@misc{10481/97171,
year = {2021},
month = {4},
url = {https://hdl.handle.net/10481/97171},
abstract = {In recent years, the popularity of rock-climbing has grown tremendously, setting an
increasing pressure on cliff habitats. Climbing may be particularly harmful in the
Mediterranean biome due to its appropriate environmental conditions for climbing. A few
studies have identified the effect of climbing on plant diversity at a small-scale (namely
locally or even just in specific climbing areas). However, no studies exist assessing the
potential risk of rock-climbing on a broad-scale (e.g., regional or national). The study
aims to identify the priority locations and priority cliff plant species in Spain to focus
future study efforts. Spain was selected because it is a plant biodiversity hotspot, with
a great diversity of endemic and endangered species, and one of the most popular
destinations for climbers. We used a geographic information system-based approach
to model the spatial concurrence among Spanish climbing areas (and climbing intensity),
natural protected areas (NPAs), and distribution of threatened cliff plants (and their IUCN
threat category). We found that 53.5% of climbing areas in Spain are located within
a NPA, most of them falling into NPAs of medium protection level. We mapped 151
threatened cliff plants, identifying four medium priority Mediterranean locations and eight
priority species in which future research efforts should be focused. High-priority study
locations are absent in Spain according to our spatial modeling. For the first time on
a national scale, this study identifies areas in which climbing represents a potential
threat for cliff habitats and threatened plants. These findings contribute to designing field
studies on the effects of rock-climbing on Mediterranean cliffs, laying the groundwork for
a sustainable, yet challenging, balance between the protection of these unique habitats
and rock-climbing.},
organization = {National Geographic Society (Grant
Numbers EC-50532R-18 and NGS-82734R-20)},
organization = {American
Alpine Club (AAC)},
organization = {Asociación Española de
Ecología Terrestre (AEET)},
organization = {Project B1-RNM-163-
UGR18-Programa Operativo FEDER 2018},
publisher = {Frontiers Media},
keywords = {biodiversity conservation},
keywords = {Mediterranean plants},
keywords = {priority natural areas},
title = {Assessment of the Potential Risk of Rock-Climbing for Cliff Plant Species and Natural Protected Areas of Spain},
doi = {10.3389/fevo.2021.611362},
author = {deCastro-Arrazola, Indradatta and March-Salas, Martí and Lorite Moreno, Juan},
}