RESEARCH
1007/s00267-003-0022-5
Analysis of Spatial and Temporal Evolution of
Vegetation Cover in the Spanish Central Pyrenees:
Role of Human Management
SERGIO M. VICENTE-SERRANO*
Departamento de Geografía y Ordenación del Territorio
Universidad de Zaragoza
Pedro Cerbuna 12 Ciudad
Universitaria 50009, Spain
TEODORO LASANTA
Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología (CSIC)
Campus de Aula Dei. Apdo.
Zaragoza 202 50015, Spain
ALFREDO ROMO
Laboratorio de Teledetección.
Departamento de Física Aplicada I. Facultad de Ciencias
Universidad de Valladolid
Valladolid 47071, Spain
ABSTRACT / A vegetation cover increase has been identified
at global scales using satellite images and vegetation indices.
This fact is usually explained by global climatic change pro-
cesses such as CO2 and temperature increases. Neverthe-
less, although these causes can be important, the role of so-
Vegetation cover changes play an important role in
the development of environmental processes (Van Wi-
jngaarden 1991) due to the strong relationships be-
tween the biosphere and parameters such as atmo-
spheric CO2 content (Braswell and others 1997, Zeng
and others 1999), the great influence of vegetation on
the hydrological cycle at different spatial scales (Chang-
non and Demissie 1996, Aber and others 1995, Kergoat
1998, Hutges and others 1998); on sediment transport
(Kok and others, 1995, García-Ruiz and others 1995);
and on landscape structure and diversity (Kammer-
bauer and Ardon 1999, Olson and others 2000).
Numerous studies (Riebsame and others 1994,
Lucht and others 2002, Myneni and others 1998, Kawa-
Published online January 13, 2005.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; email:
svicen@posta.unizar.es
Environmental Management Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 802– 818
DOI: 10.
cioeconomic transformations must be considered in some
places, since in several areas of Northern Hemisphere an im-
portant change in management practices has been detected.
Rural depopulation and land abandonment have reactivated
the natural vegetation regeneration processes. This work anal-
yses the vegetation evolution in the central Spanish Pyrenees
from 1982 to 2000. The analysis has been done by using cali-
brated-NDVI temporal series from NOAA-AVHRR images. A
positive and significant trend in NDVI data has been identified
from 1982 to 2000 coinciding with a temperature increase in
the study area. However, the spatial differences in magnitude
and the sign of NDVI trends are significant. The role of land
management changes in the 20th century is considered as a
hypothesis to explain the spatial differences in NDVI trends.
The role of land-cover and human land-uses on this process
has been analyzed. The highest increment of NDVI is detected
in lands affected by abandonment and human extensification.
The importance of management changes in vegetation growth
is discussed, and we indicate that although climate has great
importance in vegetal evolution, land-management changes
can not be neglected in our study area.
bata and others 2001) point out the recent increment
of vegetation cover in different world ecosystems, ad-
ducing that the principal cause is the rise in tempera-
tures and/or precipitation. Peñuelas and Filellas
(2001) showed significant changes in vegetation cycles
(flowering, fructification, vegetative period, etc), and
Fitter and Fitter (2002) indicated that a temperature
increment implies more favorable conditions in cold
regions, with an advance of flowering phases and a
longer vegetative period.
Nevertheless, along with the influence of global cli-
matic change, regional or local conditions must be
considered in the processes of vegetation increase. The
vegetation evolution depends on topographical condi-
tions (Florinsky and Kuryakova 1996). The vegetation
succession phases (Vicente-Serrano and others 2003),
soil type (Farrar and others 1994) and the human
management and land use (Hester and others 1996,
Stohlgren and others 1998) also play major roles. The
© 2005 Springer Science⫹Business Media, Inc.

Figure 1. Study area.
greatest growth in vegetation biomass has been de-
tected in medium and high latitudes in the Northern
Hemisphere (Kawabata and others 2001, Lucht and
others 2002, Shabanov and others 2002, Slayback and
others 2003). These papers have studied regions where
the main effect is expected to be climatic and where the
human activities have little influence on landscape and
vegetation cover. Moreover, the vegetation increment
coincides with a temperature increase that facilitates
longer vegetative periods, high evapotraspiration rates,
and significant vegetation growth. In this paper, a re-
gion with dominant human influence is studied to
point out that human factors cannot be neglected in
many other areas because management changes, aban-
donment, and extensification can influence the vege-
tation increment.
