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Social-Ecological Functional Types: Connecting People and Ecosystems in the Argentine Chaco

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Abstract

Sustainability science recognizes the importance of the integrated assessment of the ecological and social systems in land-use planning. However, most studies so far have been conceptual rather than empirical. We developed a framework to characterize the social-ecological systems heterogeneity according to its functioning through the identification of social–ecological functional types (SEFT). The SEFT framework builds on the plant, ecosystem and agent functional type approaches, taking a step forward to integrate the dimensions of social–ecological systems into an operational product to characterize administrative units in a hierarchical way. To illustrate this novel framework, we described the heterogeneity of SEFT in the Argentine Chaco by clustering administrative entities. This area is a global deforestation hotspot and has diverse social actors that harness ecosystem services in multiple, and sometimes contrasting and conflictive, ways which determines an urgent need for land-use planning. We combined data from national census and remote sensing to identify SEFT by clustering census tracts based on 17 input variables that integrate key human, ecological and interaction processes across landscapes. We identified three classes and eight subclasses of SEFT. Ecological variables defined the first level of heterogeneity (classes), while human variables and the variables of interactions between the human and ecological components defined a second level of heterogeneity (subclasses). The degree of anthropization and mean annual productivity were important variables to explain the first two axes in the ordination (32% of the total variance). This framework offers a conceptually novel and comprehensive approach to understand the spatial heterogeneity of social–ecological systems functioning, which could play a pivotal role to support conservation or land-use planning in rural areas.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (Argentina), Universidad de Buenos Aires (Argentina). This work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) CRN III 3095, which is supported by the US National Science Foundation (Grant GEO-1128040), and an associated complementary project financed by CONICET. The project CGL2014-61610-EXP, which is supported by Dirección General de Investigación Científica y Técnica, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) also provided fundings for the research. We would also like to thank anonymous referees and the editors, who have made valuable comments to a previous version of the manuscript, and to Dr. Ignacio Gasparri who also made useful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Análisis Regional y Teledetección (LART), IFEVA, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. Vallejos, S. Aguiar & J. M. Paruelo

  2. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    M. Vallejos & J. M. Paruelo

  3. Instituto Nacional de Investigación Agropecuaria, INIA La Estanzuela, Ruta 50 km 11, Colonia, Uruguay

    M. Vallejos & J. M. Paruelo

  4. Cátedra de Ecología, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    S. Aguiar

  5. Instituto de Matemática Aplicada San Luis, Universidad Nacional de San Luis and CONICET, San Luis, Argentina

    G. Baldi

  6. Grupo de Estudio de Agroecosistemas y Paisajes Rurales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, CONICET, Balcarce, Argentina

    M. E. Mastrángelo

  7. Grupo de Ecología de Pastizales, Instituto de Ecología y Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad de la República, Montevideo, Uruguay

    F. Gallego & J. M. Paruelo

  8. Departamento de Biología y Geología, Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain

    M. Pacheco-Romero

  9. Centro Andaluz para la Evaluación y Seguimiento del Cambio Global, Universidad de Almería, Almería, Spain

    M. Pacheco-Romero & D. Alcaraz-Segura

  10. Departamen de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Granada, Av. Fuentenueva s/n. 18071, Granada, Spain

    D. Alcaraz-Segura

  11. iecolab, Interuniversitary Institute for Earth System Research (IISTA), University of Granada, Av. del Mediterráneo s/n. 18006, Granada, Spain

    D. Alcaraz-Segura

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  1. M. Vallejos
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  2. S. Aguiar
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  3. G. Baldi
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  4. M. E. Mastrángelo
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  5. F. Gallego
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  7. D. Alcaraz-Segura
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  8. J. M. Paruelo
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Correspondence to M. Vallejos.

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Author’s Contribution

MV, SA, GB, MEM, FG and JMP conceived of or designed the study; MPR and DAS contributed new methods or models; MV analyzed data, performed research and wrote the paper and SA, GB, MEM, FG, MPR, DAS and JMP participated in the wring process.

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Vallejos, M., Aguiar, S., Baldi, G. et al. Social-Ecological Functional Types: Connecting People and Ecosystems in the Argentine Chaco. Ecosystems 23, 471–484 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-019-00415-4

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