This is an Accepted Manuscript of the article Guadilla-Sáez, S., Pardo-de-Santayana, M. & Reyes-García, V. 2019. The role of traditional
management practices in shaping a diverse habitat mosaic in a mountain region of Northern Spain. - Land Use Policy, 89: 104235,
available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104235
©2019. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.



The role of traditional management practices in shaping a diverse habitat

mosaic in a mountain region of Northern Spain

Sara Guadilla-Sáez a,*, Manuel Pardo-de-Santayana b,c, Victoria Reyes-García a,d

a
    Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

b
    Departamento de Biología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

c
    Centro de Investigación en Biodiversidad y Cambio Global (CIBC-UAM), Madrid, Spain

d
    Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain

*
    Corresponding author: Sara Guadilla Sáez, Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Carrer de les

Columnes s/n, Edificio Z, Campus UAB. 08193 Bellaterra (Cerdanyola del Vallès), Barcelona, Spain.

Email: sara.guadilla@uab.cat




ABSTRACT


Through traditional practices that typically impact the surrounding natural areas, rural communities

worldwide have created and maintained landscapes forming a diverse mosaic of species-rich habitats.

In Europe, where a high portion of species is dependent on the persistence of traditional rural

landscapes, the progressive abandonment of agricultural activities has been often accompanied by a

biodiversity decline, although the precise implications of landscape transformation for species and

habitat conservation are not sufficiently well-known. This study applies ethnobiological and historical

data collection methods (i.e., semi-structure interviews, participation in public meetings, literature

review, and participant observation) to examine changes in traditional management practices and local

perceptions of impacts on ecosystems diversity derived from the abandonment of traditional land uses

in a mountain region in Spain that preserved a complex traditional farming system until the mid-20th

century.. Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis and quantitative data analysis

methods. Our results illustrate that traditional management practices, such as hay making, pastoralism

of small ruminant livestock, lopping, prescribed burns, gathering of firewood, branch beating, or

beekeeping, are locally perceived as favourable to habitat diversity. Our study also reveals that local

perception of landscape changes in the area dovetails with scientific information, providing further
understanding of the particular ecological implications of each underlying driver of land use change

identified. We conclude that the combination of local and scientific knowledge on ecological dynamics

can help in the development of effective regional conservation strategies based on management

practices simultaneously favourable to biodiversity and economically profitable. Our study provides

evidence that rural communities can be a valuable source of information to document landscape

historical dynamics and to monitor environmental changes, which might be particularly relevant for

landscape-orientated conservation policies aiming to prevent the biodiversity loss resulting from the

abandonment of traditional land uses.


Keywords: Biodiversity conservation, Oral history, Rural landscape, Traditional knowledge.




1. Introduction


Several studies report the geographical overlap between the world’s biological hotspots and

indigenous and local communities’ homelands (Porter-Bolland et al., 2012; Guèze et al., 2015; Garnett

et al., 2018). Through traditional practices closely connected to the surrounding natural areas,

Indigenous peoples and local communities worldwide have created landscapes of high cultural and

ecological value (Parrotta and Agnoletti, 2007). For example, historically low-intensity human

disturbances have benefited stress-tolerant and habitat-specialist species over ecological competitors,

often times resulting in high biodiversity in traditional rural landscapes (Calvo-Iglesias et al., 2006;

Rotherham, 2013). Indeed, almost all contemporary European landscapes are shaped by human

intervention, resulting in a rich mosaic of habitats and species diversity closely dependant on the

persistence of traditional practices (Biró et al., 2014; Babai et al., 2015; Molnár et al., 2016; Kis et al.,

2017).


In Europe, the Industrial Revolution generally led to the breakdown of natural resources exploitation

by rural societies and to the progressive abandonment of traditional landscapes (Vidal-González,

2014), a process that became a major threat for the conservation of species linked to these

ecosystems. Since the mid-twentieth century, further changes have taken place in Europe’s rural

landscape, resulting in additional land use changes, including the abandonment of agricultural lands.

Agricultural lands abandonment has been particularly evident in European mountain areas, in which

remoteness and deficient communications limited farming mechanization, favouring the decline of

                                                                                                           2
traditional farming practices (MacDonald et al., 2000; Mottet et al., 2006; López-i-Gelats et al., 2011).

The literature associates agricultural lands’ abandonment to a combination of drivers including

demographic, economic, technical, and institutional (van Vliet et al., 2015). Overall, these changes

have resulted in a simplification and homogenization of agricultural and woody landscapes (Agnoletti,

2013; Plieninger et al., 2016; Lasanta et al., 2017). This is so, largely because the natural vegetation

succession that takes place in abandoned areas favours both a high density of forest habitats and the

reduction of the ecosystem mosaic shaped by traditional management practices (Rotherham, 2013;

Viedma et al., 2015; Lavorel et al., 2017). However, the precise effects of each particular driver on

European landscape transformation are not sufficiently well-known (Corbelle-Rico et al., 2015).


This study examines landscape dynamics, as reported by local inhabitants, in a mountain region of

north Spain that preserved a complex farming system based on traditional land use activities until the

mid-twentieth century. The paper is divided into two sections. First, we explore the local perception of

traditional management practices to determine which particular historical land uses may have

contributed to the shaping of a set of high diverse ecosystems in the region. We further document the

techniques and ecological knowledge associated to the historical land uses identified during the

analysis. Second, to understand the environmental implications derived from the abandonment of

traditional land uses that took place from the 1950s to the present day, we present the drivers of

landscape change in the region. For this purpose, we combine local inhabitants’ discourses on

historical landscape transformation with information provided by the literature, an approach that allows

exploring the potential of local discourses to document landscape’s land use change. We conclude

with a discussion of the potential of traditional management practices to preserve rural landscape

heterogeneity and the importance of using local discourses to document both landscape changes and

the local ecological knowledge embedded in traditional management practices.




2. Case study


This research was conducted in the Liébana Valley, a region of 56,600 ha located in the Cantabrian

Mountains, north Spain (Figure 1). The area is in a tectonic basin consisting of steep reliefs, with

altitudes ranging from 300m.a.s.l. at the bottom of the valley to 2600m in the surrounding mountain

system, with very limited communication routes to neighbouring regions. Liébana’s orographic-driven


                                                                                                       3
isolation favoured the societal and economic differentiation of its inhabitants, which remained self-

sufficient until the mid-20th century (ETSIM, 1978; Arbeo, 2012).




Figure 1. Geographical location and land surface elevation of the Liébana region (Cantabria, Spain).

Panoramic picture illustrates the steep relief of the Liébana region. Photo credits: S. Guadilla-Sáez.


Subsistence farming in Liébana was structured around the region’s large variation of climatic

conditions, which is influenced by both Atlantic and Mediterranean climates (Bertrand, 1964). The

traditional agricultural system combined cereal-legume crops at the bottom of the valley and in the


                                                                                                         4
nearby hillslopes and livestock grazing in the steeper slopes and high altitudes. Topographic and

climatic features also contributed to the presence of temperate deciduous forests from which Liébana’s

inhabitants obtained timber, firewood and fodder. Altogether, traditional land uses formed an altitudinal

landscape mosaic structure consisting of dispersed human settlements surrounded by orchards or

cereal crops in the valley, followed by a mixture of arable lands, meadows and forests in the lower

slopes of the mountains, replaced by highland pastures and grasslands at higher altitudes (López,

1978; Castañón and Frochoso, 2007).


Between 1950 and 1980, the rural exodus associated to the region’s integration into the market

economy changed Liébana traditional landscape pattern. Migration, with the total population

decreasing from 12,800 inhabitants in 1950 to 7,200 in 1981 –which continued to decline although at

a slower rate in the following decades (ICANE, 2008)–, decreased the need of arable land supply.

Additionally, the proximity to densely populated areas demanding meat and milk contributed to

Liébana’s specialization in livestock farming and its integration into supra-regional markets. As result,

between 1955 and 1960, livestock farming became Liébana’s main production focus (López, 1978;

González, 2001). From a landscape perspective, the conversion from arable land into pasture resulted

in the county’s landscape gradual simplification and homogenization.


Liébana’s livestock farming operations, however, did not reach the level of mechanization that

characterizes other rural areas of Spain. Uncertainty related to the shaky national market price for milk

in the 1970s led to low levels of investment in the mechanization of Liébana’s animal farms, as

compared to other rural areas of the Cantabrian mountain range. In addition, milk production quotas,

established in 1986 with Spanish accession to the European Economic Community (EEC), contributed

to invest in other economic activities, such as cheese production agri-businesses to channelize milk

surplus (González, 2001).


The 1992 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, which addressed livestock farming innovation

and encouraged intensive reproductive technologies, had important implications to extensive livestock

farming in mountain areas such as Liébana. More intensive modes of livestock farming promoted by

the CAP resulted in the progressive exclusion of local stock-breeders from farming (Corbera, 2006).

From 1984 to 2003, Liébana experienced a decrease of a 40% in the number of livestock farmers,

although the number of cattle heads remained steady (Rescia et al., 2008).



                                                                                                       5
Noteworthy, since 1960s the Spanish Administration has implemented incentives for tourism

development in Liébana. Such incentives include improvements in communication infrastructures as

well as regional and private investments in ecotourism from the late 1980s onwards (González, 2001;

Castañón and Frochoso, 2007). European initiatives in the 1980s further reinforced this trend. This is

the case, for example, of the ‘Operating Programme for Development and Economic Diversification of

Rural Zones’ (PRODER) subsidies, a program promoting rural economies’ diversification through the

development of non-agricultural activities. These initiatives have resulted in Liébana regional economy

moving towards the tertiary sector, particularly rural tourism.


