Worrying about ‘Vertical Landscapes’: Terraced Olive Groves and Ecosystem Services in Marginal Land in Central Italy

Elena Brunori, Luca Salvati, Angela Antogiovanni and Rita Biasi
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Elena Brunori: Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems, Tuscia University, via San Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Luca Salvati: CREA, Research Centre for Forestry and Wood, Viale S. Margherita 80, I-52100 Arezzo, Italy
Angela Antogiovanni: Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems, Tuscia University, via San Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy
Rita Biasi: Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest Systems, Tuscia University, via San Camillo de Lellis snc, 01100 Viterbo, Italy

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-20

Abstract: Terraced Mediterranean areas are distinctive man-made landscapes with historical and cultural relevance. Terraced land abandonment driven by physical and economic constraints had important ecological consequences. This study focuses on a marginal agricultural district in southern Latium, central Italy, where terracing dated back to the Roman period and olive groves are the main agricultural use. A diachronic assessment of land-use transformations was carried out to identify landscape dynamics and drivers of change around terraced land. Terraced landscape systems (TLS), derived from spatial aggregation of neighboring terraced patches, have been analyzed for landscape transformations considering slope as the main stratification variable. Structural and functional characteristics of TLS were analyzed using a landscape ecology approach. Soil bio-chemical indicators were finally assessed to study the impact of terraced olive agro-ecosystems on soil-related ecosystems services. The empirical findings outlined that TLS in central Italy are sensitive to urbanization and land abandonment. Cultivated terraces prevailed up to gentle-medium slope land, uncultivated and wooded areas dominated terraces on steep slopes. In this context, poly-cultural olive groves proved to be a cropping system particularly resilient to global change, irrespective of land slope. Terraced systems and extensive poly-cultural olive groves play a role in preserving ecosystem integrity, landscape quality, soil functionality and, therefore, environmental sustainability.

Keywords: soil quality; environment sustainability; traditional agricultural practices; Olea europaea L.; Mediterranean (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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