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Landscape Ecology - Landscape Ecology and Landscape Approaches in the Iberian context: challenges, opportunities and future prospects

Guest Editors

José Muñoz-Rojas, MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, University of Évora, Portugal
Antonio Gómez-Sal, Department of Life Sciences, Area of Ecology, University of Alcalá (UAH), Madrid, Spain
Asunción Saldaña-López, Department of Life Sciences, Area of Ecology, University of Alcalá (UAH), Madrid, Spain
Andreu Bonet-Jornet, Department of Ecology and IMEM Ramón Margalef, University of Alicante, Spain

Context

The Iberian Peninsula is a regional context where ecological and socio-cultural values of landscapes are mutually interconnected due to their long and rich human history (Gómez Sal, 2017), a fact that is already well documented for the Mediterranean (Blondel, 2006). This interconnectedness is exacerbated in the Iberian Peninsula due to its position as an ecotone between Mediterranean ecosystems and those others Atlantic/Euro-Siberian. In the Iberian context, the cultural, natural and socio-political components of the territory are inextricably inter-linked, resulting in a rich and diverse landscape mosaic that is gradually becoming degraded in many locations, many of which are unprotected or unsustainably managed.

Landscapes, as coupled social-ecological systems (Matthews & Selman, 2006; Pedroli et al, 2006), are the main source for the multiple services, values and benefits arising from the complex interactions between societies and their natural and cultural environments. Under this premise, Landscape Ecology, and Integrated Landscape Approaches (Sayer et al, 2013; Freeman et al, 2015; Sayer et al, 2017; Bürgi et al, 2017) hold the potential to provide with the main theoretical basis for devising integrated territorial solutions that are effective to increase sustainability standards across scales.

This collection will provide an overview of the current state and potential for future improvements in landscape ecological theory and landscape approaches, considered in their role to help address key territorial and social-ecological challenges in the Iberian context. Such challenges may include hot and largely wicked (Duckett et al, 2016) challenges that are especially salient in the Iberian context, including: water scarcity and sustainable management, forest fires, soil erosion and desertification processes, conflicts between biodiversity conservation and food security, landscape character and urban-rural conflicts for land-use while supporting and amplifying United Nation Sustainable Development Goals 2: Zero Hunger (this opens in a new tab), 6: Clean Water & Sanitation (this opens in a new tab), 7: Affordable & Clean Energy (this opens in a new tab), 13: Climate Action (this opens in a new tab), 15: Life on Land (this opens in a new tab), and 17: Partnerships for the Goals (this opens in a new tab).

Literature cited

Blondel, J. (2006) The “Design” of Mediterranean Landscapes: A Millennial Story of Humans and Ecological Systems during the Historic Period. Human Ecology, 34, 713-729. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-9030-4 (this opens in a new tab)

Bürgi, M.; Ali, P.; Chowdhury, A.; Heinimann, A.; Hett, C.; Kienast, F.; Mondal, M.K.; Upreti, B.R.; Verburg, P.H. (2017). Integrated Landscape Approach: Closing the Gap between Theory and Application. Sustainability 2017, 9, 1371. https://doi.org/10.3390/su9081371 (this opens in a new tab)

Duckett, D, Feliciano, D, Martin-Ortega, J. Muñoz-Rojas, J (2016) Tackling wicked environmental problems: The discourse and its influence on praxis in Scotland. Landscape and Urban Planning, 154. 44-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2016.03.015 (this opens in a new tab)

Freeman, O. E., L. A. Duguma, and P. A. Minang. 2015. Operationalizing the integrated landscape approach in practice. Ecology and Society 20(1): 24. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-07175-200124 (this opens in a new tab)

Gómez Sal, A. 2017 Patterns of Vegetation Cover Shaping the Cultural Landscapes in the Iberian Peninsula. In J. Loidi (ed.) The vegetation of the Iberian Peninsula 13, Springer International Publishing. 459-497 p.

