Federico Fillat

Spanish National Research Council | CSIC · Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología

Summary: The sustainability of the mountain livestock farms is limited by the available area of meadows and pastures, their altitudinal dispersion, their topography and the possibilities of irrigation. To analyze the relationship of these factors with the current size of the herds of San Juan de Plan (Pyrenees of Huesca) we characterized all the fa...

Some general features of rocks, climate and vegetation of ‘Ordesa y Monte Perdido’ National Park are summarized and, additionally, we present the localization of the different municipalities included in the Park. We compare the general historic livestock utilization with data of two particular pasture areas in 1992 and during the following years to...

A summarizing description of the main characteristics of the Mediterranean grasslands and their management are described

General description according to management systems and ecological conditions

The main changes that have occurred in the municipality of San Juan de Plan in the last few decades (1980-2016) were studied. At the landscape scale, there was a moderate increase (over 20% in 60 years) in forest and scrubland, the disappearance of smaller plots (<0,5 ha) and a sharp increase in plots of more than 10 ha. At the plot scale, the disa...

Ecosystem management is a difficult task because it must conciliate the ecological, economic, and social dimensions of socioecological systems. In those systems, the action of any single component can have an effect on the others and result in a critical impact on the organization of the entire system. This study examined the collaboration networks...

Over the last decades, global changes have altered the structure and properties of natural and semi-natural mountain grasslands. Those changes have contributed to grassland loss mainly through colonization by woody species at low elevations, and increases in biomass and greenness at high elevations. Nevertheless, the interactions between agropastor...

Spatial distribution of the connectivity loss in the grasslands of the agropastoral systems in the Central Pyrenees, Spain. White lines in each map represent the boundaries of the summer pasture units (SPU): a) dense grassland size (ordinal values in brackets are the values used in the SEM models) and the proportion (%) of the vegetation cover excl...

Spatial distribution of the social component of the agropastoral systems in the Central Pyrenees, Spain. White lines in each map represent the boundaries of the summer pasture units (SPU) (values used in the SEM models are indicated in brackets). (TIF)

Spatial distribution of the environmental component of the agropastoral systems in the Central Pyrenees, Spain. White lines in each map represent the boundaries of the summer pasture units (SPU) (values used in the SEM models are indicated in brackets). (TIF)

Spatial distribution of the economic component of the agropastoral systems in the Central Pyrenees, Spain. White lines in each map represent the boundaries of the summer pasture units (SPU) (values used in the SEM models are indicated in brackets). (TIF)

Spatial distribution of the geolocation component of the agropastoral systems in the Central Pyrenees, Spain. White lines in each map represent the boundaries of the summer pasture units (SPU). Average distance from the SPU to buildings, towns, roads, and woody plant communities. (TIF)

Spatial distribution of the grassland component of the agropastoral systems in the Central Pyrenees, Spain. White lines in each map represent the boundaries of the summer pasture units (SPU): current livestock pressure (a, c) and change (%) in the number of livestock head between the 1930s and the 2000s (b, d) for sheep and goats (a, b) and cattle...

The Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park and the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology (CSIC) recently joined the Spanish LTER network. As part of our strategy to understand recent changes in this protected area, we are carrying out a number of projects to evaluate changes at different spatiotemporal scales, using a variety of methods and approaches. We...

Due to the progressive forest expansion in European mountain areas triggered by agricultural abandonment, semi-natural meadows and pastures of great ecological and aesthetic value are disappearing. The aim of this study is to predict and analyse the future evolution of land use and land cover (LULC) in the Stubai Valley, Central Alps. We propose a...

Los espacios protegidos, por el hecho de albergar una gran geo-biodiversidad y asegurar una baja intervención humana, constituyen lugares muy adecuados para el seguimiento de organismos y procesos a escala ecológica, así como para la obtención de series temporales largas a escala geológica. En el marco de la red LTER-España, el Parque Nacional de O...