In addition, the designation of national and international Protected Areas labels in the 1990s has been

adopted as a strategy for regional development (Corbera, 2006; Voth, 2007). The outstanding natural

and aesthetic values of Liébana landscape contributed to its inclusion in Picos de Europa National

Park (hereafter Picos de Europa) in 1995. Picos de Europa is part of the NATURA 2000 network of

the European Union, and since 2003 designated as UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. With more than

2,000,000 visitors in 2017 (MAPAMA, 2018), Picos de Europa has become a successful touristic

destination, increasing the number of visitors in Liébana since its establishment (González, 2001).

Nonetheless, as in other protected areas, the large number of visitors has also contributed to the

intensification of land use, with increasing demands for transport and accommodation infrastructures

and leisure activities. This demand, however, competes for land with the presence of some extensive

traditional practices key for the persistence of rural landscape, such as livestock grazing (González,

2001; Bernués et al., 2005; Corbera, 2006). Moreover, to ensure the compatibility of these uses with

the national park conservation goals, park authorities’ have regulated some traditional practices inside

the protected area –such as extensive herding or firewood collection–. As in other European extensive

land-use areas affected by a protection status (Riseth, 2007; Molnár et al., 2016), limitations to

traditional uses have resulted in conflicts between park’s managers and local population, particularly

livestock herders (Rescia et al., 2008).




3. Methods


We used qualitative data collection methods to document traditional practices and perceptions of

landscape change in the study area. Specifically, we used semi-structured interviews and participation


                                                                                                      6
in public meetings. We also reviewed written sources to identify i) traditional activities potentially

important for preserving the Liébana’s natural habitats heterogeneity and ii) factors that historically

promoted or limited the use of forest-related resources in the region. We used this background

information to prepare interview guides. Particularly, for all the relevant traditional practices identified,

we conducted in-depth interviews to comprehensibly document the traditional ecological knowledge

associated to them. For some local practices, such as timber harvesting, livestock breeding, and

beekeeping, documentation also included the use of participant observation.


From April to September 2016 we conducted a total of 39 in-depth interviews with 42 residents of the

study area, resulting in 32 men and 10 women asked. Participants ranged from 32 to 94 years of age,

with 57 percent of informants being older than 60 years (N=24). Respondents' educational level varied

from primary school to postgraduate studies, with most informants specialized in agriculture, livestock,

or forestry private activities (62 percent, N=26). Forest and National Park technicians (21 percent,

N=9) and local key-actors involved in political, educational, or religious associations (17 percent, N=7)

represented the other working categories of the total sample. To choose key participants with

experience in the local traditional system to manage forest-related resources, we used ‘snowball

sampling’ (Gamborg et al., 2012). The selected participants were listed as knowledgeable in one of

the four activities identified as relevant during the first stages of fieldwork: livestock grazing (N=31,

74%), timber harvesting (N=29, 69%), non-timber forest products (hereafter NTFPs) collection (N=32,

76%), and hunting (N=14, 33%). Some respondents provided information on two or more of these

activities. We collected information on each practice until we reached the saturation point, when no

new information was coming from a new interview (Newing, 2011).


All interviews were conducted in the locality where the informants lived or at their worksites. Before

each interview, participants were informed about the purpose of the study and the eventual publication

of the information provided; assurance of informants’ anonymity was given and a verbal informed

consent for participating in the research project was obtained (Bernard, 2006; Newing, 2011).

Interviews were conducted in Spanish, lasted about an hour and followed an outline of 10 to 12 open

questions (see Appendix A for full questionnaire). All interviews were recorded, transcribed, and

imported to Microsoft Excel software for coding.




                                                                                                           7
Data were analysed using qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. To document traditional

practices and how they have evolved to present-day farming and forestry systems, we applied a

detailed qualitative content analysis (Albuquerque et al., 2014). The analysis consisted in an open

coding of the knowledge domains that emerged from in-depth semi-structured interviews. To ensure

consistency of the ethnography information reported, we organized the information provided by holders

of traditional knowledge into a codebook proposed by Pardo-de-Santayana et al. (2014). Code

passages were arranged in columns of an Excel spreadsheet to facilitate the comparison across

responses and to convey information of each practice (see Appendix B for coding examples).


To understand local population’s perception of the historical land use change in Liébana, we applied

both qualitative and quantitative analyses. Since regional landscape have changed substantially over

the past 60 years, analyses consisted in coding the drivers of change cited by respondents born

between the 1920s and the mid-1950s (minimum 60 years old). Using as starting point for the

discussion with respondents: “What main changes, if any, have occurred?” followed by “What most

contributed this change?” the interviews covered the topic of historical land use change. We applied

qualitative content analyses to evaluate local perceptions on the impacts of the different drivers of

change on landscape heterogeneity, classifying them depending on being unfavourable, indifferent, or

favourable to landscape heterogeneity (Lopes-Fernandes et al., 2014). We conducted quantitative

analyses to evaluate the perceived importance of a driver of change in regional land use change,

measured as the frequency of respondents who mentioned the driver (Albuquerque et al., 2014). We

distinguished between five main categories of drivers of change: demographic –e.g., rural exodus–,

economic –e.g., integration into the market economy–, technical –e.g., farming mechanization–,

institutional –e.g., European Union’s PAC subsidies–, and ecological –e.g., ecological successional

processes– (van Vliet et al, 2015; Plieninger et al., 2016; Colsaet et al., 2018).




4. Results


4.1 Perceptions of the potential of traditional management practices to biodiversity conservation


In this section, we describe the traditional practices that, according to the interviewees, have

contributed to shape Liébana’s landscape through generations (Table 1). Our description includes


                                                                                                    8
informants’ perceptions of how these practices support the maintenance of a more heterogeneous

landscape mosaic.



 Table 1. Traditional farming and forestry practices in Liébana.


   Knowledge           Traditional      Cont.a                      Transformation

     domain             practice


 Livestock          Transtermitance     No       Since late 1950s, transtermitance of collective

 farming                                         herds to Liébana’s summer upland pastures

                                                 was mainly substituted by pasturing in private

                                                 highland pastures of other regions, using

                                                 trucks to move the animals.


 Livestock          Esmozar             No       Since 1980s, tree pruning for fodder was

 farming            (lopping)                    abandoned      due     to   the     availability    of

                                                 commercial fodder.


 Livestock          Quemas              No       Prescribed burns have been abandoned,

 farming            (prescribed                  although regional forest administration is

                    burns)                       considering to reintroduce controlled burning

                                                 as a method to reduce woody biomass.


 Timber             Subastas            No       In the 1960-1970s, the use of animals for

 harvesting         (logging)                    transportation of logs was largely abandoned

                                                 in favour of tractors and machines. Timber

                                                 harvesting tools, such as axes and saws, were

                                                 also substituted by chainsaws. Currently,

                                                 mainly exotic conifer species are professionally

                                                 logged      with     sophisticated       harvesting

                                                 machinery     such     as   tractor-mounted        log

                                                 loaders.




                                                                                                          9
 NTFPs                 Suertes              Yes      To collect firewood, neighbours need to

                       (firewood                     request permit from the regional forest rangers.

                       collection)                   During autumn, foresters mark the wooded lots

                                                     applying a similar criteria to the one used in the

                                                     past. In stands dominated by holm oak or

                                                     Pyrenean oak, firewood collection is done so to

                                                     achieve a thinning to an area. Whereas in

                                                     stands dominated by beech, forest rangers

                                                     specify the trees appropriate for firewood

                                                     cutting, such as crooked-growing trees.


 NTFPs                 Sudar el corcho      Yes      Although cork stripping was abandoned since

                       (cork stripping)              the 1970s, the practice has recently been

                                                     reactivated in Liébana. Nowadays, a private

                                                     company extract cork applying similar methods

                                                     to     the traditional   barking,       including   the

                                                     transportation of cork slabs by mules.


 NTFPs                 Varear (branch       No       This activity is no longer practiced due to the

                       beating)                      injury risk of falling out of a tree.


 NTFPs                 Beekeeping           Yes      The traditional beekeeping system with bark

                                                     hives changed forty years ago to the modern

                                                     hive bee structure made of wood.


 a
     Cont.: Continuity of the practice until present-day.




4.1.1 Livestock farming


According to the informants, in the past, livestock farming was characterized by a collective

organizational system in which families in a village contributed with a limited number of domestic

livestock, mainly goats and sheep, to a common herding flock that was gathered each morning in the


                                                                                                               10
village by a shepherd hired by the village council. Within this collaborative grazing system, known as

vecería, villagers’ domestic livestock –sheep, goats, cows, donkeys, horses– daily grazed together.

Neighbours shifted turns to accompany the common shepherd, a system known as cornuda. Turns

depended on the number of herding animals a family added to the common herd. For instance, “Each

twelve lambs, you went one day. If you had six, half day, that is, you went one turn but next time you

didn’t” (male, 91-100 years old)1. This collaborative grazing system made livestock herding compatible

with other farming activities, such as hay meadow, agriculture, or wood harvesting. As one informants

described, the vecería system allowed “conciliation, so that people could work” (male, 71-80 years

old).


In spring, villagers hired a shepherd or cowherd to take livestock to the higher pastures during the

transtermitance (i.e., short transhumance from lowlands to highlands). Herds remained all summer in

the highlands tended by a shepherd or cowherd, who lived in a hut with shepherds from other villages.

During the transtermitance, villagers did not accompany the shepherd or cowherd but made turns to

provide him with food. Informants pointed out that with the traditional herding practice, grazing animals

were able to subsist with the resources available in the surrounding communal woodlands and

pasturelands of Liébana. Informants also reported traditional practices that allowed obtaining fodder

all year round. For instance, during the winter months after the hay making (Figure 2), community

domestic livestock were able to freely graze in private fields, i.e., crops and hay meadows. Then, from

March onwards, fields were closed to grazing, to allow the growth of grass that is cut in summer and

stored for winter. Fields were opened again once the hay was cut, a system known as derrotas. During

the months that private lands stay closed, livestock grazed in the forest commons.