European Mediterranean mountain areas are areas
in which important land use changes have taken place
as a consequence of depopulation and the abandon-
ment of traditional economic activities (García-Ruiz
and Lasanta 1990, Bazin and Roux 1992, Lasanta 1990).
For centuries, the entire territory was exploited for a
wide range of purposes. Nevertheless, throughout the
20th century, only the most fertile areas (valley bot-
toms) have been occupied by intensive land uses,
whereas the slopes have been abandoned, and an in-
tense revegetation process has thus been reactivated
(García-Ruiz 1990, MacDonald and others 2000, Las-
anta and others 2000). The Mediterranean mountain
system constitutes an appropriate space to study if tra-
ditional land use location and abandonment processes
affect the vegetation biomass increment.
The objectives of this work are twofold. The first is to
check whether the increment of vegetation biomass,
identified by other works on a global scale, is also
manifested in a representative Mediterranean moun-
tain area, and if the climatic changes have some influ-
ence in this process. The second is to determine the
Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 803
role of human land management in the spatial and
temporal changes in vegetation cover. The analysis has
been achieved using a multi-temporal series of NDVI
obtained from satellite images (NOAA-AVHRR).
Study Area
The study area is located in the high basin of the
Aragón river, a tributary of the Ebro river, in the Span-
ish central Pyrenees (Figure 1). The surface of the
basin is 1772 km2, with a wide range of altitudes, from
2886 m in the Collarada peak to less than 500 m in the
Yesa reservoir.
Relief and lithology are placed in parallel bands with
a NW–SE direction (Soler-Sampere and Puigdefábregas
1972). In the northern part (Axial Pyrenees), the lithol-
ogy is Palaeozoic (limestones, schists, and clays). The
most elevated peaks of the basin are located in the
Sierras Interiores (limestones and sandtones), with eleva-
tions over 2500 m. The next lithological band corre-
sponds to Eocene flysch areas, with ridged relieves,
moderate slopes (between 20% and 50%) and altitudes
between 800 and 2200 m (García-Ruiz and Puigdefábre-
gas 1982). The southernmost sector corresponds to the
Inner Depression, with eocene marls, forming a wide
valley dominated by quaternary deposits (terraces and
glacis), altitude range from 500 to 900 m and soft slopes
(less than 20%).
The basin has a transition climate that oscillates
between Atlantic (north and east) and Mediterranean
influences (south and west). In the inner depression,
the mean annual precipitation is 800 mm. This value is
overcome in the rest of the basin; above 1500 m the
precipitation is higher than 1500 mm. The annual vari-
ability is very high, and the rainy season extends from
October to June. Mean temperature is 12ºC in the
inner depression. During the cold season (November
804 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others
to April) the isotherm of 0ºC is located at 1.549 m over
sea level (García-Ruiz and others 1985).
The traditional management has been maintained
for centuries, based on an integral use of land resources
and guaranteeing the population’s food in a self-sup-
plying economy with very few exchanges with the exte-
rior and a very high sheep census. This fact implied
important transformations in natural spaces. Several
forest areas were cut down, and cultivation areas and
livestock pastures established. The forests located in
low slopes (Quercus faginea, Pinus sylvestris, and Fagus
sylvatica) were cut and the lands used for cereal culti-
vation (Lasanta 1989). The forests located at high alti-
tude were cut down too, and summer livestock pastures
were created (Montserrat 1992, García-Ruiz and Valero
1998, Ferrer 1988). The land use in the landscape
patches was based on potential productivity and envi-
ronmental limitations, since subsistence farming and
the population’s food depended on a balance between
land exploitation and natural resource conservation
(Puigdefábregas and Fillat 1986).
During the 20th century, the Pyrenees underwent im-
portant economic transformations, with a high depopula-
tion and extensification of large areas (García-Ruiz 1988).
