Sustainable Development, Ecological Complexity, and Environmental Values

Sustainable Development, Ecological Complexity, and Environmental Values contributes to expanding the idea of sustainability by integrating different thematic issues related to sustainable development in its threefold consideration (economic, social, and environmental) with regard to the case of the Basque Country. On the global scale, changes have clearly accelerated; ecological and social sustainability are two facets of the same changing reality. First, social sustainability depends on ecological sustainability. If we continue degrading nature's capacity to produce the ecosystems' services (water filtration, climate stabilization, etc) and resources (food, materials), both individuals and nations will be affected by growing pressures and increasing conflicts, as well as by threats to public health and personal safety. Second, ecological sustainability depends on social sustainability, a socially unjust and unfair system wiht an ever-increasing population that is not able to have its needs met will necessarily lead to environmental collapse. In addition, human behavior and the social dynamic often lie at the heart of social and ecological problems. It must be, therefore, assumed that there will not be sustainable development if sustainable societies do not first exist. A sustainable society has the challenge of developing human capital. In this book, these global questions are treated as they relate to specific place and context, the Basque Country and its modern institutions.This book was published with generous financial support from the Basque Government.Introduction—Ignacio Ayestarán and Miren Onaindia ? 1. An Evaluation of Ecosystem Services as a Base for the Sustainable Management of a Region by Miren Onaindia and Gloria Rodríguez-Loinaz ? 2. An Evaluation of Millennium Ecosystems from the Basque Country by Igone Palacios, Izaskun Casada-Arzuaga, Iosu Madariaga, and Xabier Arana ? 3. Climate Change: Activities of the EOLO Group at the University of the Basque Country by Agustín Ezcurra, Jon Sáenz, and Gabriel Ibarra-Berastegi ? 4. The Environmental Value of the Karstic Landscape of the Urdaibai Biosphere Reserve: The Asnarre Promontory (Bizkaia) by Arantza Aranburu, Laura Damas-Mollá, Patxi García-Garmilla, Iñaki Yusta, M. Arriolabengoa, Peru Iridoy, and Eneko Iriarte ? 5. Recent Environmental Transformation of the Bilbao Estuary: Natural and Anthropogenic Processes by Alejandro Cearreta, Maria Jesús Irabien, and Eduardo Leorri ? 6. The Landscape of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country: The Evolution of Forest Systems by Lorena Peña and Ibone Amezaga ? 7. Critical Theories of Sustainable Development by Eguzki Urteaga ? 8. Bases for the Transition toward a Sustainable Economy by Roberto Bermejo, David Hoyos, and Eneko Garmendia ? 9. Environmental Values, the Epistemology of Complex Problems, and Postnormal Science in the Face of Global Change by Ignacio Ayestáran ? 10. Science, Gender, and Sustainable Development by Teresa Nuño Angós ? 11. Environmental Education as Training: A Case Study at the University of the Basque Country by Araitz Uskola Ibarluzea ? 12. Social Values and Sustainable Practices among Basque Inshore Fishermen by Pío Pérez Aldasoro ? 13. Sustainable Development and the Values of Well-Being and Globalization by Eduardo Rubio Ardanaz, Juan Antonio Rubio-Ardanaz, and Xiao Fang ? Index ? List of Contributor

New insights into the climate of northern Iberia during the Younger Dryas and Holocene: The Mendukilo multi-speleothem record

Recent hydroclimate studies on the Iberian Peninsula have shown a complex regional pattern in timing and intensity of climate change spanning the Younger Dryas and the Holocene. These changes are due to multifaceted interactions between climate variability that characterizes the Atlantic Ocean region and hydroclimatic processes associated with the Mediterranean climate, thus making it difficult to reconstruct centennial- and millennial-scale variability in rainfall. In this study we present a composite and continuous isotopic record (δ13C and δ18O) consisting of four stalagmites from Mendukilo cave (MEN composite) in the western Pyrenees covering the Younger Dryas and the entire Holocene. This record reveals millennial-scale shifts in carbon isotopes in response to changes in the hydroclimate in the northern part of Iberia. The MEN oxygen isotopes show little variation on millenial time scales but reveal centennial changes that correlate with North Atlantic events (e.g., the 8.2 kyr BP cooling event). We observe a delay in the onset of humid conditions in the early Holocene and a subsequent trend towards drier and colder conditions between 6.0 and 2.5 kyr BP. This new, high-resolution and replicated speleothem record denotes the complex connection that exists between the North Atlantic and Western Europe during last millennia and the strong regional heterogeneity of the hydroclimate of Iberia during this time.We acknowledge the Spanish projects PID 2019–106050RB-I00 (PYCACHU) and CGL 2016-77479-R (SPYRIT), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grants 41888101 and 42050410317, and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (2020M683452) for funding. J.L. Bernal-Wormull was supported by an FPI grant (ref. BES-2017–081125).Peer reviewe