1
    To guarantee confidentiality of informants, their ages are grouped into 10-year intervals.


                                                                                                      11
Figure 2. Past (a) and present (b) hay making practice in Liébana. Photo credits a): Eusebio

Bustamante Miguel, and photo credits b) S. Guadilla-Sáez.


Another habitual practice to obtain winter fodder was lopping, or esmozar, described by informants as

a type of pruning consisting in climbing to the tree crowns when branches bore acorns and leaves,

and cutting them to use as stock for wintertime. Individuals of Fraxinus excelsior L., Ilex aquifolium L.,

Populus and Quercus spp. located in private fields or communal lands were pruned (Figure 3). Pruning


                                                                                                       12
was done on crescent moon, reportedly to enhance the growth of the branches during the following

year. After the cut, twigs were collected in groups up to ten named coloños or tarmaos. Once dryed,

the coloños were stored in the farm to be given to sheep, goats and cows when snow did not allow

them to graze outdoors. Woody parts that were not eaten by the animals were used as firewood.




Figure 3. Lopped tree, or esmozado, in a private field in Lamedo, Liébana. Photo credits: S. Guadilla-

Sáez.


Respondents also reported the use of prescribed burns, or quemas, to promote pastures for livestock

and to reduce shrubland. The practice consisted of applying periodical burns as a clearing method to

suppress the expansion of shrubland of Pteridium, Erica and Ulex spp. Scrub burning did not affect

the upper strata, i.e., tree canopy, and was followed by livestock grazing in springtime. Burning



                                                                                                   13
required a permit from the forest ranger and participation was compulsory for all neighbours. Several

precautionary measures were taking to avoid uncontrolled fires. For example, a firewall of four to five

meters was done on the opposite side of the field where the burn started. If there was not a firewall,

neighbours located themselves in the opposite side of the burn to avoid the spread of the fire.


Informants argue that the recent transition to cattle and rural depopulation have fundamentally

changed herding practices. Nowadays, animal husbandry mostly consists in herds grazing in privately

owned meadows protected with electric fences to prevent attacks from wild animals. In winter months,

livestock is housed on farms and fed with fodder acquired in the market; whereas in summertime,

herds are moved to upland pastures in motorized transport. As one informant reported: “Traditional

extensive livestock systems is being replaced by a more intensive farming: meadows are fertilised by

farmyard manure, grasslands are no longer harvested, and there is no livestock herding nor

transhumance…” (female, 31-40 years old).


Depopulation is also considered an important driver of traditional pastoralism abandonment, as

farming activities can no longer be distributed along family members. One informant explained

changes in livestock farming in the area as follows:


        “Small ruminant livestock has been abandoned because they require too much work. You

        need a farming house, being all day long with them, herding dogs; and, still, they are vulnerable

        to foxes, wolves… People are no longer used to this type of work. In the past, families were

        also bigger, with the father, grandfather, children... Instead, now a single person has to mow

        the meadows, attend the cattle, and move it to upland pastures during summer… How can a

        person do everything? So, what does he leave aside? He leaves aside whatever gives him

        more work and less economic benefit. This is why sheep and goats have been abandoned

        and woodlands now look as they do” (male, 41-50 years old).


Thus, informants considered the abandonment of extensive livestock farming as a key determinant of

landscape variability, contributing to the expansion of tree and shrub encroachment on grassy areas.

As another interviewee noticed, “Nowadays livestock no longer goes into the forest, herders go to the

farming house, or to private meadows instead” (male, 61-70 years old). In the same line, a retired

shepherd observed, “There are no longer shepherds or cowherds. Cows are moved from farmhouses



                                                                                                      14
to the meadows, with electric fences installed, and no one takes care of them. Is more abandonment

possible?” (male, 81-90 years old). Moreover, informants argued that the resulting simplified landscape

negatively affects the environment. In the words of one informant, “Traditional extensive livestock

farming in Picos is essential… The disappearance of hay meadows and pastures, and the

abandonment of the communal land results in fire risks and problems in diversity of plants, that is going

to disappear” (male, 51-60 years old).


Aware of the effects of pasture abandonment, the regional forest administration –in collaboration with

villages– is promoting some initiatives to restore pasturelands. One village council representative

explained: “A mechanical clearing was made some years ago to recover part of our highland pasture...

We increased the grassy area, positively affecting partridge birds, and now we are going to create a

wetland for amphibians and for livestock to come and graze” (male, 41-50 years old). Informants argue

that, after a mechanical clearing, livestock grazing improves the long-term effectiveness of such

interventions. Moreover, according to herders, small ruminant livestock that browse on woody plants,

such as goats, are “those who really clean the forest” (female, 41-50 years old) (Figure 4), for which

the decrease of these animals has been determinant on Liébana landscape transformation. As one

informant recommended, “There is a general idea that the Administration should give a payment to

livestock farmers who accompany their flocks and have a minimum number of sheep or goats, so they

would get an extra salary. It would be cheaper than forest fire prevention techniques” (male, 31-40

years old).




                                                                                                      15
Figure 4. Goat browsing woody plants in Dobarganes, Liébana. Photo credits: S. Guadilla-Sáez.




4.1.2 Timber harvesting


Timber harvesting, or subastas, were habitual in villages with large areas of forested common lands.

In Liébana, stands of Fagus sylvatica L., Quercus robur L. and Quercus petraea (Matt.) Liebl. were

the most abundant tree species felled. These tree native broadleaf species shed their leaves before

winter, for which timber harvest was scheduled while the trees were leafless, i.e., from late October to

late March or April, before sap flows. Local loggers also harvested according to the moon phase,

cutting during the waning moon to prevent decay and termite hazard. In the subastas, groups of four

to seven neighbours used to go into the woods with the harvesting equipment (i.e., hand axes, saws,

wool rope, and a carpenter’s tape). They felled and limbed trees, bucking the tree to logs of prescribed

lengths (e.g., into lengths of 1.40 or 2.80 meters for railroads ties), and transported them to a landing

area, usually at the roadside, using draft animals such as cows, mules, oxen or horses. For remote

areas, harvest operations included the construction of portable sawmills.



                                                                                                      16
Income generated by the commercialization of trees was an important economic resource as it was

used for the establishment and maintenance of villages’ common services (i.e., electricity or piped

water) or infrastructure (i.e., roads and bridges). When income was needed, the village councils

requested an authorization to harvest trees to the regional forest administration. Regional foresters

decided the volume and standing trees to be included in the woodlot, applying a criteria that most

informants considered beneficial to forest conservation. As one interviewee pointed out, “Foresters

examined the forestland and defined the areas authorized for harvest. Areas with presence of young

trees were excluded, whereas areas with old trees that were about to fall or that were impeding stand

regeneration were included in the cutblock” (female, 51-60 years old).


Cantabrian regional temporary banning of harvesting timber of native species in the late 1980s

(Regional decree No. 64/1989, of 14 September) resulted in the end of traditional timber harvesting in

Liébana2. Nowadays, professional timber harvesters operate in the region, using modern equipment

for the logging operations, mostly harvesting plantations of Pinus spp. located in accessible private

fields (Figure 5). Some informants argued that the 1980’s regulation of tree harvesting ensured forest

regeneration, but most of them considered that the traditional silvicultural management system

implemented to remove the trees –i.e., shelterwood cutting, consisting in gradually replacing the

mature trees of a stand through repeated cuts (Savill, 2015)– facilitated forest renewal. A respondent

from a village with large area of beech forest stated: “In my opinion, the banning of timber harvesting

is a step backwards… Seedlings of beech benefit from the removal of old trees, because standing

mature trees do not allow understorey trees to develop... In dense stands, it seems necessary to cut

by shelterwood cutting” (male, 91-100 years old). Neighbours used to collectively carry out some

forestry operations associated to traditional timber harvesting, like maintenance of logging unpaved

roads or path clearing of forest commons through manual removal or swidden–fallow management.

As one informant described, “Each year, some brushing or thinning was done to a small forest area.

This consisted in the removal of thorny scrublands and shelterwood cutting” (male, 81-90 years old).




2
    Despite being a repealed decree, the harvest of native species stands has not been reactivated in
Liébana. Notably, informants reported it as an active legislation.


                                                                                                    17
Figure 5. Past (a) and present (b) timber harvesting practice. Photo credits a) Eusebio Bustamante

Miguel, and photo credits b) S. Guadilla-Sáez.


Locally, there is a general complain about the abandonment of forest management systems over the

last few decades. Several informants argued that public administration should integrate into forest

management planning actions to prevent the loss of traditional paths and to remove old or poorly

formed trees from the stands.

                                                                                                18
4.1.3 Non-timber forest products


The harvest of forest products other than timber is an age-old practice in Liébana that forms part of its

complex farming subsistence system. Participants indicated that firewood, cork, fruits, medicinal

plants, mushrooms, and beekeeping were the major NTFPs collected from Liébana’s forest commons.


In the past, firewood collection, or suertes, was an important rural livelihood strategy because it

provided household fuel needs for cooking and heating, as well as for the production of charcoal for

forges and braziers. Great volumes of firewood obtained from poor quality stands of Quercus ilex L.,

Quercus pyrenaica Willd. and Fagus sylvatica L. were collected during the autumn, once the hay cut

had finished. To that end, two or three family members went into the forest with hand axes,

accompanied with draft animals to drag firewood out of the woods. As one neighbour described, “We

collected fuel wood from old trees or those damaged by wind or snow” (male, 71-80 years old).

Firewood collection persists in Liébana, although the total amount of wood collected is lower due to

depopulation and to the use of other energy sources. As one stakeholder indicated, “When butane gas

arrived, the consumption of firewood reduced to less than 30 per cent of the volume previously

extracted” (male, 71-80 years old). Informants argued that the decrease of firewood collection had a

negative effect in the maintenance of local landscapes, as they consider that this practice was essential

to clear up the forest floor and promote the growth and fructification of the remaining trees.

