The Role of Cultural Landscapes in the Delivery of Provisioning Ecosystem Services in Protected Areas

The aim of this paper is to assess and highlight the significance of cultural landscapes in protected areas, considering both biodiversity and the delivery of provisioning ecosystem services. In order to do that, we analyzed 26 protected areas in Andalusia (Spain), all of them Natural or National Pa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability 2019-05, Vol.11 (9), p.2471
Main Authors: Maldonado, Ana D., Ramos-López, Darío, Aguilera, Pedro A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural production
Agriculture
Biodiversity
Conventions
Councils
Crops
Cultural heritage
Cultural values
Ecosystem services
Ecosystems
Food security
Food supply
Forests
Geomorphology
Grasslands
Greenhouses
Land use
Littoral environments
Matrix algebra
Matrix methods
Mountains
National parks
Protected areas
Provisioning
Sustainability
Tourism
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Summary:The aim of this paper is to assess and highlight the significance of cultural landscapes in protected areas, considering both biodiversity and the delivery of provisioning ecosystem services. In order to do that, we analyzed 26 protected areas in Andalusia (Spain), all of them Natural or National Parks, regarding some of their ecosystem services (agriculture, livestock grazing, microclimate regulation, environmental education and tourism) and diversity of the four terrestrial vertebrate classes: amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds. A cluster analysis was also run in order to group the 26 protected areas according to their dominant landscape. The results show that protected areas dominated by dehesa (a heterogeneous system containing different states of ecological maturity), or having strong presence of olive groves, present a larger area of delivery of provisioning ecosystem services, on average. These cultural landscapes play an essential role not only for biodiversity conservation but also as providers of provisioning ecosystem services.
ISSN:2071-1050
2071-1050
DOI:10.3390/su11092471