Landscape patterns and agriculture: modelling the long-term effects of human practices on Pinus sylvestris spatial dynamics (Causse Mejean, France)

This paper focuses on understanding human impact on landscape. Both ecological and human practices are analysed as interacting processes. An agent-based model integrating biological and historical knowledge is used to analyse the pattern of Scots Pine encroachment in a French Mediterranean upland. In the STIPA model, pine trees are autonomous agents and a cellular automaton simulates land-use. We test the effects of shifting cultivation on tree establishment at the landscape scale. This allows us to understand how agropastoral practices patterned this area from the 17th to 19th century: simulations show the importance of shifting cultivation in limiting woodland progression. Fallow duration linked to environmental heterogeneity is a significant factor for explaining pine dynamics and landscape patterning at the scale of the study region. We put this result in perspective with current rangeland management policies that often consider grazing as the most relevant tool for open landscape maintenance. Our results also show the importance of taking into account time-scale effects when linking landscape patterns to agricultural systems.

[1]  R. A. Dodgshon,et al.  The Cultural Landscape during 6000 Years in Southern Sweden: The Ystad Project , 1992 .

[2]  Alain Dervieux,et al.  MEDITERRANEAN LANDSCAPE CHANGES : EVIDENCE FROM OLD POSTCARDS , 1999 .

[3]  F. Médail.  Biogéographie, écologie et valeur patrimoniale des forêts de pin sylvestre (Pinus sylvestris L.) en région méditerranéenne , 2001 .

[4]  J. R. Wallis,et al.  Some ecological consequences of a computer model of forest growth , 1972 .

[5]  P. Moore.  Origin of blanket mires , 1975, Nature.

[6]  R. Zamora,et al.  Seed predation and dispersal in relict Scots pine forests in southern Spain , 1999, Plant Ecology.

[7]  A. Perevolotsky.  Role of Grazing in Mediterranean Rangeland Ecosystems , 2007 .

[8]  Arnaud Martin,et al.  Les feux préhistoriques holocènes en montagne sub-méditerranéenne : premiers résultats sur le Causse Méjean (Lozère, France) , 2002 .

[9]  Volker Grimm,et al.  Individual-based modelling and ecological theory: synthesis of a workshop , 1999 .

[10]  J. Diamond,et al.  Evolution, consequences and future of plant and animal domestication , 2002, Nature.

[11]  P. Marty,et al.  Spontaneous reforestation in a peri-Mediterranean landscape: history of agricultural systems and dynamics of woody species , 2003 .

[12]  David R. Foster,et al.  Vegetation patterns in heterogeneous landscapes: The importance of history and environment , 1999 .

[13]  R. Lewin,et al.  Biological flora of the British Isles , 1948 .

[14]  Regino Zamora,et al.  Seedling establishment of a boreal tree species (Pinus sylvestris) at its southernmost distribution limit: consequences of being in a marginal Mediterranean habitat , 2004 .

[15]  J. Bartolomé,et al.  Grazing alone is not enough to maintain landscape diversity in the Montseny Biosphere Reserve. , 2000 .

[16]  Oliver Rackham,et al.  The Nature of Mediterranean Europe: An Ecological History , 2001 .

[17]  Mechtild Rössler,et al.  Cultural landscapes of universal value : components of a global strategy , 1995 .

[18]  Ur Dynamiques,et al.  Reproductive variability in Pinus sylvestris in southern France: Implications for invasion , 2003 .

[19]  R. Zamora,et al.  Effect of browsing by ungulates on sapling growth of Scots pine in a Mediterranean environment: consequences for forest regeneration , 2001 .

[20]  D. Foster,et al.  Controlling site to evaluate history: vegetation patterns of a New England sand plain , 1996 .

[21]  S. Cole.  The neolithic revolution , 1970 .

[22]  D. Gilbertson,et al.  The Cultural Landscape: Past, Present and Future , 1990 .

[23]  U. Segerström,et al.  Extensive forest grazing and hay-making on mires – vegetation changes in south-central Sweden due to land use since Medieval times , 2002 .

[24]  Caz M Taylor,et al.  The spatial spread of invasions: new developments in theory and evidence , 2004 .

[25]  D. N. Mcvean.  Ecology of Scots Pine in the Scottish Highlands , 1963 .

[26]  David R.C. Hill,et al.  Individual-based modelling of Pinus sylvestris invasion after grazing abandonment in the French Massif Central , 2003, Plant Ecology.

[27]  Arnaud Martin,et al.  La progression des pins sur les Causses : un phénomène difficilement contrôlable ? L'exemple du Causse Méjan. , 2001 .

[28]  J. Lepart,et al.  Neighbourhood effects on the risk of an unpalatable plant being grazed , 2003, Plant Ecology.

[29]  A. Brown,et al.  Pinus Sylvestris L. , 1968 .

[30]  A. Hester,et al.  Changes in burning of Scottish heather moorland since the 1940s from aerial photographs , 1992 .

[31]  A. Perevolotsky,et al.  Role of Grazing in Mediterranean Rangeland Ecosystems Inversion of a paradigm , 1998 .

[32]  Dr. Frank Elwell.  The Neolithic Revolution , 1960, Nature.

[33]  D. Foster,et al.  Interpreting and conserving the openland habitats of coastal New England: insights from landscape history , 2003 .

[34]  F. Quétier,et al.  Farmers’ management strategies and land use in an agropastoral landscape: roquefort cheese production rules as a driver of change , 2005 .

[35]  Rebecca S. Toupal,et al.  Cultural Landscapes as a Methodology for Understanding Natural Resource Management Impacts in the Western United States , 2003 .

[36]  François Bousquet,et al.  Agent-based simulations of interactions between duck population, farming decisions and leasing of hunting rights in the Camargue (Southern France) , 2003 .

[37]  J. Vernet.  Nouvelle contribution à l'histoire de la végétation holocène des Grands Causses d'après les charbons de bois , 1972 .

[38]  F. Bousqueta,et al.  Multi-agent simulations and ecosystem management : a review , 2004 .

[39]  R. Clarke,et al.  Long distance seed dispersal by wind: measuring and modelling the tail of the curve , 2000, Oecologia.

[40]  J. Thirgood.  Man and the Mediterranean forest , 1981 .

[41]  J. Offner,et al.  Un siècle de floristique à travers les Alpes françaises , 1956 .

[42]  Steven I. Higgins,et al.  Pine invasions in the southern hemisphere: modelling interactions between organism, environment and disturbance , 1998, Plant Ecology.

[43]  P. Fowler.  A limestone landscape from the air: le Causse Méjean, Languedoc, France , 1999, Antiquity.

[44]  H. Rapey,et al.  Agroforesterie en Europe de l'Ouest : pratiques et expérimentations sylvopastorales des montagnes de la zone tempérée , 2002 .

[45]  H. Bugmann.  A Review of Forest Gap Models , 2001 .

[46]  Christophe Le Page,et al.  Agent based simulation of a small catchment water management in northern Thailand: Description of the CATCHSCAPE model , 2003 .

[47]  Max Debussche,et al.  Human Impact on Landscape Patterning: Mediterranean Examples , 1992 .

[48]  Christophe Le Page,et al.  Cormas: Common-Pool Resources and Multi-agent Systems , 1998, IEA/AIE.