The Spanish National Ecosystem Assessment (SNEA), supported by the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Environment, is the first analysis conducted on the status and trends of ecosystem services in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems of Spain. The results of the SNEA are expected to help build bridges between interdisciplinary scientific know...

There is a growing need to develop, teach, and apply successful problem-solving and interdisciplinary approaches on environmental sciences education. Some of most effective learning activities are fieldwork, although sites to be visited have to be carefully selected to reduce time and expenses as well as to take account of safety concerns. That is...

SUMMARY: The interest in plants silicon content, especially in grasses, has become relevant in the last years given its role in the protection against different pathogens and in the increase of resistance facing diverse kinds of stresses both biotic and abiotic. The present study has been carried out with 11 species (10 grasses and 1 Carex) widely...

The 11th Conference of the Spanish Association of Terrestrial Ecology, held in Pamplona, Spain, on 6–10 May 2013, included a symposium on alpine ecological research in the Iberian Peninsula. This session offered an excellent opportunity to assess the state and progress of alpine ecology in this region, identify knowledge gaps, and discuss further d...

Observations of environmental change by local resource users may be an important source of information about past and current environmental conditions to complement scientific studies and monitoring. In this exploratory, qualitative study, we documented observations of environmental change made by 27 stockmen in the two westernmost valleys of the C...

Pastoral production systems in the Spanish Pyrenees have changed dramatically in recent decades, leading to the loss of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK). We documented TEK of pastoralists from two valleys in the western Central Pyrenees of Aragón and explored its potential applications to resource management and adaptation. Pyrenean pastorali...

The knowledge on biological processes, their functioning and involved variables is increasing constantly. To define a model as close to reality as possible, it is helpful to use the newly acquired knowledge simultaneously in independent works. Like this the modelling of behavioural processes in different possible scenarios is enabled. In the last y...

La esparceta en los climas continentales pirenaicos PEDRO MONTSERRAT RECODER y FEDERICO FILLAT ESTAQUE Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología. Aptdo. 64. Jaca (Huesca). RESUMEN Conceptos clave: Adaptación ecotípica, fotorrespiración, con-tinentalidades, ef. foehn y Venturi, esparcetas de pasto, esparceta contra la soli fluxión. Conservación-explotación na...

La biodiversidad es esencial para la supervivencia del ser humano en la Tierra. Del buen funcionamiento de los ecosistemas acuáticos y terrestres españoles y de la biodiversidad que albergan, depende en buena medida el futuro social, cultural y económico de la población, ya que constituyen el capital natural de nuestro país. El bienestar humano en...

The general human population trend in Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (OMPNP) during the second half of the XX century has been its migration from the villages to the big nearest industrialized cities. Consequently, livestock pressure declined, leading to the invasion of woody species into the grasslands. Nevertheless, if grasslands have not...

RESUMEN Se estudió el pastoreo con asnos (60 adultos, de febrero a junio de 2008) en una zona repoblada de Pinus nigra (53,7 ha,) en el Pirineo de Huesca (España). Mediante 50 transectos al azar de 50 metros de largo y 2 de ancho se analizó la vegetación de la zona, cuantificando también las especies que estaban ramoneadas. Se correlacionaron todas...

7 págs.-- Comunicación presentada a la XLV Reunión Científica de la Sociedad Española para el Estudio de los Pastos: "Producciones agroganaderas: gestión eficiente y conservación del medio natural" (Gijón, 28 de mayo al 3 de junio de 2005). [ES] La evolución reciente en los pastos de verano del Pirineo lleva a la desaparición de los vaqueros. El pa...

Livestock management may be an important variable controlling the distribution of soil chemistry in grazed summer pastures. Flocks congregate in some areas, produce spatial segregation of excretion. The study goal was to quantify the temporal variation (at the beginning and end of a summer grazing period) and the spatial variation in soil chemical...

Plant chemical contents (protein, lignin and others) were significantly related to the proportions of grasses, legumes and other plants; so, the protein content is positively correlated with legumes plant biomass while lignin content is negatively correlated with grasses. Both plant and soil nutrients increased linearly towards the centre of the ca...

