Spain’s Diverse Landscapes: A Journey Through Nature’s Majesty
Spain’s Biogeographical Regions
4.1 The Great Outdoors of Spain
Spain’s diverse environment comprises various interconnected elements, forming distinct biogeographical regions or landscapes. These areas vary in size and are characterized by unique physical features, including relief, climate, vegetation, and water resources.
4.1.1 Humid Spain
Located in northern Spain, along the Cantabrian coast and in Galicia, Humid Spain experiences an oceanic climate with regular, abundant rainfall (over 800 mm annually) and mild temperatures with low thermal amplitude due to the sea’s influence.
The characteristic vegetation includes deciduous forests of beech and oak, along with heath shrubs like heather, gorse, and broom, and abundant meadows.
The rivers, primarily on the Cantabrian side, are plentiful, regular, and short, originating in the mountains near the coast, making them suitable for waterworks.
Predominant soils are brown earth, rich in humus and slightly acidic. Favorable topography makes them suitable for cultivation, while slopes are good for pasture. Ranker, an undeveloped soil prone to erosion, is also present, suitable only for forest and grass.
4.1.2 Mediterranean Spain
Located south of Humid Spain, including the Balearic Islands, Ceuta, and Melilla, Mediterranean Spain has a Mediterranean climate with low rainfall (less than 800 mm annually, even below 300 mm in the Ebro Valley and SE). Coastal temperatures are mild with low range, while inland areas experience a continental climate with high amplitudes.
The vegetation is dominated by evergreen forests of oaks and cork oaks, maquis (dense, tall thickets like jara and mastic), garrigue (dense, low thickets like thyme and rosemary), and steppe vegetation (discontinuous thorny shrubs like palmetto and espartal).
Rivers on the Atlantic slopes are long with summer droughts, while those on the Mediterranean side are short (except the Ebro), irregular, and experience severe summer droughts.
The soils have a clayey horizon and vary depending on the bedrock:
- Siliceous rock: Southern brown earth, a poor soil with little humus, used for meadows and pastures.
- Limestone: Mediterranean red soil (terra rossa), nutrient-rich, used for meadows, riverbanks, and marginal crops like almond and olive.
- Clay: Vertisols or black earth, the most fertile soil in Spain.
- Arid areas: Steppe soils, largely dependent on bedrock, like the gray serosem or subdesert soil in the Ebro Valley, very poor in humus.
4.1.3 Mountain Spain
Located in territories above 1,000 meters, Mountain Spain has an annual rainfall above 1,000 mm and average temperatures below 10°C, with cool summers and cold winters (one month near 0°C). Snow plays a significant role.
Vegetation is staggered:
- Pyrenees: Subalpine (conifers), alpine (grasslands), and nival (rock-dwelling plants or bare rock).
- Other mountains: Lack the subalpine conifer stage, with typical forest zones and, at higher altitudes, scrub and grassland.
Mountain streams have maximum discharge in spring (snowmelt) and minimum in winter (snow retention). High mountain rivers have a nival regime, while others might be pluvio-nival or nivo-pluvial, with a secondary maximum in autumn.
Soils are poorly developed due to erosion. Rankers and southern brown earth are found on siliceous rocks, while rendzinas and brown earth are found on limestone.
4.1.4 The Canary Islands
Located in the Atlantic off Northwest Africa, the Canary Islands have a steppe or desert climate in the lowlands with low, erratic rainfall (less than 300 mm annually in steppe areas, less than 150 mm in desert areas). Rainfall increases with altitude (up to 1,000 mm). Temperatures are warm year-round (no month below 17°C) with low thermal amplitude (less than 8°C).
Vegetation shows Mediterranean, African, and Atlantic influences, with significant endemism and relic species. Mountainous relief creates vegetation floors: bush, palm tree-drag-juniper, laurel-fayal-heather, pine, and Canary scrub.
Water resources are scarce and erratic, with streams and rivers appearing superficially. Aquifers predominate.
Soils are volcanic, often forming badlands. They are poorly developed and often unproductive.
3 The Influence of Human Activity
IN THE MIDDLE
Human activities (anthropogenic) on the natural environment is a twofold aspect:
3.1 .- Provocative environmental problems
The main negative actions of humans on the environment are:
a) The air pollution caused by primary pollutants discharged directly into the atmosphere or secondary pollutants generated by chemical and photochemical reactions of primary pollutants. Among the most prominent pollutants are the moncarbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, chlorine … Among the main consequences of air pollution include: – Acid rain: precipitation is about one degree higher than normal acidity. It occurs when emissions of sulfur and nitrogen mix with water vapor in the air and become diluted solutions of sulfuric acid and nitric acid, falling to the earth’s surface in rainwater. – The thinning of the ozone layer is primarily due to chlorine contained in CFCs (clorofluocarburos) used in aerosols and refrigerants. In Spain, the thickness has decreased by 8%. – The greenhouse is caused by the emission into the atmosphere of gases such as methane and carbon dioxide. These gases let in sunlight, but once it reaches Earth, retain and prevent escape into space, acting like the glass of a greenhouse. – The bell of dust and pollution that are formed on the major cities in winter and anticyclonic situation is due to dust and smoke particles in suspension. – Noise: it is considered a pollutant that causes the deterioration in environmental quality.b) Deforestation: or destruction of vegetation cover is due wings following reasons: – agriculture and livestock, since the remote past, have plowed thousands of square miles of forest that have been devoted to crops or pasture for livestock. – Urban employment, industrial facilities, second homes … have been made in many cases eliminating forest. – Forest fires affect large areas of woodland
c) pollution, desertification and soil erosion: soil contamination is the work of industrial and municipal discharges and, above all, abuse in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in farming. Erosion is a natural phenomenon “is increased by the marked slopes and torrential nature of rainfall and deforestation is caused by logging or fire. Desertification and loss of fertile topsoil is the result of extreme erosion.d) The exploitation and pollution of the water: the exploitation is the result of increased water consumption for agricultural use, urban and industrial. These works have changed the channel and the flow of rivers and aquifers have been overexploited, resulting in a decline in its level. The water pollution comes from the disposal of the waste produced by humans. It originates from various economic and human activities – rural pollution: from cleaning the stables and the inappropriate use of fertilizers and pesticides. – Industrial pollution: caused by the expulsion of untreated discharges into rivers and seas, causing toxic algal blooms of poisonous metals …- urban pollution: due to the discharge of untreated sewage, which contain bacteria and viruses and the discharge of phosphates and nitrates found in detergents. e) Municipal Solid Waste: Also have a prominent role pollutant, due to non-biodegradable nature of many of them. The increase in production has resulted in the suburbs of many cities and towns proliferate landfills that pollute soil and water, altering the landscape and creating environmentally harmful gases
3.2 .- Protector of natural areas of increased awareness about the degradation of nature has led it to adopt measures for the protection, planning and management of the natural environment. This concern arose because in the late ’70s with the creation of ICON (Institute for Conservation of Nature) and since 1977 when it created the Secretariat for Planning and the Environment. Since then the concern for the health of ecosystems has gained ground in Spain and has been working on two lines of action: