Person: Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia
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First Name
Cecilia
Last Name
Arnaiz Schmitz
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Óptica y Optometría
Department
Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución
Area
Matemática Aplicada
Identifiers
11 results
Search Results
Now showing 1 - 10 of 11
- PublicationEvaluating the role of a protected area on hedgerow conservation: the case of a spanish cultural landscape(Wiley & Sons, 2016-12-29) Schmitz García, María Fe; Herrero Jaúregui, Cristina; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Sánchez, Iván A.; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier; Díaz Pineda, FranciscoHedgerows are key features in agricultural landscapes performing diverse functions that are both economically and ecologically significant. Here, we quantify how the characteristics of a relict hedgerow network of a Spanish cultural landscape (Guadarrama mountains in the north of Madrid region) have changed over a single decade both inside and outside the boundaries of a Protected Area, the aim of which is to conserve cultural uses and biodiversity. A gradient of abandonment of pasture systems was detected, including a decline and loss of woody species from hedgerows associated with grazed areas towards shrub encroachment zones. These tendencies were similar inside and outside the boundaries of the Protected Area. The results highlight the management weaknesses of the Protected Area in order to achieve its objectives.Based on the results, we propose to include a specific conservation status for hedgerow landscapes in the regulatory framework of Spanish protected areas. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- PublicationCan We Foresee Landscape Interest? Maximum Entropy Applied to Social Media Photographs: A Case Study in Madrid(MDPI, 2022-05-10) Marine, Nicolas; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Santos-Cid, Luis; Schmitz García, María FeCultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are undervalued and poorly understood compared to other types of ecosystem services. The sociocultural preferences of the different actors who enjoy a landscape are intangible aspects of a complex evaluation. Landscape photographs available on social media have opened up the possibility of quantifying landscape values and ecosystem services that were previously difficult to measure. Thus, a new research methodology has been developed based on the spatial distribution of geotagged photographs that, based on probabilistic models, allows us to estimate the potential of the landscape to provide CES. This study tests the effectiveness of predictive models from MaxEnt, a software based on a machine learning technique called the maximum entropy approach, as tools for land management and for detecting CES hot spots. From a sample of photographs obtained from the Panoramio network, taken between 2007 and 2008 in the Lozoya Valley in Madrid (Central Spain), we have developed a predictive model of the future and compared it with the photographs available on the social network between 2009 and 2015. The results highlight a low correspondence between the prediction of the supply of CES and its real demand, which indicates that MaxEnt is not a sufficiently useful predictive tool in complex and changing landscapes such as the one studied here.
- PublicationErratum: Herrero-Jáuregui et al., What do We Talk about When We Talk about Social–Ecological Systems? A Literature Review. Sustainability 2018, 10, 2950(MDPI, 2019-07-25) Herrero Jaúregui, Cristina; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Reyes, María Fernanda; Telesnicki, Marta; Agramonte, Ignacio; Easdale, Marcos H.; Schmitz García, María Fe; Aguiar, Martín; Gómez Sal, Antonio; Montes, Carlos
- PublicationCan We Foresee Landscape Interest? Maximum Entropy Applied to Social Media Photographs: A Case Study in Madrid(MPDI, 2022-05-10) Marine, Nicolas; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Santos Cid, Luis; Schmitz García, María FeCultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are undervalued and poorly understood compared to other types of ecosystem services. The sociocultural preferences of the different actors who enjoy a landscape are intangible aspects of a complex evaluation. Landscape photographs available on social media have opened up the possibility of quantifying landscape values and ecosystem services that were previously difficult to measure. Thus, a new research methodology has been developed based on the spatial distribution of geotagged photographs that, based on probabilistic models, allows us to estimate the potential of the landscape to provide CES. This study tests the effectiveness of predictive models from MaxEnt, a software based on a machine learning technique called the maximum entropy approach, as tools for land management and for detecting CES hot spots. From a sample of photographs obtained from the Panoramio network, taken between 2007 and 2008 in the Lozoya Valley in Madrid (Central Spain), we have developed a predictive model of the future and compared it with the photographs available on the social network between 2009 and 2015. The results highlight a low correspondence between the prediction of the supply of CES and its real demand, which indicates that MaxEnt is not a sufficiently useful predictive tool in complex and changing landscapes such as the one studied here.