Commenting on the abundance of biomass on Liébana’s forest commons, several interviewees

signalled its potential for producing energy. As one respondent said, “We can generate electricity with

a biomass plant connected to power lines, or for public lighting… Also, in these close-packed towns,

we can build a biomass central heating system for the whole village” (male, 31-40 years old).

Informants, however, were also cautious about the limits of this practice: “If biomass starts being

commercialized and everyone goes into the forest to collect firewood, it may cause ecological harm

as a balance of forest biomass in the woodland seems necessary” (female, 41-50 years old).


Barking, or sudar el corcho, was common in the 1950s, when cork was used in the wine-producing

industry. The traditional technique consisted of removing the bark around the stem of Quercus suber

L., using an axe to make three cuts through the outer bark. First, a vertical cut was done from the

stump up to the first branch, followed by two horizontal cuts around the tree in both sides, aiming to

                                                                                                      19
produce rectangular slabs of cork as big as possible. Then, slabs were pulled off from the tree with

special care for not damaging the slabs. Once removed, slabs were packed in piles and transported

by draft animals. Barking was a seasonal activity limited to the summer months, “when the cork tree

most suda” (male, 31-40 years old), i.e., during sap flow, which is considered to facilitate cork

extraction. Because of its seasonality, barking used to involve up to fifteen neighbours of skilled labour

on cork stripping. A tree could be barked every 14 years. However, since the introduction of plastic

stoppers, the demand for cork decreased and the practice was abandoned in Liébana in the 1970s.

Respondents argue that the abandonment of traditional barking has resulted in an excessive proximity

between cork oak trunks with negative economic and ecological impacts. On the one side, woody

encroachment reduces the production of cork, as illustrates the comment of a village council

representative, “Scrubland up to the tree branches supresses the growing of the bark. Cork needs to

be well-aired” (male, 31-40 years old). On the other side, tree spacing is alluded as fire prevention

mechanism of these stands.


Local inhabitants also reported the occasional harvest of fruits, medicinal plants, and mushrooms for

domestic use. They argued that fruit collection was more abundant in the past when acorns from

Quercus spp. and Fagus sylvatica were mainly consumed by livestock, while nuts from Castanea

sativa Mill. and Juglans regia L. were reserved for human consumption. The significant contribution of

wild fruits to household consumption is considered a main driver of the development of harvesting

techniques such as varear. Varear consisted of knocking down the fruits of a tree by beating the

branches with a stick, named caña or vara, large enough to reach the tree crown. At least two people

were needed to conduct the work: one person would climb on the tree and knock the crown and the

other would assist during the climbing and collect the fallen fruits. According to the informants, this

activity positively influenced fruit quality and production: “Knocking down tree acorns favours sap flow”

(male, 81-90 years old). Furthermore, informants associate the abandonment of the activity of varear

with the disappearance of some forest habitats: “Since chestnuts and walnuts are no longer knocked

down, trees have decayed” (male, 90-99 years old). This practice was done in waxing moon and when

trees were not wet. Acorn-bearing trees (Quercus spp.) were knocked in September and October, and

their acorns loaded in bags for transportation to the town. Chestnuts (Castanea sativa) were harvested

in November, and because their edible fruits are contained in a spiny husk, wooden tweezers to pick




                                                                                                       20
the chestnuts were used. To prevent injuries from spines, baskets were used for chestnuts

transportation.


Regarding medicinal plants collection, chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile L.) and té del puerto

(Sideritis hyssopifolia L.) were picked by locals in mountain pastures during summertime. Frequently

collected for self-consumption as an infusion, té del puerto has also commercial value in the local

market, although the demand for the plant is low. In contrast, informants showed concerns about the

need to regulate mushroom gathering, as beyond the occasional gathering done by locals, there is a

growing demand of mushrooms from visitors to Liébana who freely collect them.


Beekeeping for honey production has also a large tradition in Liébana, where wild beehives, or setas,

used to be abundant in the surrounding forest commons. Informants reported that wild beehives

located in tree branches were directly cut. When nesting was inside old trees’ hollow trunks, beehives

were difficult to find. To find the hives, harvesters waited in a fresh water stream the arrival of a bee

and then followed the bee back to the colony. Once in the tree, the harvester climbed with an axe to

open the hollow trunk, removed the hive, and carried it home in a container. In the following three

days, the hive was kept in the warmest place of the house, the kitchen, so that the heat melted the

honey and separated it from the beeswax. Nevertheless, since the infestation of the parasitic mite

Varroa in the 1980s, unmanaged wild honeybee colonies have disappeared from forests.


Informants reported that in the past most families in Liébana used to have two to four beehives made

of bark in the orchard. Every year, bark hives were crushed, mixing honey, beeswax and cork

altogether, and filtered through a fine cloth to obtain the honey. This activity was done in the warmest

place of the house to facilitate filtration. Nowadays, beekeeping of the honeybee Apis mellifera L. is

done in permanent beehives located in private or common lands outside the villages, placed at the low

level of the valley in wintertime, and moved to the upland moors during the summer months. Over the

last forty years, traditional bark hives have been substituted by wood hives, mainly built on Pinus spp.

(Figure 6).




                                                                                                      21
22
Figure 6. Traditional bark hives at Casa de las Doñas ethnographic museum in Enterrías, Liébana (a),

and modern hives made of wood (b) in Valmeo, Liébana. Photo credits: S. Guadilla-Sáez.


Commenting on the decline of beekeepers in the region, informants were unanimous in the view that

the maintenance of managed beehives is critical to avoid bee population decline, “Without wild

beehives in the woodland, apiculture may save the bees from extinction” (male, 61-70 years old).

Informants also pointed out the ecological threat of pollinator loss for wild plant reproduction if bee

population declines: “It is said that without the bees, wild plants will not persist more than four years”

(female, 61-70 years old).




4.1.4 Hunting


Hunting was an infrequent activity pursued by local inhabitants who went out alone or in groups to hunt

for food and leisure. Hunters targeted both small game species such as red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris),

hare (Lepus spp.), and partridge (Perdix perdix), and big game species including wild pig (Sus scrofa),

roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra).

Predators such as red fox (Vulpes vulpes), grey wolf (Canis lupus), and brown bear (Ursus arctos)

were also hunted. Informants reported that when predator species such as foxes or wolves were

hunted, the hunter would show the dead animal door-to-door as a trophy and collect money as a

reward.


Some informants reported the local disappearance of small game species like hares and partridges,

which they associate to the abandonment of the cereal-legume cropping systems, “Wheat, chickpea,

and lentil, which are hare’s food, are no longer cultivated” (male, 80-89 years old). Habitat loss is also

reported as a driver of small game species local extinction, “Many wildlife species have disappeared

as result of pastureland conversion to scrubland; there used to be a lot of hares and partridges” (male,

31-40 years old). In contrast, landscape transformation to dense forests seem to have benefited other

game species, particularly wild pigs, as they provide these species with food and cover. As one

interviewee argued when asked about wild pig population significant increase, “Nobody collects wild

fruits from the forest, so [wild pigs] have cherries, hazelnuts, grapes, wild apples, chestnuts, beech

nuts, oak acorns…” (male, 31-40 years old).



                                                                                                       23
Changes in game species are manifest in the current predominant hunting method in Liébana, the

stand-hunting method or batida for wild pigs. Informants had different opinions regarding the ecological

impacts of moving from a combined traditional hunting system to a predominant, almost unique, stand-

hunting practice. Some participants felt that the use of the stand-hunting method helps to reduce wild

pig population size, and even argue that the practice should be further promoted to regulate the

species’ stock. For example, one informant mentioned: “The criteria applied [by authorities] to stand-

hunting method is not enough to respond to the ecological equilibrium needed between wild pigs and

their natural habitat” (male, 81-90 years old). However, other participants considered that the stand-

hunting practice has harmful conservation outcomes and highly interferes with the dynamics of the

natural ecosystems. As one informant described,


        “For wild pigs, stand-hunting has higher environmental impact than other hunting methods

        consisting on spot and stalk hunting. In this method, the hunter is accompanied by a forest

        ranger who has previously selected the trophy animals, so the method has little impact on the

        rest of the fauna. Contrarily, stand-hunting involves fifty people shouting and running in the

        forest with up to thirty trained dogs chasing all types of animals. Moreover, this is done every

        weekend during six months of the year, and the vulnerable fauna living in the forest suffers

        from it... If we constantly change wildlife equilibrium, we influence plant community, as forest

        regeneration depends on the number of ungulates” (female, 31-40 years old).


Rental fees for big game hunting regulated by the regional forestry administration through the

concession of licenses currently represents an important income for neighbouring councils. Informants

reported that the economic revenue from recreational hunting is a great incentive for the local

inhabitants to preserve wildlife, also commenting on further opportunities to obtain economic profit

from game hunting, such as commercialising processed food products of game species to local

restaurants.




4.2 Perceptions of landscape change


In this section we explore factors that, according to local informants over 60 years of age (N=24), have

contributed to land use change in Liébana since the mid-twentieth century (Table 2).



                                                                                                     24
 Table 2. Drivers of regional landscape change reported by interviewees over 60 years of age
 (N=24).

 Drivers                                                       n                      %


 Demographic drivers (e.g., population growth,                 14                     58

 migration, ageing, family status)


 Economic drivers (e.g., market growth and                     11                     46

 commercialization, prices for agricultural/forestry

 products)


 Technical      drivers      (e.g.,     agricultural           3                     12.5

 mechanization, technological modernization)


 Institutional drivers (e.g., agricultural policies,           23                     96

 forestry policies, nature conservation policies)


 Ecological drivers (i.e. successional dynamics)               18                     75




Informants agreed that important land use changes have taken place in Liébana’s landscape within

the last decades. The most frequently cited driver of change corresponds to the institutional category,

reported by 96% of the respondents (N=23). Demographic and economic drivers of change were

mentioned in 58% (N=14) and 46% (N=11) of the interviews, with some of the informants associating

demography with technological drivers. Three quarters of respondents (N=18) also cited ecological

drivers (i.e., ecological successional processes) as a key factor of historical land use change in

Liébana.