Muchas veces hemos echado en falta una obra que describiera el sistema pastoral del Pirineo de forma más o menos global y de paso recopilara cierta información procedente de ese marco geográfico, que en parte permanecía inédita y en parte resultaba difícilmente accesible para muchas personas interesadas en los pastos. Con esta idea se han elaborado...

Grasslands occupy near three quarters of the supraforestal surface (on the alpine and subalpine belts) of the Ordesa and Monte Perdido National Park (PNOMP). This mountain ecosystem is made up by an outstanding number of plant species and communities and, furthermore, it constitutes a visibly stamp on the high mountain landscape. These types of gra...

THE STUDIES OF THE SAN JUAN DE PLAN MEADOWS (HUESCA) WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE AGROECOSYSTEM CONCEPT OF PEDRO MONTSERRAT. The main contributions achieved by studies conducted in the San Juan de Plan meadows (Huesca) from 1984 to 1990 according to P. Montserrat ideas are assembled in four sections under the title Agroecosystems. 1- A complex stock...

Considering benefits caused by earthworm’s activity on the productivity of mountain meadows, the aims of the present work are: (a) to determine the number of earthworm’s genera present; (b) to estimate their density and (c) to test the hypothesis that the earthworm’s number is related with soil characteristics. Two earthworm’s genera were identifie...

Soil seed bank composition and vegetative spatial patterns were studied in four mountain meadow communities in the Broto Valley (N. Spain), in order to analyse the differences that might exists between the two life forms. Soil and vegetation samples were taken at 1m intervals from 10m × 10m quadrats in each meadow in one-year study. The spatial dis...

The mean surface per meadow is 24.18 ± 16.21 ha (308 UM = 290.13 ha of meadow, controlled by 12 farmers) (see Figure 1). During these two years were fertilized 62 % of UM (= 56 % of meadow surface); irrigated 12 % of UM (= 11% of meadows); cut for hay 72 % of UM (= 62 % of meadow surfaces); grazed 87 % of UM (= 91 % of meadows). These results summa...

The cutting is the main management technique influencing the diversity and botanic composition of the meadows of the central Spanish Pyrenees. The fertilization is the second important factor, but in our conditions the influences are not very important because the lowquantities supplied. The irrigation not affects the diminution of the number of sp...

Poster explaining how vegetation is mediated by traditional grazing activities, within a National Park in the Pyrenees.

From the new paradigm of ecology, the herdsman and his livestock are considered as another component of the natural dynamics of the ecosystem itself and therefore the temporal sequence and intensity of the grazing conditions the changes among the involved plant communities. The contributions of fertility, trampling and the herbivory itself prioriti...

The recent evolution of the Pyrenean summer pastures is going to the herdsman disappearance. The free grazing of cows in every unit follows a temporal sequence conditioned by several factors (volume of plant supply, plant development phase) interoperating with the daily rhythms (resting zones, water points) and with the plant community. These behav...

The typical medieval agricultural open field organisation was found in the Gistain Valley (Spanish Pyrenees) in 1980 as a residual technique preserved in those mountain conditions. Controlling different seasonal farmer activities of near 300 plots, by direct observation and active discussions with the owners and taken panoramic pictures form a neig...

The soil seed bank of four mountain meadow communities subjected to different degrees of agricultural management intensities was studied in the Fragen area of the Central Spanish Pyrenees. The grass-producing communities originating from former cereal crops have remained rich in floristic terms to the present day. The effects of different agricultu...

Animal distribution on Spanish Pyrenean summer pastures is related closely to midday and night resting areas. In these sites, we find the coincidence of eutrophic and mesophyte plants and these can occur in both central and peripheral situations in the resting areas. Our objective is to understand the soil characteristics influencing these vegetati...

One of the most important factors in determining the floristic composition of Pyrenean hay meadows is utilisation of hay and pasture in relation to seasonal changes; this composition can be described by the ecological indices developed by Ellenberg (Ellenberg, 1994). The purpose of this paper is to establish correlations between the floristic compo...

