Mapping ecosys em se ices in a Medi e anean wa e shed in he
con ex o socio-ecological es o a ion ac ions, adap a ion and
mi iga ion o Clima e Change
I xaso Ruiz1, João Pompeu1 and Ma ía J. Sanz1,2
1 Basque Cen e o Clima e Change (BC3), Leioa, Spain
2 Ike basque Founda ion - Basque Founda ion o Science, Bilbao, Spain
[email p o ec ed]
Abs ac . Human p ospe i y and well-being o Medi e anean wa e sheds a e unde pinned by hei
na u al capi al, which among o he s, p o ide clean wa e and mul i- unc ional landscapes, oday jeop-
a dized. His o ically, wa e demand o i iga ion and indus ial use, along wi h inc eased popula ion
densi y and land-use changes, has al e ed he landscape o Medi e anean basins. Mapping Ecosys em
Se ices (ES) he e, is hus key o unde s anding how basins depend on biodi e si y, he e ec s o
sho cu ing ES unc ions, and he consequences o i s socie ies. Based on land use da a and well-known
ela ionships be ween ES, oge he wi h key spa ial in o ma ion o managemen pu poses, we p o ide
maps o a Medi e anean wa e shed placed in Eas e n Spain and called El Mija es, aimed a aising
awa eness abou a eas o ecosys em goods and se ices o wa e shed s akeholde s. These ou pu s will
hen be used as he poin o depa u e om which o iden i y ES p io i ies and discuss po en ial ac ions
o p omo e ES wi h wa e shed s akeholde s, in a pa icipa o y way. Las ly and based on he p e ious
s eps, di e en socio-ecological models will be cons uc ed o assis ing local ac ions o sus ainable
use o El Mija es ES. The me hodology de eloped o El Mija es may be eplica ed in o he Medi e -
anean wa e sheds which ace simila challenges in wa e managemen and dese i ica ion. The up-
scaling o his pilo s udy may p omo e na u e conse a ion, clima e p o ec ion, and disas e isk educ-
ion in he Medi e anean by conside ing he scien i ic li e a u e and he know-how o he local socie-
ies.
Keywo ds: Wa e shed, Medi e anean, Ecosys em se ices, Spa ial in o ma ion, Sus ainable Land
Managemen .
1 In oduc ion
The Medi e anean basin cons i u es a clima ic ho spo whe e he esilience o i s ecosys ems and socie ies
is being a ec ed. This egion is wi nessing, among o he s, mo e uns able wea he pa e ns, a educ ion in
annual ain all, and a ise in ai empe a u e. Along wi h clima e change, inc eased popula ion densi y,
wa e demand, and land-use changes ha e al oge he al e ed he landscape and wa e cycle o he Medi e -
anean basin. He e, we p esen he case s udy o he Mija es wa e shed wi hin he Medi e anean basin,
which o e s an ideal en i onmen o s udying he challenges posed by managing Medi e anean wa e
esou ces. Fi s , because o he landscape he e ogenei y and wa e uses along he i e (Pompeu e al.,
2021). Second, because o he agile balance be ween a ailable wa e esou ces and wa e demands (CHJ,
2018). And las , because despi e i s ai ly egula low in he seasonal dis ibu ion, i egis e s bo h o en ial
loods and pe iodic d ough s ha challenge he planning and managemen o i s esou ces. In his con ex ,
we p opose Sus ainable Land Managemen (SLM) ac ions a he wa e shed scale o achie e clima e change
adap a ion and mi iga ion while p omo ing Ecosys em Se ices (ES) ha hinde wa e sca ci y, soil e osion,
and biodi e si y decline (Sanz e al., 2017). Thus, we seek he combina ion o se e al ac ions o achie e
egional (wa e shed scale) mo e in eg a ed app oaches. Wi h his s udy, we aim a p o ing ha SLM is a
success ul ool o s eng hening he unc ioning o ES in he u al Medi e anean a eas.
2 Me hods
El Mija es is a 4045 km² wa e shed loca ed on he Eas e n Spanish coas . In i , he i e ises in Sie a de
Gúda a 2000 m al i ude, and a e 156 km i lows in o he Medi e anean Sea h ough he coas al plain o
Cas ellón, in Valencia. The uppe and middle cou se o he i e uns embedded be ween ka s i ied lime-
s ones while in he lowe cou se, he i e accumula es qua e na y ma e ials om i s g ea lu ial an. I s
a e age annual empe a u es ange be ween 14 and 16.5ºC and he a e age annual ain all be ween 300 and
750 mm. Fo his wa e shed, we i s gene a ed a Land Use and Land Co e map (LULC) wi h 30 me e s
o spa ial esolu ion (Fig. 1a), based on samples om CORINE maps (Pompeu e al., 2021). The samples
we e ex ac ed om ep esen a i e pa ches o no land co e changes in he i e CORINE ime- ames
(1990, 2000, 2006, 2012 and 2018), and e alua ed wi h ield wo k da a and high- esolu ion Google Ea h
image y. We hen used he Random Fo es algo i hm o classi y all a ailable Landsa -8/OLI image y om
2018, whose a iables we e he spec o- empo al (summe /win e ) adiome ic indices and phenological
me ics de i ed om cloud-masked (Fmask) dense EVI (Enhanced Vege a ion Index) ime se ies, as de-
sc ibed in de ail in Bendini e al. (2019).
