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A.L. Teixido et al. 2010. Impacts of changes in land use and fragmentation patterns on Atlantic coastal forests
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Impacts of changes in land use and fragmentation patterns on Atlantic
coastal forests in northern Spain
Alberto L. Teixido * , Luis G. Quintanilla, Francisco Carreño & David Gutiérrez
1 Área de Biodiversidad y Conservación, Departamento de Biología y Geología,
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Tulipán s/n, Móstoles, E-28933 Madrid
Abstract
In managed northern coast of Spain, negative consequences of forested landscape changes have
not been quantified. In one coastal forest we evaluated the landscape transitions and
fragmentation patterns over time (1957-2003) by digitalising orthoimages with a high spatial
resolution. Major changes on land cover were transitions to eucalypt plantations, which showed
the largest increase in area (197%). Forest declined 20% and represented 30% of landscape area
in 2003. Forest decline was mostly due to eucalypt plantations and to a water reservoir, although
there were some gains by shrubland and cultural fields been recolonised. Forest patches
declined in size and core area, and increased in edge length, mean distance and in adjacency,
mainly to eucalypts. The results suggested an increase in the degree of forest fragmentation and
changes in the matrix surrounding forest patches. This study also shows that land use changes,
mostly from eucalypt plantation intensification, negatively affected forested habitats.
Keywords: Eucalypt plantations, Forest patches, Land cover classes, Riparian forest,
Transitions
1. Introduction
Fragmentation and forest loss are one of the most threats for biodiversity (Fahrig 2003). Both
processes involve patch size decrease, edge length increase and isolation, modifying the
viability of populations (Hanski 1999). Despite of several studies have quantified these changes
on different types of forests (e.g. Echeverria et al. 2006; Gaveau et al. 2007), in Spain montane
and Mediterranean forests have been only considered (e.g. García et al. 2005), whereas Atlantic
coastal forests have suffered a large fragmentation not quantified. These forests have been
historically altered due to traditional land uses and eucalypt plantations (Eucalyptus spp.)
(Saura and Carballal 2004). Fragas do Eume Natural Park (NW Spain) is one of the biggest
Atlantic coastal forests in Europe and has suffered a large fragmentation. In addition, a water
reservoir building has altered the riparian forests, which contain several threatened species. The
objectives of this study are: (1) to contribute to the understanding of the patterns of forest loss
and fragmentation in the coastal landscapes in northern Spain, (2) to quantify changes and
transitions that occurred among land cover classes between 1957 and 2003 to understand how
they have affected to space-temporal configuration of forest and, (3) to characterise forest
fragmentation patterns using standard landscape metrics and adjacency with other land cover
classes as well as to determine the temporal change of those patterns.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 91 488 8290 - Fax:+34 91 664 7490
Email address: alberto.teixido@urjc.es
Forest Landscapes and Global Change-New Frontiers in Management, Conservation and Restoration. Proceedings of the IUFRO Landscape Ecology
Working Group International Conference, September 21-27, 2010, Bragança, Portugal. J.C. Azevedo, M. Feliciano, J. Castro & M.A. Pinto (eds.)
2010, Instituto Politécnico de Bragança, Bragança, Portugal.