Resumen de Canvis recents en les cobertes del sòl i en la dinàmica del paisatge als Països Catalans: implicacions en la conservació del patrimoni natural

Joan Pino, Enrique Álvarez, Corina Basnou, Josep Maria Espelta Morral, Óscar González Guerrero, Javier Gordillo, Anna Guàrdia, Rosó Isern, Marina Palmero Iniesta, Paloma Vicente, Xavier Pons

• We provide the first known quantitative analysis of land cover change for the wholeof the Catalan Countries and for some especially well-studied areas in particular(Catalonia, and the province and metropolitan area of Barcelona), considering variousperiods of time between 1956 and 2015. The study was performed on the basis of themain cartographic sources available for this territory, including the CORINE land covermap (1990-2012), the CREAF land cover maps (1956-2015) and the land use and covermaps of CREAF and the ICGC (1987-2012). Using these maps, we have studied thechanges in composition, structure and ecological functioning of the landscape, and thesechanges’ potential effects on biodiversity and the provision of the so-called ecosystemservices. The observed changes coincide quite closely with those of the rest ofMediterranean Europe and have had contrasting effects on the structure and functioningof highland and lowland landscapes. In lowlands, the predominance of urbanization andagricultural intensification have led to diversification and fragmentation of landscapesand, at the same time, a loss of ecological connectivity. In the mountain ranges,however, connectivity has increased due to a widespread forest recovery at the expenseof a significant decrease in croplands. The effects on biodiversity and the provision ofecosystem services are certainly complex, although there is a greater impact on openhabitats and those located in highly transformed areas which are now metropolitan andwhich are strongly conditioned by simplification and biotic homogenization processes.