Application of the Adaptive Cycle and Panarchy in La Marjaleria Social-Ecological System: Reflections for Operability

The adaptive cycle and panarchy are recognised tools for resilience assessment prior to establishing new management approaches aligned with Anthropocene needs. This study used the adaptive cycle and panarchy to assess the dynamics of the social-ecological system (SES) of La Marjaleria, Spain, which experienced increasing human pressure and environmental degradation in recent decades, and developed the 'adaptive curve' as a novel graphical representation of system change in the presentation of the results. Based on a literature review of historical changes in La Marjaleria, a SES analysis was performed using the adaptive cycle and panarchy, following the Resilience Alliance's Practitioners Guide. The assessment offered new insights into the social and ecological dynamics of La Marjaleria through identification of causes and consequences from a complex systems perspective. Previous land-use management in the area has generated tensions between different stakeholders and reduced environmental resilience. The systems thinking approach highlighted the complexity of change processes, offering the possibility of new routes for dialogue and understanding. The 'adaptive curve' developed as a method of illustrating interactions across scales in this study could be useful for synthesising the results of a panarchy analysis and supporting their interpretation, offering relevant departure points for future planning and decision-making

Estat de la població d’oroneta cuablanca (Delichon urbicum) a Almassora (Castelló) l’any 2019 i anàlisi comparativa amb dades de 2012

En aquest treball es recullen les dades del cens de nius d’oroneta cuablanca (Delichon urbicum) realitzat al municipi d’Almassora (Castelló) entre els mesos de maig i juny de 2019. Aprofitant les dades recollides a l’article de Miquel Barberà “La nidificació d’oroneta cuablanca (Delichon urbicum) a la ciutat d’Almassora (Castelló) durant l’any 2012”, s’ha dut a terme una anàlisi comparativa de les dades per observar les tendències poblacionals i de nidificació al municipi. Entre la informació recollida, s’inclou: nombre de nius, estat dels nius, orientació dels nius, ubicació segons l’alçada, i influència del tipus d’edifici en els hàbits de nidificació. S’ha observat que el nombre de nius ocupats no ha variat significativament als punts de mostreig comparats, però s’ha detectat una major quantitat de nius trencats i una tendència cap a la nidificació en colònies. Es discuteix la importància dels edificis singulars i protegits com a zones clau per a la nidificació de l’oroneta cuablanca.This work collects the data obtained in a census of nests of the Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum) in the city of Almassora (Castelló) during May and June 2019. Using the data provided by Miquel Barberà work, “The breeding of Common House Martins (Delichon urbicum) in the city of Almassora (Castelló) during the 2012 season”, a comparative analysis of data has been carried out in order to observe population and nesting trends in the municipality. The information collected includes: number of nests, state of nests, orientation of nests, height of nests, and influence of the building type in nesting habits. The results show that the number of occupied nests has not changed significantly, but a higher number of broken nests together with a tendency to nest in colonies has been detected. Finally, the importance of specific and protected buildings as places for nesting of Common House Martins is discussed

Insights from a panarchy approach to the resilience of a social-ecological system: the case of La Marjaleria (Castelló, Spain)

The idea of evolutionary resilience in complex systems has gained attention in the recent years. This approach provides better insights in the context of emergence and adaptive capacity, that characterises complex adaptive systems (CAS) such as social-ecological systems (SES), than traditional reductionist and engineering resilience approaches. Departing from this premise, a set of methodologies that are funded in these principles have been developed, with promising perspectives for the analysis of these systems. In this thesis, one of these methodologies, the panarchy, is applied into La Marjaleria case study, in Castelló (Spain), in order to explore its capacity to offer new useful insights for the management of the area throught he scope of resilience. Looking for a systematic methodological approach, the focal SES and their scales are initially defined, followed by an adaptive cycle approach, performed for each of the scales, and finally a panarchy approach that is applied through focusing on the interactions between the adaptive cycles at the different scales. The results are also presented through a new graphic approach that accounts for the representation of the adaptive cycles at the different scales and their interactions in a dynamic manner that includes the time variable, and that can therefore facilitate its understanding. From the analysis performed, the system is found to be stuck in a rigidity trap because of the lack of transformative visions from both scales above (municipality) and below (households). Furthermore, the influence of cascade effects from both the upper and lower scale in the manner through which the focal scale navigated the adaptive cycle has become evident. The panarchy has also helped to discover some existing mismatches and archetypes affecting the system. After all, a general resilience assessment has helped to find out that the system presents a low resilience, and therefore an inherent risk of collapse in the event of external shocks that can make thresholds to be crossed. A further analysis, focused on the specific resilience, has been performed for the risk of flooding. The results show that the engineering resilience approach through which this risk has been traditionally managed could have helped to underestimate flood hazard and therefore contributed to an irresponsible occupation of the floodable area. New approaches towards resilience risk management could help to address the problematics caused by floods and also open new opportunities for long-term sustainability of the system. The panarchy approach can offer useful insights for the assessment of SES from the scope of complexity and multi-scale interactions, providing an approach consistent with the evolutionary resilience characteristic of CAS. However, there still exist some gaps, both in its perception by practitioners and in the availability of solid grounds towards the standardization of its application, implying that there is still room for further improvement in this methodological approach

