Landscape changes in a Western sector of the Bages county (Barcelona)

Abstract

This study lies within the field of environmental analysis, and deals specifically with the reconstruction and study of the different facies which have given form the present structure and dynamics of the landscape in the short space of time between 1840 and the present. It also involves en attempt to reconstruct the different forms of anthropic exploitation, and to study the way in which these have affected the environment. Various documentary sources were consulted, as this was considered the only satisfactory means of investigating past conditions. The study could be summed up as an analysis of the recent history of the environment.

Given the importance of agricultural activities in the study area, emphasis has been placed on the analysis of the evolution of the agrosystem, as a possible catalyst of change. The aim is to asses the extent to which the natural potential of the area has been modified, transformed or replaced by new facies. Attention is drawn to the way in which the different forms of agricultural exploitation (a) have caused transformations in the potential ecological structures in the environment, and (b) have led to major anthropic morphogeny and major transformations in biological exploitation. Likewise, the need for more detailed study of the historical evolution of the environment is pointed out, considering this to be the most satisfactory means of understanding the dynamics of the present landscape structure. In the case study of Bages, this method has made it possible: (a) to refute some of the previous beliefs about ecological potential of the Central Catalan Depression, and (b) to demonstrate that present potential is a consequence of man's intervention, which has virtually destroyed primitive formations. However, the reconversion to new agro-ecological combinations, which are at present being implemented, will spare them from total extermination.