Flank margin caves as signatures for past sea level fluctuations in Apulia and Sicily (southern Italy)

Flank margin caves owe their formation to fresh and marine water mixing, inducing corrosion processes (Mylroie and Carew, 1990). They are very abundant on tropical islands characterized by eogenetic carbonates such as the Bahamas, Bermuda, Guam, and Cuba. Recently several flank margin cave systems have been documented in telogenetic carbonates of the Italian peninsula (Arriolabengoa et al., 2017). Generally, these caves present typical geomorphological features such as galleries with rounded cross-sections, swiss-cheese or spongework patterns, abrupt dead-endings moving away from the coastline, and horizontal notches. They lack alluvial sediments, but their entrances are often infilled with marine deposits. This work describes three flank margin caves found in Apulia and Sicily: Sant’Angelo (Ostuni, Apulia), Pellegrino (Siracusa, Sicily) and Carburangeli caves (Palermo, Sicily). All these caves are now in vadose conditions opening along paleo-cliffs at altitudes varying from ~ 25 to 150 m asl and were carved along prominent fractures (secondary porosity). They are characterized by several sub-horizontal arrangements and show evident notches with flat roofs and spongework patterns. We found Lithophaga litophaga boreholes inside Carburangeli Cave, and marine deposits in the entrance of Pellegrino Cave, demonstrating important marine influences, whereas speleothems due to the seepage of meteoric waters through the host-rock occurred during subsequent stages partially covering typical flank margin cave features. Being formed by salt-fresh water mixing, they are valuable indicators of past eustatic sea levels, and if dated can allow to estimate coastal uplift rates

Flank Margin Caves In Telogenetic Limestones In Italy

Almost 20% of Italy is characterized by the outcropping of carbonate massifs ranging in age from Cambrian to Quaternary. Coastal karst is present in many Italian regions: from North-East to South and West: the Gulf of Trieste, the Conero (South of Ancona, Marche), the Adriatic coast of Apulia including Gargano, Murge and Salento, Maratea in Basilicata, Cilento in Campania, Circeo and Gaeta in Latium, Argentario and Giannutri Island in Tuscany, the southernmost part of the Ligurian Alps, Palermo Mts., San Vito Lo Capo, Syracuse coast and Marettimo Island in Sicily, and, especially, in Sardinia, which has carbonate rocks touching the sea along the coast of Balai near Porto Torres, Capo Caccia-Punta Giglio (Alghero), Sinis and Buggerru along the western litoral, Capo Teulada and Capo Sant’Elia at Cagliari, Capo Figari, Tavolara Island and the Gulf of Orosei along the eastern mountainside. Recent researches have revealed several coastal cave systems that have a clear origin by mixing corrosion, in which the aggressive solution derives from the mixing between saline and fresh water at the watertable interface (the so-called flank margin caves). Glacioeustasy and tectonic movements can control the position of sea level with respect to coastal carbonate outcrops. For this reason these coastal caves represent useful records of sea-level stillstands. These caves are normally organized in sub-horizontal levels, and are characterized by the lack of high flow velocity markers (scallops) and alluvial sediments. Instead, they show rounded cave passage morphologies, often with horizontal wall notches, a characteristic swiss-cheese or sponge morphology, and passages that narrow going away from the coastline (due to the decreasing of sea water influence and mixing-corrosion effect). This paper describes some flank margin cave systems found in Apulia, Sicily, and Sardinia. In particular, five cave systems are illustrated: Sant’Angelo caves (Apulia), Pellegrino and Rumena caves (Sicily), and Giuanniccu Mene cave and Fico cave (Sardinia), explaining their relationship with past sea levels and local uplift rate

