Ecosystem service assessment in European silvopastoral systems

Ecosystem service assessment in European silvopastoral systems

Mario Torralba e-mail: [email protected], tel.: +45 353 36782PhD student. Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management

Landscape Architecture & Planning

Do European agroforestry systems enhance biodiversityand ecosystem services? A meta-analysis

Mario Torralba, Nora Fagerholm, Paul J. Burgess, Gerardo Morenos, Tobias Plieninger 2015. (Submitted Manuscript, under review).

Landscape Architecture and Planning

Silvopastoral systems: : combination of trees with forage and animal production. Comprises woodland grazing and open forest trees

Picture source: AGFORWARD Flickr

INTRODUCTION

• Long history of land use• Result of a human gradual re-organization of the landscape• Important part od European-cultural-natural heritage• Deliver a wide variety of products, services and values• HNV systems

Picture source: AGFORWARD Flickr

INTRODUCTION

Second half XX Century. Change in the demand from European landscapes:- Biased through production.- Rural migration.- Mechanization- Simplification of agricultural processes- Direct profitability from silvopastoral systems is usually low.- Not recognized in nature conservation policies.

Agroforestry systems

INTENSIFICATION

ABANDONMENT

Homogenization of landscapes

INTRODUCTION


INTRODUCTION

Current Social demand has changed

New oportunities for silvopastoral systems

Provisioning Ecosystem Services

Supporting Ecosystem Services

Regulating Ecosystem Services

Cultural Ecosystem Services


MEASURE ES PROVISION Main hypothesis:- Silvopastoral systems deliver more ES than

equivalent tree-less systems.- ES provision will be different in different regions

with different social demands, bioclimatic conditions and land-use history.

1Comparisson of Silvopastoral vs. tree less pastures & abandonded silvopastoral systems

DETECT ES ASSOCIATIONS

IDENTIFY BUNDLES AND TRADEOFFS

Main hypothesis:- ES associations will be different in different

regions with different social demands, bioclimatic conditions and land-use history.

2- Comparisson ofSilvopastoral vs. tree less pastures & abandonded silvopastoral systems- Comparisson between different study areas

EXPLORE POTENTIAL DRIVERSMain hypothesis:- Intensity in the management, local backgrounds

and bioclimatic conditions (T and prec) are the main drivers.

3 - Comparisson between different study areas

Methodology framework

http://www.agforward.eu/index.php/en/home-redirect.html

AGFORWARD: AGroFORestry that Will Advance Rural Development

Grant 613520 from the European Commission (Project 398 AGFORWARD, 7th Framework Program)




Agroforestry is the practice of deliberately integrating woody vegetation (trees or shrubs) with crop and/or animal production systems to benefit from the resulting ecological and economic interactions

Silvopastoral systemsSilvoarable systems

Central hypothesis of agroforestry: integration of trees within agricultural systems results in a more efficient acquisition of resources, such as solar radiation, water and nutrients, that the agricultural system would otherwise not acquire (Cannell et al. 1996).

Graves et al., 2007 Ecological Engineering 29: 434-449


Research questions:1. Does European agroforestry enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services

relative to specialised agriculture or forestry?2. Which species groups and which categories of ecosystem services are most

supported by agroforestry?3. What differences arise between different kinds of agroforestry (i.e.

silvoarable systems, silvopastoral agroforestry)?



Review Protocol

Data search

Data extraction

Data analysis

Material and methods

Inclusion criteriaPublications which:- Compare agroforestry systems

with farmland/forestry.- European country- Quantitative ecosystem service

assessment based on primary data

Hedge’s g for biodiversity g = (µAF- µC)/s

Response ratios for ecosystem serviceslr = ln(µAF) - ln(µC). 53 Publications

365 Comparissons

Effect size (95% CI)

Provisioning

Biodiversity

All Groups

Supporting/Regulating

ResultsLandscape Architecture and Planning

Mediterranean vineyards

Mediterranean olive


Chestnut plantation

Intercropped walnut plantation

Intercropped chestnut plantation

Walnut plantation


Importance of the scale

French bocage Streubost

French pré-vergerSpanish dehesa


THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Ecosystem service assessment in European silvopastoral systems

Environment

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