This process was induced by developments in communi-
cations and the difficulty of competing with flat areas in
the Ebro valley (easier access, business centers, great soil
fertility, easy mechanization, and creation of irrigated
lands). At present, only the flat areas in the valley bottoms
with good accessibility are cultivated with tractors, while
all slopes have been abandoned. The abandoned fields
cover 480.5 km2 (27,3% of the studied area) and consti-
tute the dominant landscape in the flysch areas (Lasanta
1988). The sheep and cattle census dropped markedly
with the transhumance system crisis (migration of sheep
to barrens and fallows of the Ebro valley during the cold
season). During the twentieth century the basin lost more
than 80% of the sheep population, and livestock has
exercised minimal grazing pressure on large areas, espe-
cially in the low slopes (Vicente-Serrano 2001). Sheep and
cattle were concentrated exclusively on cultivated lands
and in summer pastures. García-Ruiz and Lasanta (1993)
point out that cultivated lands contribute between 66%
and 79% of livestock feeding, and the summer pastures
contribute between 18% and 27%. The low slopes (for-
ests, shrub, and abandoned fields) contribute only be-
tween 3% and 7%.
Methodology
Using Remote Sensing for Vegetation Monitoring
Remote sensing has been widely used for monitoring
vegetation dynamics since it allows analysis of large
areas with a high temporal frequency (Gutman 1991).
The high temporal frequency and the availability of
long time series of NOAA-AVHRR images make the
data very useful for monitoring vegetation changes
(Gutman and others 1995).
The utility of remote sensing for vegetation moni-
toring is based on the response of vegetation cover to
radiation in the visible and near-infrared regions of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Visible radiation is mainly
absorbed by vegetation in photosynthesis processes
while near infrared radiation is principally reflected,
owing to the internal structure of leaves (Knipling
1970). High vegetation activity is characterized by low
reflectivity of solar visible radiation and high reflectivity
in the near infrared region of the spectrum.
Different indices have been developed for monitor-
ing and measuring vegetation status using spectral data
(Bannari and others 1995). Nevertheless, the most fre-
quently used is the Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index (NDVI) (Tucker 1979), which is calculated as:
NDVI ⫽ (infrared - red)/(infrared ⫹ red).
There are some shortcomings in NDVI use for mon-
itoring vegetation status. The relationships among veg-
etation parameters (leaf area index, vegetation cover,
green biomass, and NDVI) are often nonlinear (Gillies
and others 1997, Choudhury and others 1994), since
the NDVI signal saturates before the maximum biomass
is reached (Carlson and others 1990). Moreover, back-
ground soil properties, such as surface soil color, affect
NDVI, introducing some errors (Huete 1988).
Despite these shortcomings, numerous authors have
pointed out the close relationship between NDVI and
several ecological parameters. The NDVI measures the
fractional absorbed photosynthetically active radiation
(FPAR) (Myneni and others 1995) and exhibits a
strong relationship with vegetation parameters such as
green leaf area index (Baret and Guyot 1991, Carlson
and Ripley 1997), green biomass (Tucker and others
1983, Gutman 1991, Cihlar and others 1991, Diallo and
others 1991, Wylie and others 2002), or fractional veg-
etation cover (Gillies and others 1997, Duncan and
others 1993).
In fact, the NDVI extracted from remote sensing is
an excellent tool for monitoring vegetation status and
its temporal dynamic. However, the creation of NDVI
temporal series is problematic due to problems related
to the nonuniformity of satellite time-series that can
restrict the satellite use for temporal analysis of vegeta-
tion cover (Gutman and others 1995, Goward and oth-
ers 1991). Satellite changes, orbit drift, and sensor deg-
radation of NOAA satellites cause temporal
inhomogeneities in AVHRR data (Price 1991). Satellite
orbit drift results in a systematic change of illumination

and local time of observation that produces artificial
temporal trends in the data (Kogan and Zhu 2001),
whereas satellite changes cause breaks in temporal
curves. These shortcomings indicate that adequate
tools are needed to calibrate the NDVI for subsequent
temporal analysis (Staylor 1990).
