Papers by Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui
Sustainability
Cultural landscapes are the result of social–ecological processes that have co-evolved throughout... more Cultural landscapes are the result of social–ecological processes that have co-evolved throughout history, shaping high-value sustainable systems [...]
WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment
The development of cultural tourism has turned traditional rural landscapes, characterized by the... more The development of cultural tourism has turned traditional rural landscapes, characterized by their great natural and cultural values, into focus of tourism attraction, causing important changes in the socioeconomic structure of the regions containing them. The enhancement of this tourism highlights the need to design and implement a sustainable management that guarantees the maintenance and conservation of the landscape and the economic development of local populations. This study, localised in the Lozoya Valley (Guadarrama Mountains, Central Spain), analyses the socio-ecological situation of its municipalities and visitors in two different times. The analysis of its temporal evolution has allowed us to notice a marked socio-ecological decoupling characterized by urban sprawl, loss of traditional landuses and practices and the rurality of local society. At the same time, a decrease is detected in the rural landscape valuation by visitors, increasing their preferences for naturalness. The conducted study is a novel contribution applicable to the conservative management of the landscape and the development of sustainable tourism for nature and society.
Pesquisa Florestal Brasileira, 2011
&lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"&a... more &lt;p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Muitas organizações governamentais e não governamentais (ONGs) investem esforços consideráveis para apoiar as populações dependentes da floresta, na extração e comercialização de produtos florestais não madeireiros (PFNM), para gerar ganhos econômicos de forma ecologicamente sustentável. Porém, o sucesso destes esforços agora tem sido bastante modesto, sendo que muitas das iniciativas que recebem apoio externo são abandonadas quando o apoio acaba. Este artigo é uma reflexão crítica sobre as expectativas e as preocupações que surgem deste tipo de projetos de desenvolvimento, analisando em profundidade um projeto para a comercialização de óleos vegetais pela comunidade de Pedreira, situada na Amazônia Oriental Brasileira, que tem recebido apoio intensivo por parte do governo. O estudo explora as motivações das famílias que participaram do projeto, a forma como o projeto influenciou nos processos de produção e quais foram os benefícios para as famílias participantes assim como as consequências globais para toda a comunidade. Os resultados revelam que o projeto de comercialização de PFNM analisado, baseado em expectativas exageradamente otimistas, investiu fortemente na reorganização dos esquemas de produção locais, sem considerar adequadamente a realidade sócioambiental, as capacidades e interesses das comunidades. Como consequência, o modelo sócio-produtivo proposto não necessariamente teve efeitos significativamente interessantes para todos os atores locais e até causaram prejuízos para eles.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;doi: 10.4336/2011.pfb.31.66.131&lt;br /&gt;<br>&lt;p&gt;Many governmental and non-governmental development organisations (NGOs) invest considerable efforts to support forest dependent people for the extraction and commercialization of non-timber forest products (NTFP) to generate income in an ecologically sustainable way. But success so far has been quite modest. Many of the families abandon [...]
