Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8.2
A drove road (canada) in Spain with a flock of sheep moving to the mountains
(courtesy of Antonio Gomez Sal)
With the increased colonization of the Mediterranean mountains from 1700 to
1900, pastoralism became an important human activity that contributed significantly
to land use changes. However, its impact was different in different mountain re-
gions. For example, the Taurus mountains of Turkey and the Pindos mountains of
Greece experienced a greater influence of pastoralism than the Apennines of Italy,
Sierra Nevada of Spain and the Rif mountains of Morocco because in the former
nomads had conquered and controlled for longer than in the latter (McNeill, 1992).
8.3.3 Wildfires
Fire is a major ecological factor in the Mediterranean environment and has played a
decisive role in post-glacial geological and cultural evolution in the Mediterranean
Basin (Naveh, 1975). Humans have used it as a means to modify the environment
to their benefit since time immemorial, and this has caused significant changes to
Mediterranean landscapes and ecosystems (Naveh and Lieberman, 1994; Moreno
et al.,
1998; Arianoutsou, 2001). After reviewing the history of burning from liter-
ary sources, Liacos (1973) concluded that fire was used as a tool to open up forests
and convert them to grazing land since the second millennium BC. Pastoral burning
was also used in Roman times (Hughes, 1983) as well as in subsequent historical
