RT info:eu-repo/semantics/article
T1 250-Year reconstruction of pollarding events reveals sharp management changes in Iberian ash woodlands
A1 Candel Pérez, David
A1 Hernández Alonso, Héctor
A1 Castro, Federico
A1 Sangüesa Barreda, Gabriel
A1 Mutke, Sven
A1 García Hidalgo, Miguel
A1 Rozas Ortiz, Vicente Fernando
A1 Olano Mendoza, José Miguel
K1 Dendrochronology
K1 Fraxinus angustifolia
K1 Pollarding
K1 Agroforestry system
K1 Traditional management
K1 31 Ciencias Agrarias
K1 3106 Ciencia Forestal
AB Tree pollarding was a dominant management strategy of European forests for centuries creating open agroforestry landscapes with important cultural and environmental values. This traditional practice has been widely abandoned in last decades with a subsequent impact in terms of biodiversity and cultural loss. Central Spain hosts the largest and best-preserved area of pollarded narrow-leaved ash (Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl.) woodlands in Europe. The main aim of this research is to obtain rigorous historical records of pollarding frequency to get adequate information for traditional ash management. We used dendrochronological techniques to evaluate temporal changes of pollarding frequency and rotation length. We analysed the stand level synchrony and the effect of land property on pollarding activity from 322 trees growing in eight pollard stands in Central Spain. Pollarding events were unequivocally identified at tree level by a characteristic change in growth pattern. We identified 2426 tree-level pruning events with the first event dated in 1777. Historical pruning recurrence ranged between 5 and 10 years with higher pollarding frequency on private lands. Pruning events within each site were synchronous, suggesting the existence of a rotational schema within each stand. Pruning frequency decreased drastically in the 1970s matching with the depopulation of rural areas and the general abandonment of traditional practices. Pollarding practices have recovered in recent decades although with lower intensity and lacking the synchronic historical patterns. Providing technical and economic support to make this traditional activity profitably would have strong environmental revenue due the multiple ecosystem services provided by pollarded ashes.
PB Springer
SN 0931-1890
YR 2022
FD 2022
LK https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/55969
UL https://uvadoc.uva.es/handle/10324/55969
LA eng
NO Trees, 2022.
NO Producción Científica
DS UVaDOC
RD 21-nov-2024