José Antonio González

• PhD in Biological Sciences
• Professor (Associate) at Autonomous University of Madrid

Agricultural intensification and reduced proximity to natural habitats and their associated resources negatively impact wild bee diversity. The Spanish network of drove roads, a series of traditional routes which have been maintained through the practice of transhumant grazing and livestock movements, plays a fundamental role in mitigating some of...

Context: The agricultural intensification due to global increased food demand has harmed pollinator communities worldwide. However, some of the economically most important oilseed crops, such as the sunflower, depend on pollinators to produce seeds. While self-fertile varieties have undergone genetic selection to guarantee productivity , the pollin...

In the context of global change, social-ecological perspectives for organisations and territorial planning schemes are key to facilitate a transition towards sustainability. Consequently, Ecosystem Services (ES) assessment and mapping are being increasingly used to enhance knowledge co-production for more sustainable territorial management. Higher...

The installation of flower strips in simplified agricultural landscapes has been promoted as a tool to improve pollination services. While the effectiveness of flower strips in increasing pollinator visitation and yield is well-established, the social and economic feasibility of this measure remains unclear. Here, we evaluated the economic efficien...

Agricultural intensification has strongly impacted ecosystems and accelerated the process of global change. Consequently, agroecological practices are being increasingly adopted. Agroecological practices are biodiversity-based solutions that aim to generate sustainable and resilient agroecosystems, which could enhance the supply of ecosystem servic...

Intensification of agricultural landscapes to fulfil increased global food demands has dramatically impacted biodiversity and ecosystem services. Several pollinator groups, which are vital for the maintenance of pollinator‐dependent crops, have been severely affected by this intensification process. Management tools, such as the implementation of a...

Protected areas (PAs) are the most effective tools to protect biodiversity and ecosystem services. They have proven to be effective in stopping extensive land use conversion in well-conserved terrestrial ecosystems. However, land cover changes around PAs threaten biodiversity and ecosystem services within their limits and reduce ecological connecti...

Seventy five percent of the world's food crops benefit from insect pollination. Hence, there has been increased interest in how global change drivers impact this critical ecosystem service. Because standardized data on crop pollination are rarely available, we are limited in our capacity to understand the variation in pollination benefits to crop y...

Installing patches of flowering plants is a commonly used strategy to enhance refuge and food resources for pollinators in intensive agricultural landscapes. Here, we evaluated how floral strips and semi-natural habitats impact the taxonomic and functional diversity of wild bees in intensively farmed sunflower fields. Pan traps were used to assess...

Land-use changes, especially urbanization, have largely impacted the capacity of ecosystems to deliver ecosystem services (ES) on which human wellbeing depends. The current sectorial landscape and territorial planning approaches that separately address protected areas and urban areas have proven ineffective in conserving biodiversity. To address th...

El presente documento, que pertenece a la Colección Dosieres Ecosociales, recoge textos publicados por FUHEM Ecosocial que abordan los efectos y consecuencias del cambio climático sobre la seguridad humana, el bienestar y la calidad de vida. Dividido en tres partes, la primera aborda cómo los impactos de los fenómenos climáticos extremos provocan q...

The way farmers perceive their relationship with the agricultural system affects the type of farm management implemented. Thus, it is fundamental to understand the needs, views, and motivations of farmers to integrate scientific knowledge more effectively in the day-to-day problems of farmers and foster the adoption of more sustainable practices. W...

Mediterranean cultural landscapes have been recognized as multifunctional landscapes that are currently threatened by two opposing trends: rural abandonment and agricultural intensification. Uncovering people’s perceptions of different landscape configurations, and how inhabitants value the contributions of nature to human wellbeing, is essential t...

Combining socio-cultural valuations of ecosystem services with ecological and monetary assessments is critical to informing decision making with an integrative and multi-pronged approach. This study examined differences in the perceptions of ecosystem service supply and diversity across eight major ecosystem types in Spain and scrutinized the socia...

Pollinator conservation has become a key challenge to achieve sustainable agricultural landscapes and safeguard food supplies. Considering the potential negative effects of pollinator decline, international efforts have been developed to promote agri-environmental measures and pollinator-friendly management practices. However, little effort has bee...

Cultural ecosystem services are gaining increasing attention in the scientific literature, despite the conceptual and methodological difficulties associated with their assessment. We used a participatory GIS method to map and assess three cultural ecosystem services, namely, (a) outdoor recreation, (b) aesthetic enjoyment, and (c) sense of place, i...