Topographic characteristics (altitude asl, size, slope and exposure) in two meadowlands of the Central Spanish Pyrenees were analysed. The management consists of only grazing (without irrigation) or mowing and grazing (with or without irrigation). Grazing animals are cows and sheep but cattle are the more important. The preliminary results suggest...

20th General Meeting of European Grassland Federation, Póster (2004)

Topographic characteristics (altitude asl, size, slope and exposure) in two meadowlands of the Central Spanish Pyrenees were analysed. The management consists of only grazing (without irrigation) or mowing and grazing (with or without irrigation). Grazing animals are cows and sheep but cattle are the more important. The preliminary results suggest...

To determinate the differences between the six groups of meadows classified we analyze the distribution of six Plant Traits in response to disturbance summer flowering period, perennial and hemicriptophytes are the general characteristics, but analyzing the particular characteristics in each group will determine the differences between the groups a...

Los prados y pastos del Pirineo se pueden considerar comunidades herbáceas seminaturales a las que es posible aplicar formas de producción futura que se compaginen con la conservación. Diversos organismos internacionales, europeos, y los gobiernos autonómicos españoles las consideran comunidades interesantes bajo este doble aspecto. Los estudios de...

A total of six groups based on a TWINSPAN classification of 255 meadows of the Aragon’s Pyrenees was made. Correlations between the botanical composition and both Ellenberg index and diversity index were established by a correspondence analyse (DCA) to characterize the groups. Only three of the six groups are typical hay meadows with abundant prese...

The Natural Protected Areas are situated on territories inhabited by local populations which exercise a particular land uses and, in the majority of the cases, they have determined their configuration and environmental values. This contribution pretends to justify the need of the Social Participation in the elaboration of Rural Projects related, in...

Le pastoralisme semi-extensif dans les estives des Pyrénées de Huesca possède les caractéristiques typiques des autres montagnes européennes : calendrier saisonnier de transhumance et organisation communautaire. Cette ancienne tradition, d'origine médiévale, a connu une évolution rapide dans les dernières décennies et des initiatives récentes ont é...

Se estudia la variación estacional del banco de semillas del suelo de un prado de siega en la zona de Fragen (Pirineos Centrales). Para ello se tomaron muestras de suelo en dos momentos muy significativos en la dinámica de la vegetación del prado, como son la parada invemal y el primer corte de la hierba. Tras un proceso de reducción, fueron puesta...

A comparison was made between two fattening systems. One group grazed during the summer and they were then fattened indoors on a concentrate diet. The other group was fattenend after weaning all the time indoors with the same concentrate. The bulls are Brown Swiss, F1 Charolais ´ Brown Swiss and F1 Limousine ´ Brown Swiss. A monthly weight control...

Tradicionalmente, las áreas pastorales del Pirineo han constituido la base de la economía local, albergando además una parte importante de su valor paisajístico y de su riqueza biológica. Los cambios de uso de muchas de estas áreas, a veces amparadas por figuras de protección, dan lugar a numerosos interrogantes. Ello se debe a que, a diferencia de...

The possible differences between the 1st cut, 2d cut and autumnal grazing period are studied through the mineral analysis of meadows. In four valleys: Aisa, Tena, Broto and Benasque, 80 squares of 1 m2 were cut between June and October (33 for the first cut; 15 for the second and 32 for the autumnal grazing period). Their chemistry composition was...

The work suggests an approximation to the study of the animal movement and the space management, in this case the grazing zone. The animals use a big part of the energy that obtain from the vegetation moving in the space. The study of that movements can tell us about how is spent this energy. For that, the movement of ten animals was studied during...

The stocking rate supported by the summer pastures of the high part of the Sorrosal ravine (Broto Valley, Huesca province) is studied. The surface is more than 1,000 hectares and the study period were July 2000. According to the geomorphologic unities, a sampling design of nine areas, with three squares of 0,25 m2 cut in each one, was made. A flori...