The most frequently stated landscape change due to institutional drivers referred to the prohibition of

timber harvesting practices by the Cantabrian regional government in the late 1980s, cited by 54% of

the informants (N=13). When asked about the consequences of this regulation, most interviewees

considered that it resulted in the encroachment of woody vegetation and landscape homogenization,

increasing wildfire risks due to the accumulation of vegetation and to the larger interface of forests and

                                                                                                       25
human settlements. Similar concerns regarding vulnerability to wildfire risks were also reported by

some of the interviewees when discussing fire suppression policies. According to informants, repeated

prescribed burns helped to reduce shrub biomass without affecting the canopy layer, “Burning is

forbidden nowadays, which is dangerous because any fire can easily become an uncontrolled wildfire”

(male, 81-90 years old). Four interviewees reported shifts on goat husbandry legislation, a traditional

activity that was first forbidden and now promoted by subsidies. National Park legislation was stated

by 33% of informants (N=8) as the sole institutional driver for prohibitions to harvest timber, burn, hunt,

fish, or collect NTFPs. Another informant noticed, “National Parks consist in excluding all economic

activities benefiting local populations in favour to some theoretical interests, such as nature

conservation” (male, 81-90 years old).


The second most cited driver of change, demography, was mentioned by 14 informants (58%), who

argued that the rapid depopulation of the area and farmer’s ageing had resulted in the abandonment

of agricultural activities such as livestock grazing and firewood collection. Most of the interviewees

(N=11) also mentioned lifestyle changes, largely among the young generation who have abandoned

subsistence farming and migrated. Few informants (N=3) associated depopulation and technological

changes, arguing that present-day farming activities require high monetary investments on

mechanization to start running a business. Informants also reported lifestyle changes that arguably

decreased pressure from Liébana’s natural resources, such as the replacement of fuel wood by other

types of fuel for cooking and heating, or the acquisition of fodder supply from market. According to

respondents, forest was abundantly used in the past, “because [local people] lived from the resources

provided by the forest” (female, 61-70 years old), and self-sufficiency of household economies implied

daily livestock activities. Some participants (N=4) indicated that demographic changes had negative

consequences for rural landscape conservation, as the abandoned meadows and cultivate fields have

been gradually colonised by forest and shrub vegetation, decreasing habitat diversity.


Economic changes were identified as important drivers of landscape change by 46% of respondents

(N=11). As one informant described, “Legumes, wheat, or potatoes crops were abundant in the past

(…) When milk started to be commercialized, cattle number increased and arable lands progressively

transformed to meadows for fodder” (male, 80-89 years old). Some interviewees also mentioned the

national and the international markets as drivers of change, as they made traditional activities like



                                                                                                        26
timber harvesting, livestock breeding, NTFPs collection, or field cropping no longer profitable in

Liébana. The abandonment of these activities is considered to favour the expansion of scrublands,

which cannot evolve to tree strata due to the lack of regular shrub clearings.




5. Discussion


Our results suggest a general concern among local inhabitants regarding the loss of managed

landscapes in the absence of certain traditional farming and forestry uses in Liébana. Overall,

informants stated that local forest commons provided them with relevant goods and services and that

local management practices favoured the occurrence of high diverse forest ecosystems in an open

patchy structure. Our results also suggest that, according to local perceptions, institutional,

demographic, and economic drivers have greatly influenced the spatial and temporal transformation

of Liébana since the mid-twentieth century, favouring the ecological succession to shrub and tree

encroachment of the landscape due to the progressive abandonment of traditional farming

management activities.




5.1 Potential of traditional management practices to biodiversity conservation


Based on previous findings on the effects of human intervention in species distribution and long-term

persistence of natural systems in Liébana, this research sought to assess local inhabitants perceptions

of which traditional management practices historically performed in Liébana might have enriched its

landscape. Specifically, results of previous empirical research showed that areas closer to human

settlements or paths presented higher forest species diversity than less accessible areas. Moreover,

presence of silvicultural practices, particularly regeneration felling operations, seem to benefit the

presence of late-successional forest ecosystems in the Liébana valley (Guadilla-Sáez et al., 2019).

Results presented here give valuable insights about the potential negative effects on landscape

heterogeneity of the abandonment of certain traditional farming and forestry practices used in Liébana

for the provision of fodder, domestic fuel and human consumption. Specifically, our study identifies

seven traditional management practices with perceived positive effects for ecosystem diversity in

Liébana.



                                                                                                    27
First, the traditional mowing of meadows for hay making during the summer months and the autumn

grazing might have helped to maintain biodiversity rich grassland patches thorough Liébana’s

mountain landscape. The gradual disappearance of grassland extension due to the abandonment of

traditional hay making affects many European mountain areas and has been linked to the loss of plant

species richness in these habitats (Doležal et al., 2011; Orlandi et al., 2016). Moreover, the decline in

plant diversity affects the insect community richness and bird breeding, for which there are many

conservation efforts being applied across Europe to restore semi-natural grassland habitats (Stoner

and Joern, 2004; Jefferson, 2005; Graf et al., 2014; Valasiuk et al., 2018). For example, since 2016, a

European Regional Development Fund is promoting the restoration and conservation of harvested

meadows inside Picos de Europa National Park (UE-16-SOE1/P5/E0376). Still, most of these

programmes consist on mechanical mowing to prevent grassland encroachment, but are not followed

by autumn livestock grazing, although scientific literature evidences the importance of accompanying

hay cut with extensive grazing to avoid nutrient losses in meadows’ soils and subsequent plant species

reduction (Jefferson, 2005; Doležal et al., 2011). Indeed, local informants reported that grazing after

hay cut was key for the long-term maintenance of grasslands. In contrast, hay meadows located

around human settlements are over-exploited due to agricultural intensification, a finding that goes in

line with recent studies documenting the evolution of farmland management systems across mountain

areas of Europe (Lasanta et al., 2017; Burton and Riley, 2018). High livestock stocking rates negatively

affect grassland conservation and its associated biodiversity, for which it has been argued that to

reduce the on-going severe loss of semi-natural grassland areas, conservation efforts should combine

mowing with extensive grazing practices near farms and extensive grazing stocking rates in under-

grazed marginal lands (Graf et al., 2014; Orlandi et al., 2016).


The second traditional management practice with a perceived impact in Liébana’s ecosystem diversity

is pastoralism. According to our respondents, traditional pastoral systems helped to maintain the

grassland-woodland habitat mosaic on Liébana’s mountain landscape, as regular livestock herding

prevented shrub encroachment of pastures. Moreover, because of this positive role, informants argued

that agri-environmental subsidies should support properly managed livestock farming to make

profitable pasturing practices, as these go in line with nature conservation. This recommendation has

also been put forward by scholars, such as Z. Molnár et al. (2016) who suggested the inclusion of

nature conservation approaches to the traditional herding profession to shape an effective


                                                                                                      28
management that will help to restore and sustain the former dynamic open patch structure of rural

landscapes. Our informants further consider that economic incentives should be oriented to small

ruminant livestock herding practices, whose number had recently declined. Informants argued that

goat feeding behaviour prevents forest and shrub vegetation colonization over hay meadows and

reduces the biomass load of woodland ecosystems. Interestingly, the potential of goat pastoral

systems as a management tool to be included in wildfire prevention operations has also been reported

in the literature (Landau, 2017; Marques et al., 2017).


Lopping is the third management practice with reportedly positive effects for natural ecosystems

conservation in Liébana. The tree foliage harvest was an important fodder resource for livestock during

the winter, but it also implied biomass removal. Although extensive biomass harvest might negatively

impact biodiversity, the small-scale lopping of branches increases forest cover regeneration and

enhances habitat diversity (Vetaas, 1997; Varguese et al., 2015). In our study, local people reported

that the abandonment of lopping has resulted in a decline of tree species traditionally pruned for the

provision of winter fodder. Informants partly attribute the abandonment of the practice to fodder

availability in the market, for which isolated trees of Populus spp. and Fraxinus excelsior standing in

private fields are no longer preserved for fodder production. Another explanation given by informants

is the banning of the activity in relation to Ilex aquifolium L. by the regional forestry administration. The

cessation of this traditional harvest practice is considered to be in detrimental of I. aquifolium, a finding

consistent with studies linking anthropic activities in the past to the expansion of holly woods in central

Spain (García, 2001; López et al., 2013).


Fire suppression policies on prescribed burns, the forth management practice considered to impact

Liébana’s ecosystems, also seem to have delivered undesirable long-term conservation outcomes,

contributing to current large wildfires (Seijo et al., 2015). Local respondents are aware of the use of

burning as management tool to prevent scrubland encroachment of pastureland and to remove

understory biomass in forested areas. This approach matches with recent studies recognizing the

potential of low-intensity prescribed burning as a cheap wildfire prevention technique (Seijo et al.,

2015; Fernandes, 2018). Moreover, from an ecological point of view, the literature evidences that

seasonal prescribed fires can help control the expansion of exotic over native plant species in areas

with fire-adapted natural ecosystems (Kral et al., 2018; Barefoot et al., 2019). Thus, in a region with

historical fire regime like Liébana, the reintroduction of periodical low-intense burns may benefit certain

                                                                                                          29
stress-tolerant forest ecosystems such as forests dominated by Quercus species and chestnut

woodlands (Hanberry et al., 2014, Seijo et al., 2015) and, in combination with livestock herding, help

to restore grasslands (Múgica et al., 2018).


