Document: SAN-3-4-9

Mediterranean landscape dynamics under alternative land use change scenarios.

LAVOREL, S.* ^1,2, I.D.DAVIES ² and I.R.NOBLE ²

Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, CNRS UPR 9056 ¹
Australian National University ²

Abstract:
Landscapes of the northern Mediterranean Basin have been submitted to extensive land use change over the 20th century. These changes have converted landscapes that were initially diverse and fine-grained into a two-tone mosaic with large and continuous forested or scrubby areas separating intensively cultivated land at valley bottoms or near urban centers. In this context, vast areas have now returned to relatively natural dynamics dominated by woody species dispersal processes, fire and climatic constraints. European Community Policies have been designed to maintain or restore open habitats that are essential for the conservation of plant and animal species diversity. Although these policies are already being applied, little consideration has been given to the landscape dimension of their implementation. Rather, individual farmer subsidies have led to unconcerted selection of land for conservatory maintenance through grazing and shrub cutting. We use a landscape model, LAMOS, to simulate vegetation dynamics under alternative scenarios representing (1) continued land abandonment; (2) conservatory maintenance allocated to plots scattered in the landscape; (3) conservatory maintenance designed following parcel size and aggregation criteria. These alternative land use scenarios affect speed of woody encroachment, biomass production and fire regimes. We also discuss potential consequences on hydrology.

Keywords: landscape model, land use change, mediterranean, fire

This abstract is being presented at: 10:30 AM in session:
Poster Session #5: Landscape Ecology.