Matthews, R. and Selman, P. (2006), Landscape as a Focus for Integrating Human and Environmental Processes. Journal of Agricultural Economics, 57: 199-212. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1477-9552.2006.00047.x (this opens in a new tab)

Pedroli, B., Pinto-Correia, T., & Cornish, P. S. (2006). Landscape - what's in it?: trends in European landscape science and priority themes for concerted research. Landscape Ecology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10980-005-5204-5 (this opens in a new tab)

Sayer JA, Sunderland TCH, Ghazoul J, et al (2013). Ten principles for a landscape approach to reconciling agriculture, conservation, and other competing land uses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA. 2013; 110:8349–8356. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1210595110

Sayer, J.A., Margules, C., Boedhihartono, A.K. et al (2017). Measuring the effectiveness of landscape approaches to conservation and development. Sustainability Science 12, 465–476 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-016-0415-z (this opens in a new tab)

Theme & Objectives

These topics were discussed at the “Changing landscapes and Society” V Iberian Congress of Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) organized by the Spanish Association of Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) (AEEP) (IALE-Spain) together with the Portuguese Society for Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) (APEP) (IALE-Portugal)—national chapters of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab)—held on November 18-19, 2021 virtually.

To achieve this, the following specific objectives were set for this collection:

  • Provide theoretical and operational discussions about the role of landscape approaches in better understanding and potentially resolving landscape conflicts of relevance in the Iberian context.
  • Provide Iberian case study examples, across scales, documenting the operationalization of landscape ecological concepts, models, methods and metrics in science, practice and governance.
  • Provide overviews and exhaustive examinations (e.g. literature reviews) of where landscape approaches and landscape ecology currently stand, and what their main gaps and opportunities are in Iberia, considered from a scientific perspective.
  • Provide overviews and exhaustive examinations (e.g., literature reviews) of where landscape approaches and landscape ecology currently stand, and what their main gaps and opportunities are in Iberia, considered from a policy or management-oriented perspective.

We invited papers that address the following research questions:

  • What innovative novel landscape approaches are being applied in the Iberian context to help resolve key landscape and land-use conflicts?
  • What landscape ecological studies are there that provide empirical evidence about innovative options to tackle social-ecological challenges across scales?
  • What is the overall picture in science, practice and policies, and how can it be improved?
  • What are the key lessons that may be extracted from the overall picture in Iberian that may help advance landscape ecological approaches in similarly complex and transitional contexts worldwide (and vice-versa)?

Authors addressing these questions using theoretical perspectives, empirical case studies, and technical and tool-oriented analyses as well as those tackling any other key challenges of relevance to the main topics in this collection were encouraged to submit, especially students and early career researchers.

EXPECTED PUBLICATION: Late 2023

About the Guest Editors

Dr. José Muñoz-Rojas currently works as researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development (MED) of the University of Évora, Portugal, where he is head of the Landscape Management and Dynamics Research Group. The objective of his research is to devise novel approaches and methods to tackle the multiple challenges arising in Mediterranean and other European rural landscapes, territories, and communities. Dr. Muñoz-Rojas is also a member of the editorial board of Landscape Ecology. Please read more about his academic and professional background here (this opens in a new tab).

Prof. Antonio Gómez-Sal is Professor of Ecology at the University of Alcalá since 1994. He was also president of the Ecological Association of Terrestrial Ecology (AEET) (1991-1995), founding member of the Spanish Association of Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) (AEEP) (IALE-Spain) (2003)—national chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab)—and President of AEEP/IALE-Spain since 2017. Prof. Gómez-Sal's research is focused on ecosystems regulated by human actions. His research objectives include community and landscape ecology (succession, grasslands, agroecosystems, land and resources planning) and the scientific approach to sustainability. Prof. Gómez-Sal has also worked in Latin America and the Caribbean, acting on several occasions as a consultant for UN agencies. Please read more about his academic and professional background here (this opens in a new tab).

Dr. Asunción Saldaña-López, Treasurer of the Spanish Association of Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) (AEEP) (IALE-Spain)—national chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab)—works at the department of Life Sciences, University of Alcalá (UAH), Spain. The topics covered in her teaching include fields of ecology and soil science. Dr. Saldaña-López’s research areas are (1) geomorphology and pedology for soil and landscape studies; (2) the environmental factors determining invasions patterns; (3) the ecological impacts of biological invasions. Please read more about her research activities here (this opens in a new tab).

Dr. Andreu Bonet-Jornet, Vice-President of the Spanish Association of Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab) (AEEP) (IALE-Spain)—national chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (this opens in a new tab)—is a Doctor in Biological Sciences from the University of Barcelona, Spain, and Professor of the Department of Ecology, member of the IMEM Ramón Margalef Research Institute at University of Alicante, Spain. He develops his teaching and research in aspects related to ecology and the management, conservation and restoration of protected areas since he joined the University of Alicante, Spain, in 1993. Please read more about Dr. Bonet-Jornet’s academic and professional background here (this opens in a new tab).

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