Person:
Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier

First Name

Alejandro Javier

Last Name

Rescia Perazzo

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/74421

Affiliation

Universidad Complutense de Madrid

Faculty / Institute

Ciencias Biológicas

Department

Biodiversidad, Ecología y Evolución

Area

Ecología

Identifiers

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Search Results

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9

Methodological approach to spatial analysis of agricultural pest dispersal in olive landscapes
(Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2022) Moreno, A.; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier; Pascual, S.; Ortega, M.
The effectiveness of a Geographical Information Systems cost-distance tool for detecting landscape permeability in relation to the movement of pests in olive landscapes was established. The simplification of agricultural systems is linked to an increased incidence of pests on crops. Therefore, it is important to understand the impact of different land uses surrounding olive groves on pests. In this work, we analysed the effect of the structure of the olive landscape on the movement of two main olive pests—the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi) (Diptera: Tephritidae) and the olive moth, Prays oleae (Bernard) (Lepidopetera: Praydidae). We applied linear mixed effects models to analyse the relationship between pest abundance and cost-distance, using different hypotheses to evaluate those land uses that are favourable or unfavourable for the movement of these pests. The results show that this methodology is effective in detecting possible unfavourable land uses with a barrier effect, such as woodland and artificial land uses, and favourable land uses with a corridor effect such as olive groves. Whether other land uses, such as scrubland or riverbanks, act as a barrier or corridor depends on the pest and its life cycle stage. The effect that different land uses have in maintaining low levels of pest populations and ensuring the long-term sustainability of these agricultural systems are discussed. The implications of landscape permeability for the physical structure of the landscape and the dispersal of organisms, and the potential of that landscape to impact the continuous flow of natural processes are also addressed.
Cultural landscapes as complex adaptive systems: the cases of northern Spain and northern Argentina
(Resilience and the Cultural Landscape: Understanding and Managing Change in Human-Shaped Environments, 2012) Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier; Pérez Corona, Esther; Arribas Ureña, Paula; Dover, John W.; Plieninger, Tobias; Bieling, Claudia
Changes in land uses and management in two Nature Reserves in Spain: Evaluating the social–ecological resilience of cultural landscapes
(Landscape and Urban Planning, 2010) Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier; Willaarts, Bárbara A.; Schmitz García, María Fe; Aguilera, Pedro A.
In the last decades, changes in land use and management have led to the degradation of many cultural landscapes in European rural areas. Such degradation has had relevant consequences for local populations, landscape functionality, and the maintenance of ecosystem services. Many of these cultural rural landscapes are linked to Nature Reserves, therefore having an increase in conservation interest. We analysed and compared the landscape changes of two Nature Reserves in Spain, ‘Sierra Norte de Sevilla’ Natural Park (SNSNP) and ‘Urdaibai’ Biosphere Reserve (UBR) over the last 50 years. Results showed that the SNSNP landscape has undergone little spatial changes over time while UBR has suffered significant transformations. We have also assessed how these landscape changes are related to the loss of resilience observed in both Nature Reserves. In SNSNP, resilience degradation is mainly due to socioeconomic changes. The low profitability of current land use has accentuated rural migration, increasing local population aging and reducing social opportunities. This fact has significantly decreased the capacity of the system to cope with changes. In UBR, landscape changes have degraded the ecological resilience of the system. The homogenization of the landscape has increased the vulnerability of UBR to the spread of disturbance, resulting in a loss of land use diversity. We suggest that effective management of cultural landscapes, understood as social–ecological systems, should integrate both, the social and ecological components. This management should be adaptive and involve the active participation of local population. Sustainable tourism and hunting are emerging as challenging alternatives.
Ecological and economic sustainability in olivegroves with different irrigation management and levels of erosion: a case study
(Sustainability, 2019) Rodríguez Sousa, Antonio Alberto; Barandica Fernández, Jesús María; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
