported by the Junta de Castilla y León (project No. LE021A08) and the Ministry of Science and Education (project No. CGL2006-10998-C02-01/BOS). The Ministry of Education of Spain provided the PhD Scholarship for A. Morán-Ordóñez. The authors would like to thank the Fire Ecology Research Group of the University of León and the Landscape Centre of the Environmental Sciences Group (ESG) of Wageningen University and Research (WUR) for their support. We are also grateful to I. Alonso, S. Canessa, J. García-Fernández, P. Gregersen and R.H.G. Jongman for their help and comments. We would also like to thank K. Andersson and the three anonymous reviewers who provided constructive and valuable comments on a previous version of this manuscript.

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  1. Área de Ecología, Departamento de Biodiversidad y Gestión Ambiental, Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, University of León, Campus de Vegazana s/n, 24071, León, Spain

    Alejandra Morán-Ordóñez, Susana Suárez-Seoane, Estanislao de Luis & Leonor Calvo

  2. Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Rob Bugter

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  1. Alejandra Morán-Ordóñez
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  4. Estanislao de Luis
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Correspondence to Alejandra Morán-Ordóñez.

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Author Contributions

AMO: conceived and designed the study, performed the research, the literature review and wrote the manuscript. RB: contributed new methods, literature review and wrote the paper. SSS, EL, and LC: conceived and designed the study and wrote the paper.

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Morán-Ordóñez, A., Bugter, R., Suárez-Seoane, S. et al. Temporal Changes in Socio-Ecological Systems and Their Impact on Ecosystem Services at Different Governance Scales: A Case Study of Heathlands. Ecosystems 16, 765–782 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-013-9649-0

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