Keywords: InVEST Land use and land cover Protected areas Territorial planning Urban-rural gradient Urban sprawl A B S T R A C T Global trends in land-use changes, including urbanization and abandonment of rural areas, have important repercussions for the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ES). In this study, we assessed and mapped the supply...

Significance The failure to end hunger and the environmental deterioration underpinning food systems have prompted a paradigm shift around food security. We propose a social–ecological approach and carry out a quantitative analysis of 43 indicators of food sovereignty and 28 indicators of the sociodemographic, social wellbeing, and environmental su...

A thorough understanding of long-term temporal social-ecological dynamics at the national scale helps to explain the current condition of a country’s ecosystems and to support environmental policies to tackle future sustainability challenges. We aimedcto develop a methodological approach to understand past long-term (1960-2010) social-ecological dy...

A thorough understanding of long-term temporal social-ecological dynamics at the national scale helps to explain the current condition of a country's ecosystems and to support environmental policies to tackle future sustainability challenges. We aimed to develop a methodological approach to understand past long-term (1960-2010) social-ecological dy...

La conservación de la biodiversidad, es un gran desafío para nuestra sociedad por cuanto requiere importantes cambios sociales. Sin embargo, difícilmente se podrán impulsar dichos cambios sin un entendimiento de las dimensiones humanas de la conservación. Trabajar en dimensión humana de la conservación de la biodiversidad, significa destinar esfuer...

Current patterns of global change are threatening the supply of agrarian ecosystem services on which human well-being depends. Within this context, agroecology has emerged within political and scientific arenas as a socially equitable and ecologically sustainable alternative to conventional agriculture. We performed a systematic literature review t...

1. Agricultural intensification is one of the major drivers behind biodiversity loss in Mediterranean agroecosystems. The intensification of olive groves as monoculture in large areas of the southern Spain have had important effects on biodiversity and ecological processes. 2. We explore the olive grove soil management practices effects on taxonomi...

Comprender las relaciones complejas que existen entre los seres humanos y la naturaleza resulta esencial para favorecer un manejo sostenible de los ecosistemas. Bajo esta realidad, la presente ponencia explorará los factores socioculturales que influyen en el bienestar humano y en la percepción de los servicios de los ecosistemas en una región alto...

Urban growth is one of the major sustainability challenges due to its regional and planetary impacts. In the Colombian Caribbean, one of the most biodiverse places in the world, the Barranquilla Metropolitan Area (BMA) is the main urban agglomeration that has driven landscape transformation. We performed a historical analysis of human–nature relati...

The application of the ecosystem services (ES) framework in landscape planning has become particularly relevant in rural-urban gradients since it allows for the integration of the complex interactions between ES supply and demand. This framework might be a powerful tool to inform landscape planning and decision-making intended to maintain the curre...

Extensive range-based livestock production has suffered a sharp decrease in Mediterranean Spain in recent decades due to two opposing trends in land use: progressive abandonment of practices in marginal rural areas and land use intensification in more productive areas. In this study, we explored the visions of key stakeholders on the current and fu...

Mediterranean cultural landscapes are currently undergoing intense transformations, resulting in a polarization of land uses across an intensification-abandonment continuum. This transformation is characterized by uncertain and non-linear interactions and impacts on ecosystem services and human wellbeing. Our study focuses on a particular multifunc...

La evaluación de servicios ecosistémicos ha sido frecuentemente utilizada para respaldar las políticas de gestión ambiental, fundamentalmente en aquellos casos centrados en las técnicas biofísicas y económicas. Sin embargo, y pese a representar una prioridad de investigación, pocos estudios han abordado hasta la fecha la dimensión sociocultural de...

Understanding the responses of biodiversity to drivers of change and the effects of biodiversity on ecosystem properties and ecosystem services is a key challenge in the context of global environmental change. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of the scientific literature linking direct drivers of change and ecosystem services via...

At the end of the 20th and early 21st century, agricultural systems incorporated definitively a new mission: to generate goods for a world population that continues to grow and whose way of life demand food with low environmental impact. Soybean is the main raw material for the production of biodiesel in Brazil, accountably responsible for 82.4% of...