In the last 50 years, both the agricultural labour force and irrigated land area have increased almost eightfold in Spain. The main objective of irrigation, in the short term, is to increase agricultural production. However, in the long term, the environmental externalities of irrigation and its direct relationship with soil erosion processes are more uncertain and still poorly studied. In this study, in an olive-growing region of Andalusia, Spain, the variation of several soil parameters related to irrigation and erosion levels was analysed. The results showed that irrigation, while increasing the productive level of the olive groves, entails a progressive alteration of the soil, modifying physical aspects (greater compaction and humidity of the soil together with lower gravel content, porosity and soil weight) and chemical aspects (reduction of the organic matter of the soil and the content of nitrates) that can aggravate the consequences of the erosive processes. In the long term, the productive benefit attributed to irrigation could be unsustainable from an ecological and, consequently, economic point of view. In addition, the lack of sustainability of olive irrigation agroecosystems could be exacerbated by the future restrictive impacts of climate change on water resources in Mediterranean environments. This situation demands spatial planning and alternative management based on soil conservation and rational and efficient forms of irrigation to ensure the sustainability of olive groves and their economic viability.
Land-use and spatial resilience changes in the Spanish olive socio-ecological landscape
(Applied Geography, 2020) Ortega Quero, Marta; Pascual, Susana; Elena Roselló, Ramón; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
The spatial structure of agricultural landscapes can affect crop resilience to potential pest development. Previous studies have found several spatial landscape metrics related to the abundance of the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, and these were combined to elaborate a spatial resilience index. In this paper, this index was calculated for olive landscapes all over Spain, for four years spanning a 50-year temporal range (1956, 1984, 1998 and 2008), using a network of 64 16-km2 plots representing olive landscapes within a bio-geo-climatic gradient. The resilience index was then modified adapting it through the weighting of spatial landscape metrics determined from the monitoring of this time-series analysis. The results showed that the values of spatial resilience of olive landscapes is predominantly low in southern Spain and medium in northeast and central Spain. The value of the index increased throughout the time-series considered, but not in the south. Expansion and concentration of olive groves, diversification of land uses, and fragmentation of landscapes have been the driving forces behind the evolution and current spatial structure of olive landscapes. The weighted resilience index constitutes a valuable tool for the socio-ecological planning of olive landscapes.
A multifunctional assessment of integrated and ecological farming in olive agroecosystems in southwestern Spain using the Analytic Hierarchy Process
(Ecological Economics, 2020) Rodríguez Sousa, Antonio Alberto; Parra López, G.; Sayadi-Gmada, Samir; Barandica Fernández, Jesús María; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
Olive agroecosystems have for several decades undergone management changes aimed to meet the demands of new agricultural policy trends and of consumers and society. While the main role of olive groves is the production of olives and oil, its multifunctional performance is supported through the European and regional legislative framework, promoting the recognition of non-productive ecosystem services provided by agriculture to society. The objective of this work is to compare two types of olive grove management (integrated and ecological) under the multifunctionality of agriculture (MFA) approach, in Estepa (Andalusia, Spain). To this end, environmental, economic and social indicators were considered. Subsequently, the multifunctional behaviour of olive groves under different management schemes was evaluated using the multicriteria Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. Ecological farming presented greater valuation in the satisfaction of social demands, with better weightings in all the indicators evaluated, except for farm income and Lepidoptera richness. Thus, the implementation of practices related to ecological management leads to a greater multifunctionality of olive groves. It is thus fundamental that multi-scale policies consider the value of the environmental externalities of this type of management, favouring its implementation to contribute positively to the multifunctionality and sustainability of olive groves in Andalusia.
Examining potential environmental consequences of climate change and other driving forces on the sustainability of spanish olive groves under a socio-ecological approach
(Agriculture, 2020) Rodríguez Sousa, Antonio Alberto; Barandica Fernández, Jesús María; Aguilera, Pedro A.; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