Data on species richness and diversity under different stocking rates of domestic herbivores in 4... more Data on species richness and diversity under different stocking rates of domestic herbivores in 48 studies all throughout the plane
Most of our knowledge of the effect of grazing on grassland structure is based on grazed-ungrazed... more Most of our knowledge of the effect of grazing on grassland structure is based on grazed-ungrazed contrasts. The effects of grazing in the most common scenario, where grazing intensity varies from low to high grazing intensity, are less known. The objectives of this paper were to (1) quantify the effect of stocking rates on species richness and diversity of grasslands world-wide, and (2) evaluate the response under different environmental and experimental conditions. We conducted a meta-analysis of experiments with at least two levels of controlled stocking rates and evaluated their effect on species richness and diversity. The results showed that the response of richness and diversity to either reducing or increasing stocking rate from a moderate level mostly fell within the range ± 25% or ± 5 species. Mean response of species richness and diversity to increasing stocking rate from moderate to high levels was negative. Mean response to lowering stocking rate from moderate levels was not different from 0. However, overall, species richness significantly decreased as stocking rate increased. The response of richness and diversity to stocking rate was not related to mean precipitation, productivity or aridity. However, the most negative responses of richness to stocking rate were larger in arid, low productivity systems than in subhumid and humid systems. The effects of grazing on richness and diversity found in this review were smaller than the effects on species composition shown by the literature. Thus, grazing drastically changes species composition, but the net change of species and diversity is much smaller
Land, 2021
The expansion of urban areas around the world and the application of the sustainability paradigm ... more The expansion of urban areas around the world and the application of the sustainability paradigm to tourism discourses has favored an increase in the number of people visiting natural protected areas (NPAs) in their leisure time. While tourism is desired to boost the economy of destinations, mismanagement can bring negative consequences for social–ecological systems, particularly in post-conflict rural scenarios. In the context of a broader ethnographic research, we analyzed the perceptions of the local population about tourism development in the NPA Jaltepeque Estuary (El Salvador, Central America) and the establishment of a Biosphere Reserve in the area, using structured questionnaires and Multiple Correspondence Analysis for the typification of social actors. We found that overall, the population regards positively the development of tourism in the area. Fishermen are the only ones who highlight the negative economic consequences of tourism development, claiming disparity in the ...
Revista Agunkuyâa, 2020
En la región salvadoreña del Bajo Lempa se han desarrollado los proyectos de cooperación al desar... more En la región salvadoreña del Bajo Lempa se han desarrollado los proyectos de cooperación al desarrollo sostenible de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid (ref. 19/17, 18/11), en el que se analiza el nivel de calidad de vida de la zona mediante la condición nutricional de la población escolar y el nivel de seguridad alimentaria. Se evaluó la percepción sobre el estado de salud de 27 productores en función del tipo de agua de consumo; el estado nutricional de 334 escolares (5-16 años) y la percepción de seguridad alimentaria en 143 hogares. Los resultados obtenidos informan de la existencia de un 59,7% de hogares con algún tipo de inseguridad alimentaria, siendo la tipología grave la que mayor porcentaje aporta (25,9%). Se detecta una asociación positiva entre el nivel educativo materno y el nivel de seguridad alimentaria. Se reporta una 23,8% de sobrecarga ponderal y un 9% de desnutrición crónica.
Land, 2021
Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consi... more Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consider cultural services in decision-making processes. Nature-based tourism offers a great potential for landscape conservation, local development and the well-being of human populations. However, the subjectivity of recreational ecosystem services has meant a clear impediment to assessing and mapping them. In this study, an integrated numerical spatial method is developed, which quantifies the supply and demand of recreational ecosystem services and allows mapping their spatial correspondence along a rural-urban gradient. The procedure also allows quantifying the influence of the landscape structure and the presence of protected areas on the degree of coupling between supply of recreational ecosystem services and demand for outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism and reveals that protected areas are hotspots of recreational ecosystem services. The results obtained highlight the usefuln...
Sustainability, 2020
Landscape conservation efforts in many European countries focus on cultural landscapes, which are... more Landscape conservation efforts in many European countries focus on cultural landscapes, which are part of the cultural identity of people, have a great heritage significance, improve the living standards of local populations and provide valuable cultural biodiversity. However, despite a wide arrange of protective measures, the management of preserved areas is seldom effective for the protection of cultural landscapes. Through a multi-approach analysis, we characterise the main heritage attributes of 17 Protected Landscapes in Spain and assess their management effectiveness by quantifying the evolution of the spatial pattern inside and outside protected landscapes. Our method has proven useful to quantitatively describe the spatial-temporal patterns of change of the protected and unprotected landscapes studied. We highlight the following results: (i) the concepts of uniqueness and naturalness are not appropriate to preserve cultural landscapes; (ii) the land protection approach curre...