Nowadays different NDVI global data series of con-
trasted calibration reliability are available from AVHRR
data (PAL and GIMMS NDVI) (Justice and Townshend
1994, James and Kalluri 1994) that have been widely
used in the ecosystem monitoring (Pelkey and others
2000, De Fries and others 2000, Salinas-Zavala and oth-
ers 2002). The PAL-NDVI database (available at http://
daac.gsfc.nasa.gov) has monthly NDVI data from 1981 to
2000 and is a very useful tool to determine trends in
vegetation cover by means of satellite observations. The
calibration of this series has been meticulous, and a lot
of effort has been expended to develop postlaunch
calibration coefficients, tested in areas without vegeta-
tion cover where a high NDVI temporal stability is
assumed (NASA 2003). Moreover, the homogenization
of the series has been checked with good results (Smith
and others 1997, Kaufmann and others 2000). Kauf-
mann and others (2000) analyzed whether the changes
in solar zenith angle (SZA), due to orbital drift and
sensor changes, significantly affect the temporal homo-
geneity of NDVI series. These authors show that the
NDVI data series calibrated using the PAL postlaunch
calibration coefficients (Rao and Chen 1995, 1999) are
not affected by SZA changes. In fact, they highlight that
NDVI is not statistically significantly related to SZA
except for biomes with relatively low leaf area. Kawa-
bata and others (2001), Pelkey and others (2000), Sha-
banov and others (2002), among other authors, have
used the PAL-NDVI series for analysis of vegetation
trends at continental and global scales; in this paper the
PAL-NDVI series have been used to analyze the tempo-
ral evolution of vegetation in the Aragon river basin
from 1982 to 2000.
The spatial resolution of the PAL-NDVI database (8
km grid cell size) is insufficient to determine spatial
differences in vegetation evolution. It is necessary to
use higher spatial resolution databases to determine
the spatial differences in vegetation trends. In order to
solve this problem, we have used another NDVI tempo-
ral database. The new NDVI database has been created
in Spain by LATUV (Remote Sensing Laboratory of
Valladolid University) at local area coverage resolution
(LAC, 1 km2 grid cell size). The LATUV has had one
reception antenna for AVHRR images since 1993. The
images are received daily and atmospherically and geo-
metrically corrected (Illera and others 1996a). After
the clouds are eliminated (Delgado 1991), residual
Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 805
atmospheric errors in the correction process are re-
duced with the creation of monthly composites using
the maximum value composite method (MVC) (Hol-
ben 1986). The calibration process is contrasted, and
standard published postlaunch calibration coefficients
are used (Rao and Chen 1995, 1999). These coeffi-
cients have also been used by the NASA to calibrate the
PAL-NDVI database, guaranteeing the temporal homo-
geneity of the NDVI series (Kaufmann and others
2000). The LATUV-NDVI series has been extensively
applied in the Iberian peninsula with numerous goals:
identification of drought areas (González-Alonso and
others 1995, 2000, 2001), yield productivity and natural
vegetation monitoring (Vázquez and others 2001, Illera
and others 2000), or forest fire danger (Illera and
others 1996b, Calle and others 2000).
The principal deficiency of this database is that it
only contains information from 1993 to 2000. The tem-
poral coverage of both databases is different; for this
reason, the PAL-NDVI database has only been used to
analyze whether in the whole of the study area there is
a significant increase of NDVI as well as the role of
climatic variables in the process. The LATUV-NDVI
database has been used to determine whether, between
1993 and 2000, significant spatial differences can be
identified in vegetation trends and the magnitude of
the changes.
Finally, a problem can occur in NDVI data related to
the topography of the study area. The area analyzed has
a complex topography and viewing geometry. For this
reason, nonlambertian reflectance of plant canopies
and topography would affect reflectance of red and
near infrared of NOAA-AVHRR satellites. Topographi-
cal effects are not considered in the radiometric cor-
rection of the LATUV-NDVI series; nevertheless the
band ratio used in the calculation of NDVI is useful for
reducing variations caused by surface topography (Hol-
ben and Justice 1981). Although the band ratio does
not totally eliminate the problems caused by topogra-
phy and view-Sun geometry, in low spatial resolution
images (in the case of LAC-AVHRR) the problems are
not very serious. Burgess and others (1995) analyzed
the topographic effects on AVHRR-NDVI considering
mountainous spaces. They highlighted that in a com-
plex topographic area errors caused by topography
using 1-km NDVI data are approximately 3%, and they
suggest that, for operational correction of AVHRR
NDVI data, it is reasonable to ignore high-order topo-
graphic effects such as sky occlusion and adjacent hill
illumination.
