Cecilia Arnaiz Schmitz

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid | UPM · Departamento de Ingeniería Civil: Transportes

Context The difficulty of analysing resilience and threshold responses to changing environmental drivers becomes evident in the social-ecological systems framework due to their inherent complexity. Research is needed to develop new tools able to deal with such challenges and determine potential thresholds for SES variables that primarily influence...

Context Multifunctional rural landscapes are social-ecological systems that represent a link between nature and culture. They are characterized by the conservation and protection of ecological processes, natural resources and biocultural diversity. The conservation of these landscapes is mainly based on the establishment of Protected Natural Areas...

L as vías pecuarias son caminos pastoriles indicadores de la funcionalidad del paisaje rural. Componentes esen-ciales de los paisajes rurales europeos, han estado vin-culadas durante siglos al desplazamiento estacional del ganado hacia zonas de diferente latitud (trashumancia) y altitud (trasterminancia) para el aprovechamiento óptimo del ciclo fen...

Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) are undervalued and poorly understood compared to other types of ecosystem services. The sociocultural preferences of the different actors who enjoy a landscape are intangible aspects of a complex evaluation. Landscape photographs available on social media have opened up the possibility of quantifying landscape val...

European rural landscapes contain high nature value farmlands that, in addition to being the main economic activity in many rural areas, host habitats and species of great conservation value. The maintenance of these farming systems largely depends on traditional ecological knowledge and the rural lifestyles of the local populations. However, they...

Land management focused from the social-ecological perspective of ecosystem services should consider cultural services in decision-making processes. Nature-based tourism offers a great potential for landscape conservation, local development and the well-being of human populations. However, the subjectivity of recreational ecosystem services has mea...

The expansion of urban areas around the world and the application of the sustainability paradigm to tourism discourses has favored an increase in the number of people visiting natural protected areas (NPAs) in their leisure time. While tourism is desired to boost the economy of destinations, mismanagement can bring negative consequences for social-...

Landscape conservation efforts in many European countries focus on cultural landscapes, which are part of the cultural identity of people, have a great heritage significance, improve the living standards of local populations and provide valuable cultural biodiversity. However, despite a wide arrange of protective measures, the management of preserv...

In the Pampean region of Argentina, uncultivated areas with spontaneous vegetation, such as the sierras (low hills), are important sites for nature conservation. In the last decades, the “agriculturization” process has generated different pressures on these areas and their fate depends on farmers' decision making. In order to understand the context...

This paper describes the relationship between the landscape and the socio-economic and political characteristics of a highly biodiverse Andean region of Colombia, which is now recovering from the socio-ecological impact of protracted armed conflict. We quantify the current spatial relationship between nature and society, and we include legacy effec...

The authors would like to make the following corrections to their published paper [...]

Context Urban–rural gradients provide a suitable framework for studying the provision of urban and rural ecosystem services (ES), linked to social welfare. Landscape structure (LS) changes along urban–rural gradients but our understanding of the effects of LS on ES remains at an early stage. Objectives We have quantified the relationship between c...

Rural cultural landscapes are social–ecological systems that have been shaped by traditional human land uses in a co-evolution process between nature and culture. Protected areas should be an effective way to protect cultural landscapes and support the way of life and the economy of the local population. However, nature conservation policymaking pr...

Urbanization is one of the most important drivers of change worldwide, with the fastest pace happening in Latin America, impacting negatively on biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES). In this study we evaluated the effects of past and future land cover changes in ES, ecosystem disservices (EdS) and biodiversity, in a case study in the Barranquil...

As most of Europe’s metropolitan landscapes grow, a change is occurring in their surrounding rural environment. The consequences thereof mainly involve losses of traditional land uses and changes in the socioecomic structures of the local population. The lack of coupling ‘urban society-countryside’ can be considered to constitute a driving force of...

In the last decade, probably in response to global changes and the environmental crisis, the use of the term “social-ecological system” (SES) in scientific literature has grown. This is certainly a sign that the need and importance of transdisciplinary research has been recognized. Here, we explore whether the use of the term is a buzzword or, rath...

In the last decade, probably in response to global changes and environmental crisis, the use of the term “social-ecological system” (SES) in the scientific literature has been growing. This is certainly a sign of the recognition of the need and importance of transdisciplinary research. Here, we explore whether the use of the term is a buzzword, or...

Traditional rural landscapes host a biocultural heritage acquired by rural societies, developed in a secular adaptation with nature. Hedgerows play a key role in preserving biocultural diversity and associated ecosystem services. Despite their benefits, in some European regions inappropriate hedge management has led to a drastic degradation of hedg...

The development of cultural tourism has turned traditional rural landscapes, characterized by their great natural and cultural values, into focus of tourism attraction, causing important changes in the socio-economic structure of the regions containing them. The enhancement of this tourism highlights the need to design and implement a sustainable m...

Socio-ecological systems maintain reciprocal interactions between biophysical and socioeconomic structures. As a result of these interactions key essential services for society emerge. Urban expansion is a direct driver of land change and cause serious shifts in socio-ecological relationships and the associated lifestyles. The framework of rural-ur...

This paper analyses the interdependence between environment and society in terms of socio-ecological webs, in which human and biophysical systems are linked. A quantitative model, based on canonical correlation analysis applied in Fuerteventura Island (Canary Archipelago), detected indicators of human landscape relationships and predicted potential...

Hedgerows are key features in agricultural landscapes performing diverse functions that are both economically and ecologically significant. Here, we quantify how the characteristics of a relict hedgerow network of a Spanish cultural landscape (Guadarrama mountains in the north of Madrid region) have changed over a single decade both inside and outs...

We present a work developed in the Lozoya Valley, an area included into the list of Cultural Landscapes developed by IPCE, due to its highly valuable patrimonial characteristics. The study area combines sites of high naturalistic value with others that have been intensively transformed by humans throughout history. The traditional management of nat...

We present a work developed in the Lozoya Valley, an area included into the list of Cultural Landscapes developed by IPCE, due to its highly valuable patrimonial characteristics. The study area combines sites of high naturalistic value with others that have been intensively transformed by humans throughout history. The traditional management of nat...

We present a work developed in the Lozoya Valley, an area included into the list of Cultural Landscapes developed by IPCE, due to its highly valuable patrimonial characteristics. The study area combines sites of high naturalistic value with others that have been intensively transformed by humans throughout history. The traditional management of nat...