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| Titel |
Forest land suitability in a Mediterranean area under climate change scenarios |
| VerfasserIn |
Miriam Muñoz-Rojas, Maria Anaya-Romero, Sameh Kotb Abd-Elmabod, Diego De la Rosa |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2013
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 15 (2013) |
| Datensatznummer |
250073112
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| Zusammenfassung |
| As a consequence of the increasing level of atmospheric CO2 and air temperatures, global
climate is changing leading to warmer and often drier conditions in many forest
ecosystems. The Mediterranean area is particularly vulnerable to climate change as a
result of a combination of environmental and human factors. An adequate forest
management is associated to improvement of habitat suitability for soil and water quality,
climate regulation and other important ecosystem services. The MicroLEIS decision
support system (MicroLEIS DSS), through its 12 land evaluation models, is a useful
tool to assist decision-makers with specific agro-ecological problems. Among the
land evaluation models, Sierra was specifically designed to assess forestry land
suitability for restoration of semi-natural habitats in marginal agricultural lands. This
model selects up to 22 forest species adapted to Mediterranean conditions based on
latitude, longitude, physiographic position, useful depth, texture, drainage, pH,
summer and winter temperatures, and precipitation. In this research, Sierra model was
applied in 35 benchmark sites representative of the natural regions (NUTS2) of
a Mediterranean area (Andalusia, Southern Spain) in current and future climate
scenarios for the A1B IPPC SRES (Special Report on Emission Scenarios) and
the periods 2040, 2070 and 2100. Data was obtained from SEISnet soil database,
CDBm climate database and the future climate change variation values of the State
Meteorological Agency. The results showed that Pinus Pinea, Pinus halepensis, Quercus Ilex
and Quercus suber are the most suitable forest species in actual and future climate
scenarios for the selected marginal lands, according to the tolerance ranges for standard
soil and climate variables of the forest species. Various forest species showed a
potential aptitude for reforestation in future climate scenarios (i.e. Quercus), whereas
others such as Castanea Sativa will not be suitable in the study area in 2070 and
2100. The methodology applied in this study can be used in other Mediterranean
areas with available data on soil, site and climate factors. This study might help
decision-makers to establish and improve polices for climate adaptation of forest ecosystems
(UN-REDD and REDD+) and to facilitate the implementation of European plans such
as the EU Forest Strategy, the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy and the Soil Thematic
Strategy.
Keywords: Ecosystem services, MicroLEIS DSS, global change, forest policies, climate
regulation, land suitability. |
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