Both NDVI series (PAL and LATUV) have a monthly
temporal resolution that records the annual vegetation
cycles, highly contrasted in the study area because of
806 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others
the high thermal differences between the hot and cold
seasons. The objective of this work is to analyze if trends
in vegetation are being recorded in the Pyrenees, and
the monthly temporal resolution can make it difficult
to recognize trends because of seasonal NDVI oscilla-
tion. To solve this problem we have used only annual
data, using the value of annual integrated area under
the monthly NDVI values as a measure of vegetation
productivity during the year. Numerous authors have
proven that integrated annual curves of NDVI (⌺NDVI)
are highly related to vegetation biomass productivity dur-
ing the year (Tucker and others 1981, 1983, Tucker and
Sellers 1986, Prince and Tucker 1986, Prince 1991). This
method summarizes the annual NDVI information and
facilitates the identification of temporal trends, because
only one datum per year of vegetation productivity is
analyzed. The final PAL-NDVI database used in this work
contains 13 annual temporal series that reflect the tem-
poral vegetation dynamics in cells of 8 ⫻ 8 km with 19
temporal records each. The average of the 13 series was
used to analyze the vegetation trend in the whole of the
study area from 1982 to 2000. The LATUV-NDVI database
contains 1772 spatial series of 8 temporal records. Every
series reflects the dynamic of NDVI annual integrated
values in cells of 1 km2 from 1993 to 2000.
Statistical Analysis
Trends in NDVI were identified by means of non-
parametric correlation coefficients (␳-Spearman) using
annual NDVI values and one series of time in years (i.e.,
in the PAL-NDVI series, 1982 was considered as year 1
and 2000 as 19). A nonparametric coefficient was se-
lected because it is more robust than parametric coef-
ficients and does not make it necessary to assume the
normality of the data series (Lanzante 1996). The val-
ues of ␳ indicate if there are significant trends in veg-
etation evolution. Positive and significant values indi-
cate an increase of the vegetation biomass and negative
values indicate a regressive trend. Trends were consid-
ered significant when P ⬍ 0.1.
An important shortcoming of this method is that the
nonparametric coefficient only shows the existence of
significant trends in the NDVI series, but not the magni-
tude of change. A small but sustained change can result in
a higher coefficient than a higher but abrupt change. To
determine the areas that have undergone the highest
changes in vegetation biomass we have used regression
analysis between the series of time (independent variable)
and the annual NDVI temporal series (dependent vari-
able). The results yield several models (i.e., one for each
spatial series of 1 ⫻ 1 km of grid size in LATUV-NDVI data
series) with the form y ⫽ mx ⫹ b. The slope of the models
(m) indicates the evolution of annual NDVI values, and we
can consider that higher slope values coincide with high
biomass growth. Therefore, first, we have to determine
the areas that have had a positive trend in the growth of
vegetation using a nonparametric correlation and, sec-
ond, we have to analyze the magnitude of change using
linear regression.
We analyzed whether the recent climate evolution
has some influence on the temporal evolution of
⌺NDVI using the annual data of mean temperature and
precipitation by means of the averages of 12 weather
stations located within the Aragon river basin. Trend
analysis was applied to climatic data to determine if a
trend of the same sign as the vegetation is detected;
then, the relationship between NDVI, temperature and
precipitation was analyzed.
Results of the recent vegetal evolution (1993–2000)
were related spatially to land cover and actual land uses
for determining the role of human management in the
process. Two digital maps (land cover and land use) were
generated (scale 1:100,000) using interpretation of aerial
photographs (1990) and fieldwork to identify mainly the
abandoned fields and the areas used by livestock for food
(Lasanta and Errea 2001). We used aerial photographs
from before 1990 to determine with more accuracy the
abandoned fields. (In 1990 several areas were affected by
vegetation colonization, which did not allow us to detect
the old field limits). The abandoned field areas previous
to 1957 were considered as land use of abandoned fields
independently of the actual land cover. We did not use
the digital standard land cover maps (i.e., CORINE) be-
cause the categories are not well adapted for characteris-
tics of land cover in the study area, and it does not reflect
the actual land use of the territory. Between 1990 and
2000 there were small changes in land management
within the study area and a high stability of land cover,
and principally, land-use has been dominant (Lasanta and
others 2003).