Olive groves form characteristic Mediterranean socio-ecological landscapes, occupying more than 5 M ha; 2.5 M ha in Spain. In recent decades, traditional extensive management of olive groves has shifted to an intensive regime, with some cases of abandonment. These situations triggered negative environmental and economic externalities that led farmers to adopt increasingly multifunctional management models. From a transdisciplinary perspective, the current state of Spanish olive groves was analyzed, assessing their vulnerability to climate change as one of the main threats to their sustainability. Based on our findings and assuming that by 2050, in the Mediterranean, there will be an increase in temperature of 0.8–2.3 ◦C and a decrease in rainfall of up to 200 mm per year, a displacement of the distribution area of olive groves is expected towards zones of lower temperature and higher moisture. The predicted climatic conditions would increase evapotranspiration of vegetation and atmospheric CO2 emissions. Moreover, climate change will reduce the chill accumulation in olive groves, altering its flowering, fructification and crop yields. Thus, it is necessary to adopt management models that promote olive grove resilience in face of climate change, ensuring their socio-ecological sustainability.
Assessment of agri-environmental externalities in spanish socio-ecological landscapes of olive groves
(Sustainability, 2018) López-Pintor Alcón, Antonio; Sanz-Cañada, Javier; Salas, Ernesto; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
Traditional agricultural systems and their spatial context constitute socio-ecological landscapes for their long co-evolutionary history. However, these systems not only generate positive but also negative agri-environmental externalities, such as soil erosion, diffuse pollution and potential wild biodiversity degradation. In this paper, we present a methodological approach for developing and testing indicators to estimate the effects of these externalities, especially designed to be used to help guide land-use policy changes. Our results show that the indicators proposed can recognize the different environmental situations posed by the three selected study areas, in terms of potential erosion and diffuse pollution, as well as in the actual agri-environmental externalities assessment. As expected, they also respond to the changes in land use and management introduced by two scenarios, ecological and productive. Although the erosion and diffuse pollution indicators showed a linear response, the diversity indicator showed a non-linear response, which highlights the importance of the spatial structure of landscape in agri-environmental assessment. In fact, several ecological processes can be affected by landscape spatial structure, potentially giving unexpected results both in terms of indicators and of real impact of agri-environmental externalities. Therefore, some landscape structure assessment should accompany that of externalities when considering land-use policy objectives.
Application of a dynamic model using agronomic and economic data to evaluate the sustainability of the olive grove landscape of Estepa (Andalusia, Spain)
(Landscape Ecology, 2019) Rodríguez Sousa, Antonio Alberto; Barandica Fernández, Jesús María; Sanz-Cañada, Javier; Rescia Perazzo, Alejandro Javier
Context In the Andalusia region (Spain), olive grove agro-systems cover a wide area, forming social-ecological landscapes. Recent socioeconomic changes have increased the vulnerability of these landscapes, resulting in the abandonment and intensification of farms. The provision of the main ecosystem services of these landscapes have thus been degraded. Objectives To analyse the sustainability of an olive grove social-ecological landscape in Andalusia. Specifically, to develop a quantitative model proposing land planning and management scenarios, considering abandonment, production and economic benefits of olive crops in different conditions of erosion and management. Methods We applied a dynamic model using agronomic and economic data, to evaluate different types of olive management. We considered different levels of erosion, the loss of production related to this erosion, and useful life spans for each type of management. We simulated scenarios for the long-term assessment of dynamics of crops, abandonment rate, production and benefits. Results (a) There was a loss of productive lands and benefits in the medium term in the more intensive crops. (b) Scenarios that partially incorporated ecological management proved to be more sustainable without economic subsidies. (c) The spatial combination of integrated, intensive and ecological plots was sustainable, and was well balanced from an economic, productive and ecological point of view. Conclusions Scenarios that partially incorporate ecological management allowed the best economic and environmental balance. However, to ensure the sustainability of olive landscapes, farmers should be financially rewarded for their role in the conservation of ecosystem services through landscape stewardship and direct environmental payments.