Natural and semi-natural habitats within agricultural landscapes provide food and nesting resources for wild bees, thus promoting crop pollination services. In central Spain, a large network of drove roads (DRs) crosses extensive areas of intensive agricultural fields. DRs are tracks (20–75 m wide) with semi-natural vegetation, protected for their...

Land-use change is the major driver of biodiversity loss. However, taxonomic diversity (TD) and functional diversity (FD) might respond differently to land-use change, and this response might also vary depending on the biotic group being analysed. In this study, we compare the TD and FD of four biotic groups (ants, birds, herbaceous, woody vegetati...

Si preguntásemos a las personas de a pie qué entienden por “cooperación al desarrollo”, lo más probable es que la mayoría nos respondiesen algo así como todo el conjunto de acciones que realizan los países desarrollados para ayudar a los países más pobres. El imaginario popular global entiende así que la cooperación internacional es algo positivo;...

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...

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...

The ecosystem services framework is receiving increasing attention in the fields of policy and research. The assessment of human attitudes and perceptions regarding ecosystem services has been proposed as a promising tool for addressing complex problems associated with environmental change, particularly in the context of cultural landscapes. Transh...

The ecosystem services approach has been proposed as a powerful tool for the analysis of coupled social-ecological systems. This approach is particularly useful for the evaluation of cultural landscapes, which represent the joint evolution of humans and nature across an extended time span. Transhumance is a customary practice of mobile pastoralism,...

Protected areas are the main strategy for the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity. However, changes occurring during the Anthropocene continue to threaten biodiversity and, therefore, the associated ecosystem services that maintain human well-being. Despite efforts to integrate protected areas into a wider landscape, most of these areas are s...

El presente artículo pretende evidenciar las limitaciones del actual modelo de desarrollo hegemónico y analizar las consecuencias que este ha tenido y está teniendo sobre el estado de los ecosistemas del planeta y el bienestar de las sociedades humanas. Este modelo de desarrollo, basado en el crecimiento continuo de la renta y del consumo, descuida...

Drove roads are a major feature of Mediterranean countries, where this livestock management system has been practiced for centuries. In Spain, many drove roads have become completely or partially abandoned by herders, and transformed for other land uses. Yet, some major drove roads continue to be used for the passage of livestock, and might exert i...

Mobility is a millenary human strategy to deal with environmental change. An outstanding example of mobility is transhumance, an ancient pastoralist practice consisting of the seasonal migration of livestock between ecological regions following peaks in pasture productivity. The maintenance of transhumance depends partly on the preservation of rela...

The impact of land-use intensity is evaluated through changes in the soil properties in different areas of the traditional central Spanish landscape. Soil organic carbon (SOC) content, bulk density, aggregate stability and water-holding capacity (WHC) in the topsoil of active and abandoned vineyards, livestock routes (LR) and young Quercus afforest...

Transhumance is a practice of nomadic pastoralism that was once common in Mediterranean Europe. This livestock-rearing system is associated with the maintenance of cultural landscapes and the delivery of a wide range of ecosystem services. Although transhumance is still practised in Spain on a small scale, its future is highly uncertain because of...

Scattered trees in agricultural landscapes are globally declining due to the intensification of agricultural practices. Dehesas, highly species-diverse Mediterranean open woodlands, are seriously affected by this decline, because of a generalized regeneration failure of oak, which compromise their long-term stability. Traditionally, dehesas were th...

Mobility is a millenary human strategy to deal with environmental change. An outstanding example of mobility is transhumance, an ancient pastoralist practice consisting of the seasonal migration of livestock between ecological regions following peaks in pasture productivity. The maintenance of transhumance depends partly on the preservation of rela...

The Biosphere Reserve Ciénaga Grande of Santa Marta (RBCGSM) is a complex coastal and marine wetland system with a strong functioning interdependency. These ecosystems interact with several local communities through the supplyof ecosystem services. The aim of this paper was to identify ecosystem services of RBCGSM that are perceived by different ac...

Following the concept of ecosystem services, we propose in this article an interdisciplinary and participatory methodological framework for ecosystem services assessment and participatory decision-making in Mediterranean cultural landscapes linked with transhumant pastoralism. It is based on four sequential phases: 1. characterisation of the social...

All over the world, efforts are being made to preserve landscapes facing fundamental change as a consequence of widespread agricultural intensification, land abandonment and urbanisation. The 'cultural landscape' and 'resilience' approaches have, until now, largely been viewed as distinct methods for understanding the effects of these dynamics and...