In the land cover map (Figure 2), 10 categories were
included: cultivation, pastures, shrub cover, leafy for-
ests, coniferous forest, mixed forests, bare rock and
alpine pastures, badlands, water, and urban areas, but
in the following analysis the last three categories were
not considered because their coverage is small. The
land use map includes: summer pastures, pastures used
during the rest of the year, yielding forest, abandoned
fields, cultivated areas, low vegetated areas and bare
rock. The land use map reflects the current use of the
territory, but also considers the past land use. We have
taken special care in the map with agricultural spatial
evolution (mainly abandonment of fields) and shep-
herding areas, since they constitute the principal signal
of management change, which should have important
consequences in the vegetation cover dynamic.

Figure 2. Land cover classes in the study area (1:100,000).
We analyzed the percentage of surface covered by
the different land uses and land covers affected by
significant trends to identify the land use and land
cover categories in which vegetation growth is more
important. We solved the problem of the different spa-
tial resolution of land cover and land use maps (1:
100,000), and the temporal series obtained using satel-
lite images, by converting the digital maps into grids of
the same size as NOAA-AVHRR images. This included
assigning to each cell the code of the dominant vege-
tation cover or land use in the cell.
Two-variance analyses were used to determine whether
there are significant differences in the magnitude of
change (slope of the regression models) between the
different land covers and land uses and to determine the
influence of the human management on the evolution of
the vegetation biomass in the study area. Bonferroni con-
trast was used to identify the categories between there are
differences statistically significant.
Results
Temporal Evolution of NDVI from 1982 to 2000
Using PAL-NDVI Series
The monthly evolution of the NDVI in the study area
between 1982 and 2000 is shown in Figure 3, where the
Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 807
annual cycles of vegetation are recorded. There are
important interannual differences in maximum and
minimum annual peaks. There is a clear increase in the
final years of the 1990s, with annual maximum NDVI
values higher than in the 1980s. Thus, a temporal in-
crease of monthly NDVI values can be detected, mainly
in the summer months.
Figure 4 shows the temporal evolution of the annual
integrated values of NDVI between 1982 and 2000 in
the whole of the study area. There is a positive trend
and statistical significance (␳ ⫽ 0.78, P ⬍ 0.01). Thus,
we can confirm that a growth in vegetation biomass is
identified in the study area in 1980s and 1990s. Never-
theless, the growth is not continuous, and in some years
(such as 1986, 1992, and 1995), a decrease of NDVI
values was detected in relation to the general trend.
Relationships Between NDVI Evolution and Climatic
Variables (Precipitation and Temperatures)
Figure 5 shows the temporal evolution of mean an-
nual temperature and total annual precipitation in the
study area. There is an important increase in mean
annual temperature between 1981 and 2000, from an
average of about 11ºC in the beginning of the 1980s to
values around 12ºC in the latter years of the 1990s. The
trend is positive and significant in terms of temperature
evolution (␳ ⫽ 0.51, P ⬍ 0.05), although not in precip-
808 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others

Figure 3. Monthly evolution of NDVI in the study area from NDVI-PAL data series (1981–2000). Series indicates the average of
the pixels in the study area.

Figure 4. Annual integrated NDVI evolution from 1982 to 2000 in the whole study area (average of the partial spatial series).

itation (␳ ⫽ 0.16, P ⫽ 0.50). Thus, only two precipita-
tion weather stations of the 12 considered have signif-
icant and positive trends (P ⬍ 0.05), while in the
temperature analysis six stations have significant and
positive trends.
The evolution of SNDVI annual values can be related
to these climatic variables, because the temperature in-
crease can make longer annual vegetative cycles that de-
termine a higher vegetation productivity. In Figure 6 the
relationship between mean annual temperature and aver-
age SNDVI is shown. There is a high positive relationship
between both parameters (Figure 6). The correlation is
positive (r ⫽ 0.57) and statistically significant (P ⬍ 0.01).