Flank Margin Caves In Telogenetic Limestones In Italy

Almost 20% of Italy is characterized by the outcropping of carbonate massifs ranging in age from Cambrian to Quaternary. Coastal karst is present in many Italian regions: from North-East to South and West: the Gulf of Trieste, the Conero (South of Ancona, Marche), the Adriatic coast of Apulia including Gargano, Murge and Salento, Maratea in Basilicata, Cilento in Campania, Circeo and Gaeta in Latium, Argentario and Giannutri Island in Tuscany, the southernmost part of the Ligurian Alps, Palermo Mts., San Vito Lo Capo, Syracuse coast and Marettimo Island in Sicily, and, especially, in Sardinia, which has carbonate rocks touching the sea along the coast of Balai near Porto Torres, Capo Caccia-Punta Giglio (Alghero), Sinis and Buggerru along the western litoral, Capo Teulada and Capo Sant\u2019Elia at Cagliari, Capo Figari, Tavolara Island and the Gulf of Orosei along the eastern mountainside. Recent researches have revealed several coastal cave systems that have a clear origin by mixing corrosion, in which the aggressive solution derives from the mixing between saline and fresh water at the watertable interface (the so-called flank margin caves). Glacioeustasy and tectonic movements can control the position of sea level with respect to coastal carbonate outcrops. For this reason these coastal caves represent useful records of sea-level stillstands. These caves are normally organized in sub-horizontal levels, and are characterized by the lack of high flow velocity markers (scallops) and alluvial sediments. Instead, they show rounded cave passage morphologies, often with horizontal wall notches, a characteristic swiss-cheese or sponge morphology, and passages that narrow going away from the coastline (due to the decreasing of sea water influence and mixing-corrosion effect). This paper describes some flank margin cave systems found in Apulia, Sicily, and Sardinia. In particular, five cave systems are illustrated: Sant\u2019Angelo caves (Apulia), Pellegrino and Rumena caves (Sicily), and Giuanniccu Mene cave and Fico cave (Sardinia), explaining their relationship with past sea levels and local uplift rate

Estudio paleoambiental a partir de precipitados químicos: espeleotemas de la Sala Roja (Cueva Goikoetxe, Busturia, Bizkaia)

El estudio de la evolución geológica de la cueva de Goikoetxe muestra las distintas secuencias de relleno de la cavidad haciendo posible diferenciar dos secuencias aloestratigráficas que incluyen tanto depósitos de relleno detrítico como de precipitado químico, alternando con eventos erosivos. Dichas secuencias permiten reconstruir la historia de la cavidad durante el transcurso de su formación. En relación a los precipitados de origen químico, han podido diferenciarse al menos tres generaciones de espeleotemas, con dos fases de formación de estalagmitas bien diferenciadas: Antuá (basculada debido a una erosión en la cavidad) y Moreno (de desarrollo vertical sobre Antúa y por tanto de génesis posterior). A partir del estudio petrográfico de estos espeleotemas, se han diferenciado distintas fases de crecimiento por cambios ambientales. Futuros análisis mediante catodoluminiscencia y microscopio electrónico permitirán establecer con mayor precisión la evolución paleoambiental del entorno, mientras que el análisis geoquímico determinará la razón de la coloración de las estalagmitas presentes en esta cueva. Además, también se realizarán dataciones U/Th con el fin de saber la edad exacta de cada proceso.Peer Reviewe

Human colonisation and vegetation response to Late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene climate variability in Northern Iberia based on a multiproxy analysis of the Atxurra cave-fill

Atxurra Cave (Berriatua, Northern Spain) contains an important Magdalenian archaeological assemblage comprising evidence of ephemeral occupation in the lower cave level and a unique assemblage of rock art. With the aim of understanding the palaeoenvironmental conditions and the nature of the human occupation, detailed micromorphological, mineralogical, palynological and anthracological analyses were undertaken near the entrance of the cave. The lower part of the excavated sequence comprises almost unfossiliferous silty units deposited over a thick speleothem deposit, which alternates with a sandy-silt matrix-supported microfacies dated about 33.4 kyr B.P. Palynological assemblage in this unit suggest regional vegetation was formed by montane pines, junipers and broadleaved elements like birch and hazel. Overlying units of brown clayey material, dated to ca. 19.7–18.4 kyr B.P., contain evidence of a Gravettian occupation with Noailles burins, and a palynoflora indicative of localized conifers with a dense herbaceous steppe understory, in an arid and cold climate. At ca. 15.5–14.5 kyr B.P. there is a return to meso-thermophilous tree and shrub taxa within a warmer and humid climate background, which may have favored the regional development of the Magdalenian culture. The uppermost unit, dated ca. 7.7–7 kyr B.P., reveals postglacial expansion of a mixed Atlantic forest with no signals of anthropization before the start of the Neolithic.This research has been benefited from the financial support provided by DINAMO3 (CGL2015-69160-R), funded by the Spanish Inter-Ministry Commission of Science and Technology (CICYT). Archaeological research in Atxurra was funded by Bizkaiko Foru Aldundia between 2014 and 2015 for the excavation, between 2016 and 2020 for the rock art study, and by the Basque Government in 2014 for the analysis of archaeological material.Peer reviewe

Immediate temperature response in northern Iberia to last deglacial changes in the North Atlantic