- PublicationIdentifying socio-ecological networks in rural-urban gradients: Diagnosis of a changing cultural landscape(Elsevier, 2018-01-15) Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Schmitz García, María Fe; Herrero Jaúregui, Cristina; Gutíerrez Angonese, J.; Díaz Pineda, Francisco; Montes, C.Socio-ecological systems maintain reciprocal interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic structures. As a result of these interactions key essential services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of land change and cause serious shifts in socio-ecological relationships and the associated lifestyles. The framework of rural-urban gradients has proved to be a powerful tool for ecological research about urban influences on ecosystems and on sociological issues related to social welfare. However, to date there has not been an attempt to achieve a classification of municipalities in rural-urban gradients based on socio-ecological interactions. In this paper, we developed a methodological approach that allows identifying and classifying a set of socio-ecological network configurations in the Region of Madrid, a highly dynamic cultural landscape considered one of the European hotspots in urban development. According to their socio-ecological links, the integrated model detects four groups of municipalities, ordered along a rural-urban gradient, characterized by their degree of biophysical and socioeconomic coupling and different indicators of landscape structure and social welfare. We propose the developed model as a useful tool to improve environmental management schemes and land planning from a socio-ecological perspective, especially in territories subject to intense urban transformations and loss of rurality.
- PublicationPeople and nature in the Fuerteventura Biosphere Reserve (Canary Islands): socio-ecological relationships under climate change(Cambridge University Press, 2017-03-22) Schmitz García, María Fe; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Herrero Jaúregui, Cristina; Díaz, Pablo; Gaspar García de Matos, Daniela; Díaz Pineda, FranciscoThis 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 Islands, a model and a map of the socioecological system under four Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change scenarios show rural decoupling through ‘deagrarianization’ and ‘deruralization’, as well as stronger links to the tourism system.
- PublicationHeritage Cultural Landscape of Lozoya Valley (central Spain): methods and sources of spatial analysis(Colegio de Ingenieros Técnicos en Topografía, 2016) Herrero Jaúregui, Cristina; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; De la O, Manuel Rodrigo; Escudero, D.; Mariné, N.; Díaz Pineda, Francisco; Schmitz García, María FeWe present a work developed in the Lozoya Valley, an area included into the list of Cultural Landscapes developed by IPCE, due to its highly valuable patrimonial characteristics. The study area combines sites of high naturalistic value with others that have been intensively transformed by humans throughout history. The traditional management of natural resources has shaped the landscape, giving place to an extent mosaic of silvopastoral uses, livestock tracks, and other singular elements, such as stone hedges. This combines with an important cultural heritage derived of the historical presence of clergy and royal families and in the area. The present work analyzes the dynamics of change in the spatial configuration of the territory. Using satellite images, we study landscape configuration through variables such as fragmentation, connectivity and heterogeneity. We use Fragstats software, which allows processing a wide range of territorial data to determine specific spatial patterns. We discuss some questions about natural and cultural heritage, and the effectiveness of protected areas in preserving rural-cultural landscapes.
- PublicationModelling of socio-ecological connectivity. The rural-urban network in the surroundings of Madrid (Central Spain)(Springer, 2018-08-24) Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Díaz, Pablo; Ruiz-Labourdette, Diego; Herrero Jáuregui, Cristina; Molina, Mercedes; Montes, Carlos; Díaz Pineda, Francisco; Schmitz García, Maria FeAs 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.
- PublicationHigh Nature Value Farming Systems and Protected Areas: Conservation Opportunities or Land Abandonment? A Study Case in the Madrid Region (Spain)(MDPI, 2021-07-08) Schmitz García, María Fe; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Sarmiento Mateos, PatricioEuropean rural landscapes contain high nature value farmlands that, in addition to being the main economic activity in many rural areas, host habitats and species of great conservation value. The maintenance of these farming systems largely depends on traditional ecological knowledge and the rural lifestyles of the local populations. However, they have not been sufficiently appreciated and protected, and as a result, they are currently threatened. In this study, which was performed in the Madrid region (central Spain), we analyse the social-ecological changes of the rural landscape after the establishment of a protected natural area network. The obtained results highlight a significant loss of these high nature value farming systems and a marked increase in the rewilding processes characterised by scrub–forest transition and the development of forest systems. These processes are linked to the disruption of the transmission of traditional ecological knowledge, which may imply negative consequences for both the high biocultural diversity that these systems host and the cultural identity and the socioeconomics of the rural populations that live there. A useful methodological tool is provided for social–ecological land planning and the design of effective management strategies for the conservation of rural cultural landscapes.
- PublicationAligning landscape structure with ecosystem services along an urban–rural gradient. Trade-offs and transitions towards cultural services(Springer, 2018-11-24) Herrero-Jáuregui, Cristina; Arnaiz Schmitz, Cecilia; Herrera, Lorena; Smart, Simon M.; Montes, Carlos; Díaz Pineda, Francisco; Schmitz García, María FeUrban–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 socio-economic 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 intensity of this change was favoured by urbanization processes, the proximity to the city, and restrictive protection measures linked to supramunicipal land management conservation plans. Conclusions: Our results question the effectiveness of long-term conservation measures taken in Spain to protect cultural landscapes. The innovative approach we use to analyse LS–ES coupling along urban–rural gradients provides a powerful tool for social-ecological land planning.