The fifth traditional practice locally perceived as having a positive impact on habitats conservation is

the gathering of firewood, which also implied the removal of woody biomass from forests. Neighbours

mostly selected standing dead trees, trees with evidence of disease, poor quality logs, dead branches,

and twigs for firewood, for which firewood gathering acted as a clearing silvicultural treatment

beneficial for the maintenance of healthy stands. Indeed, this local perception matches results from a

recent study analysing the effect of selective logging for firewood in stands dominated by Quercus

species in southern Mexican cloud forests (Ortiz-Colín et al., 2017). Moreover, the same study

recommends a moderate extraction of biomass in Quercus spp. stands for optimal regeneration. As

previously discussed, the removal of fuel biomass due to firewood collection also prevents the

establishment of dense forest ecosystems, reducing wildfire risks. Several informants expressed the

potential for producing biomass energy from firewood harvesting. This consideration is particularly

relevant in the current context of climate change, as biomass burning may be a promising renewal

source to substitute fossil fuels for electricity production or for combustion in residential heating

(Sreevani, 2018). Still, informants advocating for the use of forest biomass for energy in Liébana

recommended to provide general ecological information to local communities on a rational use of the

resource, to prevent intensive firewood extraction. This recommendation is in line with recent studies

warning of the ecological risks that large-scale deadwood stock extraction hold for the preservation of

associated biodiversity (Stupak and Raulund-Rasmussen, 2016; Hof et al., 2018).


The sixth management activity identified as positive for forest habitats conservation is branch beating

(varear). According to informants, branch beating positively influences fruit quality and tree production.

Literature corroborates the idea that manual harvest methods, such as beating the branches and

collecting the fallen fruits, have lower incidence of damage and cracks on the fruit than mechanical

harvest methods (Monarca et al., 2014), although the specific influence of harvesting in fruit production

has not been documented. Informants also suggested that the cessation of this traditional harvesting

method has had negative implications for the preservation of Castanea sativa and Juglans regia

species. This outcome may be contrary to studies documenting the beating of trees with sticks as an

epidemiological factor for disease incidence in some woody species (Panagopoulos, 1993). Still, the

                                                                                                       30
abandonment of traditional agroforestry practices in Castanea sativa and Juglans regia stands seems

to result in the long-term decline of these stands (Cantarello et al., 2014; Guadilla-Sáez et al., 2017),

for which further studies describing the particular influence that branch beating may have in the

persistence of these stands are recommended.


The last traditional management practice identified as environmentally friendly in the study area

corresponds to beekeeping, an economic activity that provides pollination services to wild plants.

Beyond the importance of bees for pollination of plant species, many studies across the globe have

documented traditional beekeeping practices as an important part of the subsistence economy of rural

communities (Oteng-Yeboah et al., 2012; Sight, 2014; Adal et al., 2015; Galbraith et al., 2017).

Interviewees expressed concerns about the disappearance of unmanaged wild honeybee colonies

from forests due to the parasitic mite Varroa, highlighting the need of the persistence of beekeeping

in Liébana to avoid further bee populations decline. This concern dovetails with recent awareness

about worldwide bee population loss, resulting in conservation initiatives promoting beekeeping as a

management practice that does not compete for resources with other economic activities (Adal et al.,

2015; Galbraith et al., 2017). However, high densities of managed honeybees may negatively impact

on wild pollinators via competition for flower resources, for which conservation efforts should adapt

beekeeping to the carrying capacity of the flower community at the landscape level (Torné-Noguera et

al., 2016).


Overall, our results illustrate a consensus between the arguments used by local informants and the

scholarly literature to identify certain management practices that could contribute toward nature

conservation. However, our results also reveal a set of practices that according to local informants

enhance ecosystem diversity, but that have not been documented in the literature.




5.2 Perception of historical land use change and its implication to traditional landscape conservation


The second objective of this study was to explore the potential of local discourses to document the

driving factors associated to the historical land use change in Liébana and to further describe the

perceived effects of different drivers on landscape transformation. Overall, local inhabitants perceive

landscape change in Liébana since 1950-1960s as a progressive ecological succession to shrub and

tree encroachment in areas that use to be pasture. These changes are associated to the abandonment

                                                                                                      31
of traditional agricultural land use activities largely due to institutional, demographic, and economic

drivers.


Scholars and local population describe rural exodus and market integration as significant drivers for

the abandonment of traditional uses, resulting in the simplification of the landscape mosaic, initially

through the transformation of cultivated fields into pastureland, and later through the gradual

encroachment of scrubland strata in abandoned pastures (López, 1978; González, 2001; Rescia et

al., 2008). Institutional factors are also reported as key drivers of change in Liébana, both in interviews

with local stakeholders and in the literature (González, 2001; Castañón and Frochoso, 2007; Rescia

et al., 2008). Nevertheless, local people’s perception differ from scientific literature on who is the main

agent influencing local land use regulations. Whilst the literature emphasizes the effects of the

European Union Common Agricultural Policy in shaping Liébana’s current economic, environmental

and social situation (Corbera, 2006; Rescia et al., 2008), informants associate land use regulations to

the Cantabrian regional administration and to the National Park management. This finding matches

with previous research on the area reporting local communities’ unfavourable attitudes towards

conservation initiatives (López, 1978; González, 2001; Rescia et al., 2008). Moreover, despite the lack

of a valid management plan to regulate traditional uses implemented inside the reserve (repealed in

2005 due to a legal action taken by local communities living within Picos de Europa buffer zone), local

communities perceive that the National Park’s authorities regulate land uses. Inhabitants’ perception

that forest uses are limited, despite the fact that Picos de Europe lacks management capacity to

implement regulations, evidences that conservation initiatives are negatively perceived by

communities even if the conservation outcomes have neutral impacts on local livelihoods (Bennet and

Dearden, 2014; Babai et al., 2015; Lopes-Fernandez et al., 2018).


Ecological changes derived from the historical land cover change in Liébana described by local

observations match those found in the literature. Both sources describe a successional trend to dense

high forest coppices from abandoned lands. Concerns regarding an increase of fire-hazard associated

to changes in forest fuels prevail in local discourses, a finding previously reported for Quercus spp.

wood-pastures of south Spain (Garrido et al., 2017). This concern is also reflected in the recent

literature associating fire-hazard in mountain rural areas of Spain with an increase in plant biomass

and homogenized landscape resulting from the abandonment of traditional management practices

(Viedma et al., 2015; Lasanta et al., 2017).

                                                                                                        32
In sum, our results suggest that local understanding of the driving factors influencing land use change

in Liébana dovetails with findings from the existing literature examining the spatial and temporal

transformation of the study area.




6. Conclusions


The objectives of this research were to understand how the abandonment of traditional land use

activities in rural areas might lead to a simplified habitat mosaic landscape, and to describe the

ecological consequences of the driven forces associated to this process of abandonment.


In general, the local understanding is that the cessation of traditional practices adapted to the carrying

capacity of Liébana’s natural resources has had negative implications for preserving species and

habitat diversity. In particular, our results illustrate a set of traditional management practices reportedly

favourable to biodiversity, which could be explored for developing effective regional conservation

strategies of high-valued ecosystems preserved by local inhabitants (Molnár and Berkes, 2018).

Findings of this work dovetail with studies indicating that traditional practices may be a cost-effective,

long-term sustainable tool for managing semi-natural habitats (Babai et al., 2015). Any regional

conservation initiative in Liébana, and particularly in Picos de Europa National Park, may benefit from

the inclusion of the traditional practices identified in this work into its management.


Our results also suggest that local discourses identify the same drivers of historical land use change

than those documented in the literature, providing a detailed understanding of the particular ecological

significance of each driver on rural landscape transformation. This finding supports the idea that rural

communities provide valuable information to document landscape historical dynamics and to monitor

environmental changes (Calvo-Iglesias et al., 2006; Parrotta and Trosper, 2012). These findings could

be particularly relevant for landscape-orientated conservation policies aiming to prevent the

biodiversity loss resulting from the abandonment of traditional land uses. For instance, this research

provides information on traditional management practices that were banned in the past, and that are

now being reconsidered for conservation objectives. These place-based management solutions

include prescribed burns or the use of small ruminant livestock herding to prevent shrub

encroachment. This finding supports arguments considering that, although not all traditional practices



                                                                                                          33
might have positive ecological outcomes, some of them can be a useful source of information to site-

specific conservation management strategies (Berkes et al., 2000; Joa et al., 2018; Molnár and Berkes,

2018). We recommend further research assessing the potential of local knowledge to monitor

environmental landscape change.




Appendix A. Supplementary data




Acknowledgements


We thank all the interviewees for their willingness to participate in the study and share their knowledge

and opinions with us. We also acknowledge Picos de Europa National Park and Biosphere Reserve

Administration and the Cantabrian Regional Government for their collaboration with this study. All work

was done under the approval from the Autonomous University of Barcelona Ethics committee

(CEEAH-3367), and the manuscript does not contain identifiable individual person’s data. This

research was supported by the Agència de Gestió d’Ajuts Universitaris i de Recerca AGAUR of the

Government of Catalonia (2015FI_B00333) and by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and

Competitiveness through the research project ‘Citizen Science and traditional agroecological

knowledge: How to increase citizen's participation in the Spanish inventory of traditional knowledge

related to biodiversity?’ (CSO2014-59704-P). This work contributes to Environmental Sciences and

Technology Institute ICTA-UAB 'Unit of Excellence' (MinECo, MDM2015-0552).




References


Adal, H., Asfaw, Z., Woldu, Z., Demissew, S., van Damme, P., 2015. An iconic traditional apiculture of

park fringe communities of Borena Sayint National Park, north eastern Ethiopia. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed

11, 65. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-015-0051-1


Agnoletti, M., 2013. Valorising the European Rural Landscape: The Case of the Italian National

Register of Historical Rural Landscapes. In: Rotherham, I.D. (Ed.), Cultural Severance and the

Environment. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6159-9_5



                                                                                                      34
Albuquerque, U.P., Fernandes Cruz da Cunha, L.V., Paiva de Lucena, R.F., Nóbrega Alves, R.R.

(Eds.), 2014. Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology. New York: Humana Press.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8636-7


Arbeo, P. 2012. La sociedad económica de amigos del país de Liébana en el siglo XIX. Madrid: Bubok

Publishing, S.L.