Insights from a panarchy approach to the resilience of a social-ecological system: the case of La Marjaleria (Castelló, Spain)

The idea of evolutionary resilience in complex systems has gained attention in the recent years. This approach provides better insights in the context of emergence and adaptive capacity, that characterises complex adaptive systems (CAS) such as social-ecological systems (SES), than traditional reductionist and engineering resilience approaches. Departing from this premise, a set of methodologies that are funded in these principles have been developed, with promising perspectives for the analysis of these systems. In this thesis, one of these methodologies, the panarchy, is applied into La Marjaleria case study, in Castelló (Spain), in order to explore its capacity to offer new useful insights for the management of the area throught he scope of resilience. Looking for a systematic methodological approach, the focal SES and their scales are initially defined, followed by an adaptive cycle approach, performed for each of the scales, and finally a panarchy approach that is applied through focusing on the interactions between the adaptive cycles at the different scales. The results are also presented through a new graphic approach that accounts for the representation of the adaptive cycles at the different scales and their interactions in a dynamic manner that includes the time variable, and that can therefore facilitate its understanding. From the analysis performed, the system is found to be stuck in a rigidity trap because of the lack of transformative visions from both scales above (municipality) and below (households). Furthermore, the influence of cascade effects from both the upper and lower scale in the manner through which the focal scale navigated the adaptive cycle has become evident. The panarchy has also helped to discover some existing mismatches and archetypes affecting the system. After all, a general resilience assessment has helped to find out that the system presents a low resilience, and therefore an inherent risk of collapse in the event of external shocks that can make thresholds to be crossed. A further analysis, focused on the specific resilience, has been performed for the risk of flooding. The results show that the engineering resilience approach through which this risk has been traditionally managed could have helped to underestimate flood hazard and therefore contributed to an irresponsible occupation of the floodable area. New approaches towards resilience risk management could help to address the problematics caused by floods and also open new opportunities for long-term sustainability of the system. The panarchy approach can offer useful insights for the assessment of SES from the scope of complexity and multi-scale interactions, providing an approach consistent with the evolutionary resilience characteristic of CAS. However, there still exist some gaps, both in its perception by practitioners and in the availability of solid grounds towards the standardization of its application, implying that there is still room for further improvement in this methodological approach

Estat de la població d’oroneta cuablanca (Delichon urbicum) a Almassora (Castelló) l’any 2019 i anàlisi comparativa amb dades de 2012

En aquest treball es recullen les dades del cens de nius d’oroneta cuablanca (Delichon urbicum) realitzat al municipi d’Almassora (Castelló) entre els mesos de maig i juny de 2019. Aprofitant les dades recollides a l’article de Miquel Barberà “La nidificació d’oroneta cuablanca (Delichon urbicum) a la ciutat d’Almassora (Castelló) durant l’any 2012”, s’ha dut a terme una anàlisi comparativa de les dades per observar les tendències poblacionals i de nidificació al municipi. Entre la informació recollida, s’inclou: nombre de nius, estat dels nius, orientació dels nius, ubicació segons l’alçada, i influència del tipus d’edifici en els hàbits de nidificació. S’ha observat que el nombre de nius ocupats no ha variat significativament als punts de mostreig comparats, però s’ha detectat una major quantitat de nius trencats i una tendència cap a la nidificació en colònies. Es discuteix la importància dels edificis singulars i protegits com a zones clau per a la nidificació de l’oroneta cuablanca.This work collects the data obtained in a census of nests of the Common House Martin (Delichon urbicum) in the city of Almassora (Castelló) during May and June 2019. Using the data provided by Miquel Barberà work, “The breeding of Common House Martins (Delichon urbicum) in the city of Almassora (Castelló) during the 2012 season”, a comparative analysis of data has been carried out in order to observe population and nesting trends in the municipality. The information collected includes: number of nests, state of nests, orientation of nests, height of nests, and influence of the building type in nesting habits. The results show that the number of occupied nests has not changed significantly, but a higher number of broken nests together with a tendency to nest in colonies has been detected. Finally, the importance of specific and protected buildings as places for nesting of Common House Martins is discussed