Major disruptions in the North Atlantic circulation during the last deglaciation triggered a series of climate feedbacks that influenced the course of Termination I, suggesting an almost synchronous response in the ocean-atmosphere system. We present a replicated 818O stalagmite record from Ostolo cave in the northern Iberian Peninsula with a robust chronological framework that continuously covers the last deglaciation (18.5-10.5 kyr B.P.). The Ostolo 818O record, unlike other speleothem records in the region that were related to humidity changes, closely tracks the well-known high-latitude temperature evolution, offering important insights into the structure of the last deglaciation in the Northern Hemisphere. In addition, this new record is accompanied by a clear signal of the expected cooling events associated with the deglacial disruptions in North Atlantic deep convection during Heinrich event 1

Cueva de los Torrejones revisited: new insights on the paleoecology of inland Iberia during the Late Pleistocene

The interior of the Iberian Peninsula has orographic conditions that make this territory especially vulnerable to Quaternary climate oscillations and which actually could have made it decisive for Paleolithic human populations at critical points. For this reason, the information provided by paleontological sites is important for reconstructing climatic and environmental conditions during the Late Pleistocene and understanding how they influenced the species that inhabited them, including humans. Nevertheless, the archaeo-paleontological record is scarce in central Iberia for the Late Pleistocene. A central Iberian site that is key to addressing this issue is Cueva de los Torrejones, which was discovered and excavated during the nineties. Clues indicating the presence of Neandertal populations near the cave site were announced during prior field excavations, including Neandertal remains, Middle Paleolithic artifacts, and evidence of anthropic exploitation of faunal resources at the site. Here we report the new results from the recent excavations and research, including detailed studies on stratigraphy, micromorphology, macro and microvertebrate paleontology, physical and molecular anthropology, taphonomy and zooarchaeology, and analysis of lithic and pottery remains. Our research has led to the detection of three Prehistoric chronologies recorded at the site. The oldest episode corresponds to between MIS 5 and MIS 4 in which the cave was used by carnivores. The second episode is represented by a faunal association dated to 30.0 ka cal BP and is indicative of cooler and more arid environmental conditions and, therefore, compatible with the worsening climate detected previously for MIS 3 in this area. The last episode corresponds to the Chalcolithic, directly dated to ∼5000 cal BP in which humans used the cavity for funerary purposes. The DNA analysis of the human remain was assigned to mtDNA haplogroup K, which was originated in the Near East and reached western Europe through the Neolithic expansion. Human occupation during the Paleolithic has been ruled out, including Paleolithic human remains and any kind of anthropic intervention on the Hermann’s tortoise and leopard as was previously proposed at the site.1. Introduction 2. Historical background and objectives 3. Material and methods 3.1. Material 3.2. Methodological procedure 3.2.1. Stratigraphy 3.2.2. Micromorphology 3.2.3. Paleobiological analysis 3.2.4. Anthropological analysis 3.2.5. Molecular analysis 3.2.6. Taphonomy and zooarchaeology 3.2.7. Archaeological material: lithics and pottery 4. Geological and geochronological characterization 4.1. Stratigraphy and sediment characterization 4.2. Geochronology 4.3. Micromorphology 5. Paleontological analysis 5.1. Microvertebrates 5.2. Macrovertebrates 5.2.1. Internal Domain 5.2.2. External Domain 5.3. Human remains 5.3.1. Anthropological analysis 5.3.2. Paleogenetic analysis 6. Taphonomic and zooarchaeological analyses 6.1. Human remains 6.2. Faunal remains 6.2.1. Tortoise 6.2.2. Leopard 7. Material culture 7.1. Lithics 7.2. Pottery 8. Discussion 8.1. Depositional sequence and interpretation of geological processes 8.1.1. Allostratigraphic unit AU-1 8.1.2. Allostratigraphic unit AU-2 8.1.3. Allostratigraphic unit AU-3 8.1.4. Allostratigraphic unit AU-0 8.2. Chronological inferences 8.2.1. AU-0: External Domain (LU-E4/5) 8.2.2. AU-2: Internal Domain (LU-S3) 8.2.3. AU-3: superficial units 8.3. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic implications 8.3.1. MIS-4/5 (AU-0: LU-E4/5) 8.3.2. MIS-3 (AU-2: LU-S3) 8.3.3. Chalcolithic (AU-3: LU-S1, LU-S2, LU-E1, LU-E2, LU...) 8.4. Site formation processes and origin of the skeletal accumulation 8.4.1. MIS-4/5 (AU-0: LU-E4/5) 8.4.2. MIS-3 (AU-2: LU-S3) 8.4.3. Holocene (AU-3: LU-S1, LU-S2, LU-E1, LU-E2, LU-T1, LU-T2) 9. Conclusion