Ecology and Evolution, 2019
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which... more This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Science of The Total Environment, 2019
Exploring social-ecological systems in the transition from war to peace: a scenario-based approac... more Exploring social-ecological systems in the transition from war to peace: a scenario-based approach to forecasting the post-conflict landscape in a Colombian region.
Sustainability, 2019
The authors would like to make the following corrections to their published paper [...]
Landscape Ecology, 2018
Context Urban-rural gradients provide a suitable framework for studying the provision of urban an... more Context Urban-rural gradients provide a suitable framework for studying the provision of urban and rural ecosystem services (ES), linked to social welfare. Landscape structure (LS) changes along urban-rural gradients but our understanding of the effects of LS on ES remains at an early stage. Objectives We have quantified the relationship between changes in LS and ES supply along an urban-rural gradient in Central Spain, and compared the intensity of change with the land conservation status, degree of urbanization and proximity to Madrid city. Methods We inferred the provision of ES at municipality level based on proxies from socioeconomic data and land use maps, and characterized LS through metrics calculated from Corine land cover maps at two dates. We used Canonical Correspondence Analysis and Generalized Linear Models to analyse the data. Results There was a marked tendency for change in 20 years towards heterogeneous and poorly connected landscapes. This structural change appeared associated with trade-offs in ES, consisting of a loss of provisioning and regulating services inherent to agricultural and silvo-pastoral landscapes in favour of tourist-cultural and accommodation services, recently demanded by a growing urban population. The ''Landscape Governance and the ES Framework'' edited by José Muñoz-Rojas and Teresa Pinto-Correia (ICAAM, Portugal) and Per Angelstam (SLU, Sweden).
Sustainability, 2019
Rural cultural landscapes are social–ecological systems that have been shaped by traditional huma... more Rural cultural landscapes are social–ecological systems that have been shaped by traditional human land uses in a co-evolution process between nature and culture. Protected areas should be an effective way to protect cultural landscapes and support the way of life and the economy of the local population. However, nature conservation policymaking processes and management guidelines frequently do not take culturalness into account. Through a new quantitative approach, this paper analyzes the regulatory framework of two protected areas under different management categories, located in an ancient cultural landscape of the Madrid Region (Central Spain), to identify the similarities in their conservation commitments and the effectiveness of their zoning schemes. The results show some arbitrariness in the design and management of these parks, highlighting the importance of prohibited measures in their zoning schemes that encourage uses and activities more related to naturalness than to cul...
Science of The Total Environment, 2018
We studied an ancient hedgerow network of medieval origin in Central Spain. • There is a process ... more We studied an ancient hedgerow network of medieval origin in Central Spain. • There is a process of rural socialecological decoupling of the hedgerow landscape. • The hedgerow network has been degraded both inside and outside protected areas. • Multiple use hedge species decline affecting the provision of ecosystem services. • New regulations for the protection of hedgerow landscapes are needed.
Urban Ecosystems, 2018
As most of Europe's metropolitan landscapes grow, a change is occurring in their surrounding rura... more As most of Europe's metropolitan landscapes grow, a change is occurring in their surrounding rural environment. The consequences thereof mainly involve losses of traditional land uses and changes in the socioecomic structures of the local population. The lack of coupling 'urban society-countryside' can be considered to constitute a driving force of this process. The present paper focuses upon the rural-urban network around the metropolis of Madrid (Central Spain). We developed a quantitative model to explain the socio-ecological rural-urban linkages, taking into account the influence of the metropolis in the network of neighbouring municipalities. The results show a rural landscape gradient ranging from silvo-pastoral to agricultural land uses and maintaining different interactions with the local socioeconomy. Urban-rural polarisation of the territory and accessibility to the metropolis are the main factors influencing the landscape dynamics. Territorial cohesion among municipalities and connectivity with the metropolis are factors determining the socio-ecological structure. The agricultural area presents good social cohesion, but a weak connection with the City. The silvo-pastoral landscape, on the contrary, maintains prominent links with the metropolis, but a non-significant interconnection between the small towns. The model tested constitutes a useful tool for analysing socio-ecological connectivity and for quantifying, designing and promoting territorial cohesion policies.
