Evolución histórica de los servicios del ecosistema y su aplicación en la gestión integrada de zonas costerasel caso del Delta del Llobregat (Barcelona, España).

Abstract

This work addresses the evolution of ecosystem services during the 20th and 21st centuries in the coastal fringe of the Llobregat Delta (Barcelona, Spain). In that area, different interventions of profound importance have been carried out since the mid-20th century, and they have notably affected its environmental state. The analysis has been performed through the use of historical ecology sources, methods and techniques (historical aerial images, historical documents; documental analysis) and a geographic information system, that has allowed carrying out a land use change analysis. Results reveal a major environmental degradation and, consequently, the loss or decline of some ecosystem services, (food provisioning or cultural services) due to the implementation of an inappropriate spatial planning, and a lack of a real integrated management of the territory. The significant increase of urban areas and infrastructures (from 1.7 to 47.5% of the area) at the expense of agricultural areas (from 28.5 to 6.9%), coniferous forest (from 21.5 to 13.4%), and sparsely vegetated areas (from 21.7 to 9.3%) explain this change