Nex , we used he LULC map as an inpu pa ame e in ARIES (A i icial In elligence o En i onmen
& Sus ainabili y), an in eg a ed modeling ool ha combines expe ise om speci ic disciplines and as-
sesses ade-o s and scena ios o mul iple ES (ARIES Homepage). Because i ope a es in a cloud-based
en i onmen whe e da a and new models a e con inuously sha ed by expe s on he ield, he a ailabili y
o ES models i o El Mija es add esses a ying sys ems wi hin he wa e shed. The ARIES ool has he
capaci y o in eg a e scien i ic da a and models ha simula e and in eg a e en i onmen al and socio-eco-
nomic sys ems. In addi ion, ARIES uses a i icial in elligence o choose he bes pa ame e s and da a o
he models cu en ly a ailable in he pla o m, conside ing he spa ial esolu ion and he con ex ( ime and
space) in which he models will be applied (ARIES homepage). In ou con ex , we used ou LULC map as
he only manual inpu and he bes da a o eed he models we e au oma ically selec ed by he ARIES
engine.
Fo his p esen a ion, we ha e selec ed wo soil- ela ed ES o he o e all wa e shed: he amoun o o -
ganic ca bon s o ed om he opsoil up o 200 cm dep h, and he soil e ained due o ege a ion co e . The
Soil O ganic Ca bon (SOC) model includes he spa ially explici da a by ISRIC (ISRIC Homepage). The
soil e en ion due o he ege a ion co e model is an implemen a ion o he commonly used Re ised Uni-
e sal Soil Loss Equa ion (RUSLE) (Rena d e al., 1997), which calcula es he RULSE using he exis ing
land co e and hen changing all land o ba e soil. The ad an age o using ARIES in such a local con ex ,
is he abili y o he pla o m o deal wi h he bes a ailable in o ma ion o un he model a he landscape
scale (ARIES homepage).
3 Resul s
The wa e shed land co e (%) is shown in Figu e 1a, along wi h he amoun o SOC (Figu e 1b) and soil
e ained due o ege a ion co e ( ones/hec a e /yea ) (Figu e 1c). These ou comes show ha he highe
sha es o land ypes wi hin El Mija es a e o es s (41.3%) and he baceous ege a ion a eas (38.4%). Addi-
ionally, hese wo land ypes, p o ide he highes SOC and he highes soil e en ion capaci y, indica ing
ha SLM in o es s and he baceous ege a ion a eas should be u he explo ed o p o ec and p omo e ES
ela ed o ca bon s o age and soil p o ec ion in he wa e shed (Table 1).
Fig. 1. (a) Landsa -based LULC om El Mija es (% o LU in he wa e shed), (b) Soil O ganic Ca bon s o age model
applied o El Mija es ( ones/hec a e/yea ), (c) Soil e en ion due o ege a ion co e model applied o El Mija es ( ones/
hec a e/yea ).
Table 1. LULC (%), SOC (million ons pe hec a e pe yea ), and soil e ained due o ege a ion co e (million ons
pe hec a e pe yea ), pe land ype.
Land ype
LU (%)
SOC (M on)
Soil e en ion (M on)
A i icial su ace
Non-i iga ed a able land
Pe manen ly i iga ed a able land
F ui and Be y Plan a ion
Oli e G o e
B oadlea o es
Coni e ous o es
Mixed o es
G assland
Scle ophyllous ege a ion
T ansi ional woodland-sc ub
Beach, dune and sand
Wa e body
1.6
6.2
2.0
4.8
4.3
8.3
16
17
9.4
17
12
1.2
0.2
1.11
6.78
2.34
5.52
4.79
8.19
20.10
21.53
11.69
21.77
15.76
1.31
0
0.37
7.2
3.2
6.4
3.62
38.62
156.66
127.48
41.23
78.77
67.78
0.45
0
To al
100
120,89
531,78
(a)
(b) (c)
4 Discussion
These esul s, which highligh he po en ial o applying SLM measu es ha p omo e SOC s o age and soil
e en ion wi hin he wa e shed, ha e been used as he poin o depa u e om which o iden i y ES bench-
ma ks and u u e scena ios and p io i ies o po en ial ac ions (SLM p ac ices) o sho cu he e ec s o
landscape deg ada ion and wa e sca ci y wi h a se o key wa e shed s akeholde s. To do so, we will in-
co po a e he knowledge and p e e ences on ES and SLM ac ions o ele an s akeholde s om he wa e -
shed in o he ES maps and model di e se socio-ecological scena ios. By in eg a ing his bo om-up ap-
p oach we aim a acili a ing decision-making owa d mo e in eg a ed and sus ainable land managemen in
he Mija es. This p ocess o public pa icipa ion is possible as he egional go e nmen o Valencia a i ied
i s in e es and commi men o pa icipa e in he p ojec . Wi h his me hodology, we u he plan o c oss
ou LULC map wi h o he ES models a ailable in he ARIES pla o m (e.g. ne alue o pollina ion), inpu
be e esolu ion da a, and eadjus pa ame e s o he used models o be e i he con ex o he Mija es.
5 Conclusions
SLM ac ions ha p omo e ca bon s o age and soil e en ion appea as he mos e ec i e ools o s eng h-
ening he unc ioning o se e al Ecosys em Se ices (ES) in he Mija es gi en he la ge ex en o o es s
(41.3%) and he baceous ege a ion a eas (38.4%) wi hin he wa e shed. F om hese esul s, he selec ion
o SLM ac ions o be pu in place will be he esul o an in e disciplina y engagemen ha includes scien-
i ic esea ch, he use o a i icial in elligence, and he collabo a ion wi h key s akeholde s o he wa e shed.
Re e ences
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