In the last decade, probably in response to global changes and environmental crisis, the use of t... more In the last decade, probably in response to global changes and environmental crisis, the use of the term “social-ecological system” (SES) in the scientific literature has been growing. This is certainly a sign of the recognition of the need and importance of transdisciplinary research. Here, we explore whether the use of the term is a buzzword, or it actually represents a key concept toward the integration of social and ecological research. We compiled a data base of publications (N = 1289) that mentioned SES in title, keywords and abstract. Subsequently, we analyzed: authors affiliations, type of work (conceptual, empirical, review), study site, prevailing human use, temporal and spatial scales of analysis, kind of variables analyzed (socioeconomic, biophysical), and the method/s used to integrate them. We detected four time spans in the use of the term (1975–1997, 1998–2006, 2007–2012, 2013–2016). Our results suggest that SES is a widely invoked concept to study the interface betw...
Functional Ecology, 2017
1. Reliable modelling of above-ground Net Primary Production (aNPP) at fine resolution is a signi... more 1. Reliable modelling of above-ground Net Primary Production (aNPP) at fine resolution is a significant challenge. A promising avenue for improving process models is to include response and effect trait relationships. However, uncertainties remain over which leaf traits are correlated most strongly with aNPP. 2. We compared abundance-weighted values of two of the most widely used traits from the Leaf Economics Spectrum (Specific Leaf Area and Leaf Dry Matter Content) with measured aNPP across a temperate ecosystem gradient. 3. We found that Leaf Dry Matter Content (LDMC) as opposed to Specific Leaf Area (SLA) was the superior predictor of aNPP (R 2 =0.55). 4. Directly measured in situ trait values for the dominant species improved estimation of aNPP significantly. Introducing intra-specific trait variation by including the effect of replicated trait values from published databases did not improve the estimation of aNPP. 5. Our results support the prospect of greater scientific understanding for less cost because LDMC is much easier to measure than SLA.
Environmental Conservation, 2017
SUMMARYThis paper analyses the interdependence between environment and society in terms of socio-... more SUMMARYThis paper analyses the interdependence between environment and society in terms of socio-ecological webs, in which human and biophysical systems are linked. A quantitative model, based on canonical correlation analysis applied in Fuerteventura Island (Canary Archipelago), detected indicators of human–landscape relationships and predicted potential shifts based on simulated environmental changes. In the last few decades, the landscape of Fuerteventura Island has changed: natural components and cultural agrarian uses have decreased, while the population has increased due to immigration, mainly from mainland Spain and other European countries. The island shows a transition from a coupled local socio-ecosystem to one based on the interaction between environment and coastal tourism that decouples native inhabitants from the landscape and traditional land-use practices. As vulnerability and adaptation to climate change represent critical sets of potential interactions in Canary Is...
Environmental Conservation, 2017
SUMMARYThis paper analyses the interdependence between environment and society in terms of socio-... more SUMMARYThis paper analyses the interdependence between environment and society in terms of socio-ecological webs, in which human and biophysical systems are linked. A quantitative model, based on canonical correlation analysis applied in Fuerteventura Island (Canary Archipelago), detected indicators of human–landscape relationships and predicted potential shifts based on simulated environmental changes. In the last few decades, the landscape of Fuerteventura Island has changed: natural components and cultural agrarian uses have decreased, while the population has increased due to immigration, mainly from mainland Spain and other European countries. The island shows a transition from a coupled local socio-ecosystem to one based on the interaction between environment and coastal tourism that decouples native inhabitants from the landscape and traditional land-use practices. As vulnerability and adaptation to climate change represent critical sets of potential interactions in Canary Is...
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Papers by Cristina Herrero-Jáuregui