T. Douglas et al., THE DEINTENSIFICATION OF TERRACED AGRICULTURAL LAND NEAR TREVELEZ, SIERRA-NEVADA, SPAIN, Global ecology and biogeography letters, 5(4-5), 1996, pp. 258-270
Changes in the intensity of agricultural land-use have been examined i
n a mountain environment in the Sierra Nevada, Andalucia. The land-use
changes have occurred in response to rural depopulation and other fac
tors since 1950 and have manifested themselves as a deintensification
and sometimes abandonment of irrigated terraces which were extensively
cropped as recently as the 1970s. The pattern of deintensification an
d consequential environmental impact is described for one municipio, T
revelez. Ecological changes have been consequent upon the intensity of
grazing and the collapse of irrigation systems. These changes have be
en assessed by rapid appraisal and the implications for the agricultur
al landscape are identified. Classification techniques using Landsat T
hematic Mapper (TM) data have allowed estimates to be made of the area
l cover of deintensification.