Ecosystem service assessments have increasingly been used to support environmental management policies, mainly based on biophysical and economic indicators. However, few studies have coped with the social-cultural dimension of ecosystem services, despite being considered a research priority. We examined how ecosystem service bundles and trade-offs...

Main characteristics of sites included in this study. (PDF)

Summary statistics of socio-economic characteristics of polled people for each case site. (PDF)

Summary of the variables obtained from the questionnaire and used for the different analysis performed in the study. (PDF)

Characteristics of study sites in relation to climate data in Spain. (PDF)

Analysing the factors that influence visitor satisfaction is critical for the appropriate management of tourism, particularly in nature tourism enterprises, which are expected to contribute to biodiversity conservation and the development of local people. In this paper, we investigate the effect of different socio-economic and ecological variables,...

The Ciénaga Grande of Santa Marta is Colombia's largest coastal wetland and one of the most important in the Caribbean. In this paper we evaluate the complex linkages existing among the social-ecological history, provision of ecosystem services and human well-being as perceived by local stakeholders. The most critical anthropogenic impacts occurred...

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...

Durante los últimos años han surgido numerosas investigaciones sobre los vínculos entre bienestar humano y naturaleza que han tratado de argumentar los costes naturales que la consecución de dicho bienestar suponen para la ecosfera. Como ha dejado patente la Evaluación de los Ecosistemas del Milenio (EM, 2005), los servicios proporcionados por los...

FishBanks, a well-known fisheries management simulation game, was used to test the effect of institutional settings on the biological and economic performance of fisheries. The game was played by 48 groups of between 20 and 25 undergraduate Environmental Science students in two different time lengths (10 years versus 15 years) and institutional set...

To elucidate the factors underlying species conservation priority setting, we analysed the relationships among species’ structural complexity, scientific attention, threatened species listing, and conservation investments at different organisational levels, including global, European, national, and sub-national. Although the literature often highli...

Biological invasions occur worldwide, and have been the object of ecological and socio-economic research for decades. However, the manner in which different stakeholder groups identify the problems associated with invasive species and confront invasive species management under different policies remains poorly understood. In this study, we conducte...

El presente trabajo explora los factores que subyacen a la priorización de especies en las políticas de conservación de la biodiversidad en relación con las diferentes dimensiones implicadas: investigación, opinión pública, listas rojas y legislación vinculante de especies decisiones relativo a la conservación, y cuáles parecen ser invisibles. Pala...

Resumen Los paisajes culturales mantenidos por la trashumancia generan una serie de servicios esenciales para el bienestar humano. Algunos de estos servicios tiene precio de mercado y son ampliamente reconocidos, pero otros, a pesar de ser valorados por la sociedad, al no estar mercantilizados, no son tenidos en cuenta a la hora de la toma de decis...

Resumen En este trabajo se evalúa el estado de conservación de la Cañada Real Conquense (CRC) y se analizan los distintos factores de tipo natural y antrópico que influyen en la calidad de la misma para el uso ganadero. Para ello se midieron siete variables en un total de 370 puntos de muestreo, distribuidos cada kilómetro a lo largo de la cañada,...

Este trabajo evaluó la influencia de una vía trashumante, la Cañada Real Conquense, sobre la distribución espacial de tres especies de caza menor: la perdiz roja (Alectoris rufa), el conejo (Oryctolagus cuniculus) y la liebre ibérica (Lepus granatensis). Para ello se seleccionaron tres zonas: cultivos, monte mediterráneo y mixta. Se estudiaron los...

The Galapagos Petrel Pterodroma phaeopygia is endemic to the Galapagos Archipelago, where it nests on only five islands. The species is considered ‘Critically Endangered’, mostly due to the effects of alien invasive species, which impair its reproductive success. During 2002–2003 we studied the breeding biology of the petrels nesting on San Cristób...

We evaluated the collision risk of Galapagos Petrels Pterodroma phaeopygia with a wind energy development recently constructed in the highlands of San Cristóbal Island, Galapagos. Trained observers recorded the movements of petrels at dusk and dawn from the wind project site, and from control sites located along ravines that host nesting colonies....

Recent research illustrates the essential role that biodiversity plays in both ecosystem functioning and the provisioning of ecosystem services for human well-being. Despite the acknowledged necessity to include the social and economic dimensions into biodiversity conservation research, integrative approaches based on ecosystem services assessment...