Landscape Implications of Contemporary Abandonment of Extensive Sheep Grazing in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System

Víctor Fernández-García () and Leonor Calvo
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Víctor Fernández-García: Ecology, Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain
Leonor Calvo: Ecology, Department of Biodiversity and Environmental Management, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Universidad de León, 24071 León, Spain

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 4, 1-15

Abstract: In Southern Europe, the abandonment of the traditional transhumant system where sheep graze lowland areas during winter and distant mountain systems during summer has led to an important cultural loss and still poorly understood ecological consequences. We investigate the landscape-scale implications of contemporary sheep grazing patterns in a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). Our analysis showed a heterogeneous use of mountain grazing areas between 1990 and 2020. The areas most used by sheep had more abundance of pasture, fewer forests, and structurally different landscapes than those that had been fully abandoned by sheep. Likewise, we have detected decreasing trends in landscape diversity in those areas not used by sheep over the study period, whereas landscape heterogeneity is maintained in those areas grazed by sheep. Our study constitutes an original analysis of landscape patterns and shifts in relation to extensive sheep grazing by using novel approaches that combine interviews, updated satellite time series, and state-of-the-art landscape analysis techniques. Likewise, our results constitute a benchmark as they inform on the importance of preserving extensive sheep grazing if we aim to maintain the cultural heritage, and traditional diverse landscape and the semi-natural grasslands in the Mountains of León.

Keywords: Mountains of León; transhumant sheep; Landsat; landscape diversity; land cover (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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