Babai, D., Tóth, A., Szentirmai, I., Biró, M., Máté, A., Demeter, L., Szépligeti, M., Varga, A., Molnár,

A., Kun, R., Molnár, Z., 2015. Do conservation and agri-environmental regulations effectively support

traditional small-scale farming in East-Central European cultural landscapes? Biodivers. Conserv. 24,

3305–3327. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-015-0971-z


Barefoot, C.R., Willson, K.G., Hart, J.L., Schweitzer, C.J., Dey, D.C., 2019. Effects of thinning and

prescribed fire frequency on ground flora in mixed Pinus-hardwood stands. For Ecol Manage 432,

729–740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.09.055


Bennet, N.J., Dearden, P. 2014. Why local people do not support conservation: Community

perceptions of marine protected area livelihood impacts, governance and management in Thailand.

Mar Policy 44, 107–116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpol.2013.08.017


Berkes, F., Turner, N.J., 2006. Knowledge, Learning and the Evolution of Conservation Practice for

Social-Ecological System Resilience. Hum Ecol 34, 479–494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10745-006-

9008-2


Bernard, H.R., 2006. Research methods in Anthropology: qualitative and quantitative approaches.

Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.


Bernués, A., Riedel, J.L., Asensio, M.A., Blanco, M., Sanz, A., Revilla, R., Casasús, I., 2005. An

integrated approach to studying the role of grazing livestock systems in the conservation of rangelands

in a protected natural park (Sierra de Guara, Spain). Livest. Prod. Sci. 96, 75–85.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.livprodsci.2005.05.023


Bertrand, G., 1964. Les formations végétales méditerranéennes du versant nord cantabrique

(Espagne du Nord-Ouest) : un problème écologique. Bull Assoc Geogr Fr 328-329 (41), 42–56.

http://doi.org/10.3406/bagf.1964.5706




                                                                                                     35
Biró, É., Babai, D., Bódis, J., Molnár, Z., 2014. Lack of knowledge or loss of knowledge? Traditional

ecologicalknowledge of population dynamics of threatened plant speciesin East-Central Europe. J.

Nat. Conserv. 22, 318–325. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnc.2014.02.006


Burton, R.J.F., Riley, M., 2018. Traditional Ecological Knowledge from the internet? The case of hay

meadows in Europe. Land Use Pol. 70, 334–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.10.014


Calvo-Iglesias, M.S., Crecente-Maseda, R., Fra-Paleo, U., 2006. Exploring farmer’s knowledge as a

source of information on past and present cultural landscapes A case study from NW Spain.

Landscape Urban Plan. 78, 334–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2005.11.003


Castañón, J.C., Frochoso, M., 2007. La naturaleza del paisaje en el Parque Nacional de Picos de

Europa. In: Martínez, E., Ortega, N. (Eds.), La conservación del paisaje en los Parques Nacionales.

Madrid: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid & Fundación Duques de Soria.


Colsaet, A., Laurans, Y., Levrel, H., 2018. What drives land take and urban land expansion? A

systematic review. Land Use Pol. 79, 339–349. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.08.017


Cantarello, E., Lovegrove, A., Orozumbekov, A., Birch, J., Brouwers, N., Newton, A.C., 2014. Human

Impacts on Forest Biodiversity in Protected Walnut-Fruit Forests in Kyrgyzstan. J SUSTAIN FOREST

33(5), 454–481. https://doi.org/10.1080/10549811.2014.901918


Corbelle-Rico, E., Butsic, V., Enríquez-García, M.J., Radeloff, V.C., 2015. Technology or policy?

Drivers of land cover change in northwestern Spain before and after the accession to European

Economic Community. Land Use Pol. 45, 18–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.01.004


Corbera, M. 2006. Políticas públicas, territorio rural y sostenibilidad: una visión desde el norte de

España. Boletín de la A.G.E. 41, 221–242.


Doležal, J., Mašková, Z., Lepš, J., Steinbachová, D., de Bello, F., Klimešová, J., Tackenberg, O.,

Zemek, F., Květ, J., 2011. Positive long-term effect of mulching on species and functional trait diversity

in a nutrient-poor mountain meadow in Central Europe. Agric Ecosyst Environ 145, 10– 28.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.01.010


ETSIM, 1978. Ordenación del paisaje. Estudios de planificación física. El Valle de Liébana. Madrid:

Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros de Montes.



                                                                                                       36
Fernandes, P.M., 2018. Scientific support to prescribed underburning in southern Europe: What do we

know? Sci. Total Environ. 630, 340–348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.214


Galbraith, S.M., Hall, T.E., Tavárez, H.S., Kooistra, C.M., Ordoñez, J.C., Bosque-Pérez, N.A., 2017.

Local ecological knowledge reveals effects of policy-driven land use and cover change on beekeepers

in Costa Rica. Land Use Pol. 69, 112–122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2017.08.032


Gamborg, C., Parsons, R., Puri, R.K., Sandøe, P., 2012. Ethics and Research Methodologies for the

Study of Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge. In: Parrotta, J.A., Trosper, R.L. (Eds.) Traditional

Forest-Related Knowledge. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2144-9_14


García, M.D., 2001. Aprovechamiento sostenible de las acebedas del Sistema Ibérico norte:

caracterización, crecimiento, propagación, conservación, tratamientos selvícolas y producción de

ramilla con fines ornamentales. Ph.D. dissertation, Technical University of Madrid.


Garnett, S.T., Burgess, N.D., Fa, J.E., Fernández-Llamazares, Á., Molnár, Z., Robinson, C.J., Watson,

J.E.M., Zander, K.K., Austin, B., Brondizio, E.S., Collier, N.F., Duncan, T., Ellis, E., Geyle, H., Jackson,

M.V., Jonas, H., Malmer, P., McGowan, B., Sivongxay, A., Leiper, I., 2018. A spatial overview of the

global   importance     of   Indigenous      lands   for   conservation.     Nat     Sustain    1,    369–374.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0100-6


Garrido, P., Elbadkidze, M., Angelstam, P., Plieninger, T., Pulido, F., Moreno, G., 2017. Stakeholder

perspectives of wood-pasture ecosystem services: A case study from Iberian dehesas. Land Use Pol.

60, 324–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.10.022


González, M. 2001. Sociología y ruralidades: la construcción social del desarrollo rural en el Valle de

Liébana. Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación.


Graf, R., Müller, M., Korner, P., Jenny, M., Jenni, L., 2014. 20% loss of unimproved farmland in 22

years     in    the    Engadin,      Swiss      Alps.      Agric   Ecosyst         Environ     185,     48–58.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.12.009


Guadilla-Sáez, S., Pardo-de-Santayana, M., Reyes-García, V., 2017. In: Proceedings of the 7th

Spanish Forest Congress. 26-30th June 2017. Las prácticas tradicionales en el manejo de los bosques

de castaño y las dehesas de quercíneas. Una visión histórica. Plasencia, Spain.




                                                                                                           37
Guadilla-Sáez, S., Pardo-de-Santayana, M., Reyes-García, V., Svenning, J.-C., 2019. Biodiversity

conservation effectiveness provided by a protection status in temperate forest commons of north

Spain. For. Ecol. Manage. 433, 656–666. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2018.11.040.


Guèze, M., Luz, A.C., Paneque-Galvéz, J., Macía, M.J., Orta-Martínez, M., Pino, J., Reyes-García, V.,

2015. Shift in indigenous culture relate to forest tree diversity: A case study from the Tsimane', Bolivian

Amazon. Biol. Conserv. 186, 251–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2015.03.026.


Hanberry, B.B., Dey, D.C., Hea, H.S., 2014. The history of widespread decrease in oak dominance

exemplified     in        a   grassland–forest    landscape.   Sci.   Total   Environ.     476–477,   591-600.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.01.048


Hof, A.R., Löfroth, T., Rudolphi, J., Work, T., Hjältén, J., 2018. Simulating Long-Term Effects of

Bioenergy Extraction on Dead Wood Availability at a Landscape Scale in Sweden. Forests 9, 457.

https://doi.org/10.3390/f9080457


ICANE, 2018. Instituto Cántabro de Estadística. http://www.icane.es (Accessed 24th July, 2018).


Jefferson, R.G., 2005. The conservation management of upland hay meadows in Britain: a review.

Grass and Forage Sci. 60, 322–331.


Joa, B., Winkel, G., Primmer, E., 2018. The unknown known – A review of local ecological knowledge

in   relation        to       forest   biodiversity   conservation.   Land     Use       Pol.   79,   520–530.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2018.09.001


Kis, J., Barta, S., Elekes, L., Engi, L., Fegyver, T., Kecskeméti, J., Lajkó, L., Szabó, J., 2017. Traditional

Herders’ Knowledge and worldview and their role in managing biodiversity and ecosystem services of

extensive pastures. In: Roué, M., Molnár, Z., (Eds.) Knowing our Land and Resources: Indigenous

and Local Knowledge of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Europe and Central Asia. Knowledges

of Nature 9. Paris: UNESCO.


Kral, K., Limb, R., Ganguli, A., Hovick, T., Sedivec, K., 2018. Seasonal prescribed fire variation

decreases inhibitory ability of Poa pratensis L. and promotes native plant diversity. J. Environ. Manage.

223, 908–916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.06.096




                                                                                                           38
Landau, S.Y., 2017. Introductory Chapter: Is there a future for goat pastoral systems? In: Simões, J.,

Gutiérrez, C., (Eds.) Sustainable goat production in adverse environments. Cham: Springer.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71855-2_1


Lasanta, T., Arnáez, J., Pascual, N., Ruiz-Flaño, P., Errea, M.P., Lana-Renault, N., 2017. Space–time

process    and    drivers   of    land     abandonment   in   Europe.   Catena   149,      810–823.    .

