Agriculture, grazing and land changes at the Serra de Tramuntana Karstic Mountains.

Abstract

Karst landforms are one of the most outstanding characteristics of the Serra de Tramuntana range on the island of Mallorca, especially regarding traditional farming and the landscape wilderness. Good examples of polje-like depressions, dolines, karstic gorges and karrenfields are widely distributed over the mountain range. Owing to karrenfields occupying a large surface area in the Serra to the exclusion of arable land, the traditional activity based on the repetitive burning of the Ampelodesmos mauritanica brushwoods for cattle-raising promotes hastening deforestation and soil removal.

Keywords

• traditional farming
• deforestation
• agriculture
• karst
• livestock
• Mediterranean