Change in landscape and ecosystems services as the basis of monitoring natural protected areas: a case study in the Picos de Europa National Park (Spain).

Services provided by protected areas (PAs) are based on their natural heritage, as stated in the conservation objectives, and many depend on their landscape, the spatial pattern of land cover patches. We study changes in the service provision of a PA based on its landscape changes. As services are defined according to the conservation objectives of the PA, this can be used in monitoring the PA conservation status. Using easily accessible historical land cover maps, landscape changes over time are identified and assessed according to changes in services provision, based on the PA conservation objectives. The PA under study is one of the oldest in Europe. Almost 80 years after its initial declaration, it was increased by incorporating surrounding areas. This helps to understand to what extent the oldest PA has conserved its environmental heritage, compared with what happened in the area most recently protected and not subjected to previous conservation regime. As expected in an area managed for conservation, changes in services in the older PA are small. But changes in the recently included area are also small and very similar to those ones. As change in ecosystem services are based on landscape changes, they do not relate only to the increase or decrease in the spatial distribution of single land covers but also on their joint spatial arrangement. This allows us to assess trade-offs among services provided by different land covers implied in landscape changes.

Effects of management on understory diversity in the forest ecosystems of northern Spain.

Pine plantations are an alternative to marginal agriculture in many countries, and are often presented as an option that improves biodiversity. However, these plantations can have adverse environmental effects if improperly managed. To evaluate the effect of forest management practices on biodiversity, the diversity, species richness, dominance and frequency of understory woody plant species in different forests of the Basque Country (northern Spain) were compared. Plantations of exotic conifers (Pinus radiata [D.] Don) of different ages were compared with deciduous forests of Quercus robur L. and Fagus sylvatica L. The effects of different types and intensities of management were taken into account. The differences observed were mainly conditioned by the intensity of forestry management, although the response varied according to forest type and age. In unmanaged pine plantations, the diversity and species richness of the understory increased rapidly after planting (while dominance decreased), remained stable in the intermediate age range, and reached a maximum in plantations more than 25 years of age. Management practices resulted in decreased understory diversity and species richness, as well as greater dominance. This was more pronounced in younger than in older stands. Moderate management, however, favored a greater diversity of the understory in deciduous forests. The species composition of the plantations and deciduous forests were different, the latter having a wider range of characteristic species. Knowledge of how forestry practices influence biodiversity (in terms of diversity, richness, dominance, and species composition) may allow predictions to be made about the diversity achievable with different management systems.