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2016.02.024


Lavorel, S., Grigulis, K., Leitinger, G., Kohler, M., Schirpke, U., Tappeiner, U., 2017. Historical

trajectories in land use pattern and grassland ecosystem services in two European alpine landscapes.

Reg. Environ. Change 17, 2251–2264. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-017-1207-4


Lopes-Fernandes, M., Espírito-Santo, C., Frazão-Moreira, A., 2018. The return of the Iberian lynx to

Portugal: local voices. J Ethnobiol Ethnomed 14, 3. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13002-017-0200-9


López, J. 1978. Antropología de la ferocidad cotidiana: supervivencia y trabajo en una comunidad

cántabra. Serie Estudios. Madrid: Ministerio de Agricultura, Pesca y Alimentación.


López, N., Gomez, G., Madrazo, G., Allende, F., Sáez, E., 2013. The Evolution of Forest Landscapes

in Spain’s Central Mountain Range: Different Forests for Different Traditional Uses. In: Rotherham,

I.D. (Ed.). Severance and the Environment. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-

6159-9_11


López-i-Gelats, Milán, M.J., Bartolomé, J., 2011. Is farming enough in mountain areas? Farm

diversification     in      the          Pyrenees.   Land       Use      Pol.        28,      783–791.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.01.005


MacDonald, D., Crabtree, J.R., Wiesinger, G., Dax, T., Stamou, N., Fleury, P., Gutierrez Lazpita, J.,

Gibon, A., 2000. Agricultural abandonment in mountain areas of Europe: Environmental consequences

and policy response. J. Environ. Manage. 59, 47–69. https://doi.org/10.1006/jema.1999.0335


MAPAMA, 2018. Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. https://www.mapama.gob.es/es/red-

parques-nacionales/la-red/gestion/visitantes.aspx (Accessed 1st August, 2018).




                                                                                                      39
Marques, D., Fachada, M., Viana, H., 2017. Synergies between goat grazing and shrub biomass in

mountain areas. In: Simões J., Gutiérrez C. (Eds.) Sustainable Goat Production in Adverse

Environments. Cham: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71855-2_10


Molnár, Z., Berkes, F., 2018. Role of traditional ecological knowledge in linking cultural and natural

capital in cultural landscapes. In: Paracchini, M.L., Zingari, P.C., Blasi, C. (Eds.) Reconnecting natural

and cultural capital – Contributions for Science and Policy. Brussels: Office of Publications of the

European Union.


Molnár, Z., Kis, J., Vadász, C., Papp, L., Sándor, I., Béres, S., Sinka, G., Varga, A., 2016. Common

and conflicting objectives and practices of herders and conservation managers: the need for a

conservation       herder.   Ecosystem       Health      and     Sustainability    2     (4),    e01215.

https://doi.org/10.1002/ehs2.1215


Monarca, D., Moscetti, R., Carletti, L., Cecchini, M., Colantoni, A., Stella, E., Menghini, G., Speranza,

S., Massantini, R., Contini, M., Manzo, A., 2014. Quality maintenance and storability of chestnuts

manually and mechanically harvested. Acta horticulturae 1043, 145–152.


Mottet, A., Ladet, S., Coqué, N., Gibon, A., 2006. Agricultural land-use change and its drivers in

mountain landscapes: A case study in the Pyrenees. Agric Ecosyst Environ 114, 296–310.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2005.11.017


Múgica, L., Canals, R.M., San Emeterio, L., 2018. Changes in soil nitrogen dynamics caused by

prescribed fires in dense gorse lands in SW Pyrenees. Sci. Total Environ. 639, 175-185.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.139


Newing, H. (2011). Conducting research in conservation: social science methods and practice. New

York: Routledge.


Orlandi, S., Probo, M., Sitzia, T., Trentanovi, G., Garbarino, M., Lombardi, G, Lonati, M., 2016.

Environmental and land use determinants of grassland patch diversity in the western and eastern Alps

under agro-pastoral abandonment. Biodivers Conserv 25, 275–293. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-

016-1046-5




                                                                                                       40
Ortiz-Colín, P., Toledo-Aceves, T., López-Barrera, F., Gerez-Fernández, P., 2017. Can traditional

selective   logging   secure    tree   regeneration     in    cloud   forest?   iForest   10,     369-375.

https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor1937-009


Oteng-Yeboah, A., Mutta, D., Byarugaba, D., Mala, W.A., 2012. Africa. In: Parrotta, J.A., Trosper, R.L.

(Eds.) Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge. Dordrecht: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-

007-2144-9_2


Panagopoulos, C.G., 1993. Olive knot disease in Greece. Bulletin OEPP 23, 417–422.


Pardo-de-Santayana, M., Morales, R., Aceituno-Mata, L., Molina, M. (Eds.), 2014. Inventario Español

de los Conocimientos Tradicionales relativos a la Biodiversidad. Ministerio de Agricultura,

Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, Madrid.


Parrotta, J.A., Agnoletti, M., 2007. Traditional forest knowledge: Challeges and opportunities. For.

Ecol. Manage. 249, 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2007.05.022


Parrotta, J.A., Trosper, R.L. (Eds.), 2012. Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge. Dordrecht: Springer.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-2144-9


Plieninger, T., Draux, H., Fagerholm, N., Bieling, C., Bürgi, M., Kizos, T., Kuemmerle, T., Primdahl, J.,

Verburg, P.H., 2016. The driving forces of landscape change in Europe: A systematic review of the

evidence. Land Use Pol. 57, 204–214. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2016.04.040


Porter-Bolland, L., Ellis, E.A., Guariguata, M.R., Ruiz-Mallén, I., Negrete-Yankelevich, S., Reyes-

García, V., 2012. Community managed forests and forest protected areas: An assessment of their

conservation    effectiveness     across    the    tropics.    For.   Ecol.     Manage.    268,     6–17.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2011.05.034


Rescia, J.A., Pons, A., Lomba, I., Esteban, C., Dover, J.W., 2008. Reformulating the social-ecological

system in a cultural rural mountain landscape in the Picos de Europa region (northern Spain). Landsc

Urban Plan 88, 23–33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.08.001


Riseth, J.Å., 2007. An indigenous perspective on national parks and Sámi reindeer management in

Norway. Geogr. Res. 45 (2), 177–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2007.00449.x




                                                                                                       41
Rotherham, I.D. (Ed.) 2013. Cultural Severance and the Environment. Dordrecht: Springer.

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6159-9


Savill, P., 2015. High forest management and the rise of even-aged stands. In: Kirby, K.J., Watkins,

C. (Eds.) Europe’s Changing Woods and Forests: From Wildwood to Managed Landscapes. UK: CABI.


Seijo, F., Millington, J.D.A., Gray, R., Sanz, V., Lozano, J., García-Serrano, F., Sangüesa-Barreda,

G., Camarero, J.J., 2015. Forgetting fire: Traditional fire knowledge in two chestnut forest ecosystems

of the Iberian Peninsula and its implications for European fire management policy. Land Use Pol. 47,

130–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.03.006


Sight, A.K., 2014. Traditional beekeeping shows great promises for endangered indigenous bee Apis

cerana. INDIAN J TRADIT KNOW 13 (3), 582–588.


Sreevani, P., 2018. Wood as a renewable source of energy and future fuel. AIP Conference

Proceedings, 1992(1), 040007-1-040007-3. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5047972


Stoner, K.T.J., Joern, A., 2004. Landscape vs. Local Habitat Scale Influences to Insect Communities

from      Tallgrass     Prairie    Remnants.        Ecological    Applications     14    (5),        1306–1320.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4493652.


Stupak, I., Raulund-Rasmussen, K., 2016. Historical, ecological, and governance aspects of intensive

forest     biomass      harvesting     in     Denmark.     WIREs      Energy       Environ      5,     588–610.

https://doi.org/10.1002/wene.206


Torné-Noguera, A., Rodrigo, A., Osorio, S., Bosch, J., 2016. Collateral effects of beekeeping: Impacts

on pollen-nectar resources and wild bee communities. Basic Appl Ecol 17, 199–209.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2015.11.004


Valasiuk, S., Giergiczny, M., Żylicz, T., Klimkowska, A., Angelstam, P., 2018. Conservation of

disappearing cultural landscape’s biodiversity: are people in Belarus willing to pay for wet grassland

restoration? Wetlands Ecol Manage 26, 943–960. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11273-018-9622-y


van Vliet, J., de Groot, H.L.F., Rietveld, P., Verburg, P.H., 2015. Manifestations and underlying drivers

of     agricultural   land   use     change    in    Europe.     Landsc.   Urban     Plann.     133,     24–36.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.09.001



                                                                                                            42
Varguese, A., Ticktin. T., Mandle, L., Nath, S., 2015. Assessing the Effects of Multiple Stressors on

the Recruitment of Fruit Harvested Trees in a Tropical Dry Forest, Western Ghats, India. PLoS One

10 (3), e0119634. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0119634


Vetaas, O.R., 1997. The effect of canopy disturbance on species richness in a central Himalayan oak

forest. Plant Ecology 132, 29-38.


Vidal-González, P., (ed.) 2014. Landscape Anthropology in European Protected Areas. Reports No.

44 University of Stavanger. Norway: University of Stavanger.


Viedma, O., Moity, N., Moreno, J.M., 2015. Changes in landscape fire-hazard during the second half

of the 20th century: Agriculture abandonment and the changing role of driving factors. Agric Ecosyst

Environ 207, 126–140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.04.011


Voth, A. National Parks and Rural Revelopment in Spain. In: Mose, I. (ed.) 2007. Protected Areas and

Regional Development in Europe. England: Ashgate Publishing Limited.




                                                                                                  43