Nevertheless, the correlation between annual precipita-
tion and SNDVI is not significant (r ⫽ -0.078, P ⫽ 0.38).
Therefore, the annual SNDVI is conditioned mainly by
mean temperature values, and the influence of precipita-
tion has less importance. The close relationship between
temperature and SNDVI would explain the increase of
vegetation productivity in this area associated with a high
increase of temperatures between 1982 and 2000, which
implies a longer vegetative cycles, more assimilation of
atmospheric CO2, higher evapotranspiration rates, and
milder climatic conditions in a mountain environment
where environmental constraints usually restrict the veg-
etation growth.

Figure 5. Annual mean temperature and total annual precipitation evolution (1982–2000) in the high Aragon river basin.
Figure 6. Relationship between annual integrated NDVI and
annual mean temperature (1982–2000)
Spatial Distribution of Temporal Vegetation Evolution
Although a general increment of ⌺NDVI has been
recorded in the study area between 1982 and 2000
using the average of the PAL 8-km2 series, the spatial
Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 809
differences in vegetation evolution are very different
and have been detected even at PAL-NDVI resolution.
In Figure 7 the spatial distribution of slope in the
analysis of vegetation evolution is shown. Slope values
are positive in all areas that represent the vegetation of
the study area. Although the spatial resolution is coarse,
we can distinguish that some areas have undergone a
higher vegetation increase than others.
We can not compare these results with other envi-
ronmental and land use variables due to the coarse
resolution, so for analysing the factors that can deter-
mine the spatial differentiation of trends we have used
the LATUV-NDVI series at 1-km2 grid cell size.
Comparison of PAL (8-km) and LATUV NDVI (1-km) Series
for Monitoring Vegetation Dynamics. First, we checked that
both (LATUV and PAL) NDVI series are comparable for
analyzing trends in the study area. Figure 8 shows the
temporal evolution of monthly NDVI-PAL and LATUV
series between 1993 and 2000 using the average of every
cell of both grids. The evolution of curves is temporally
similar, and the correlation coefficient between the series
is 0.74 (P ⬍ 0.01). The atmospheric correction and cali-
bration process is similar, and although higher values are
recorded in the PAL-NDVI data series in general, the
comparability is not a problem.
810 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others
Figure 8. Relationship between PAL and LATUV NDVI temporal data series. Both series are made using the average of every
pixels in the study area.
Spatial Differences in ⌺NDVI Temporal Evolution (1993–
2000). Figure 9 shows the areas in which the trend in
vegetation increase is statistically significant. Trend is
positive and significant in 414 km2, which represents
the 24% of the study area. Negative and significant
trends are not detected. There are clear spatial patterns
of trend in ⌺NDVI. Areas with significant trends are
located mainly on spaces with elevations of 1000 –1600
m, on high slopes where the main management process
is agricultural abandonment during the 20th century.
These spaces coincide with the flysch lithological area,
where agricultural fields were concentrated during tra-
ditional management (until middle 20th century).
Figure 7. Spatial differ-
ences of slope in regression
analysis, using annual inte-
grated PAL-NDVI series
from 1982 to 2000 as depen-
dent variable, and time se-
ries as dependent variable.
These areas have been abandoned and natural vegetal
regeneration is the dominant process at present (Las-
anta and others 2000).
Figure 10 shows the spatial distribution of slope
values from regression analysis, where annual ⌺NDVI in
every cell was the dependent variable and series of time
(in years from 1993 to 2000) the independent variable.
Picture 1 shows the original values, and picture 2 en-
hances the general spatial patterns using a low pass
filter (3 ⫻ 3). It is shown that higher slopes are con-
centrated in areas with positive and significant trends,
in spaces covered by shrublands and mixed and conif-
erous forest that settle in areas of abandoned fields.
 Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 811

Figure 9. Spatial distribution of signifi-

cant trends in SNDVI data at 1-km2 grid
cell size. LATUV-NDVI series
(1993–2000).

Figure 10. Spatial distribution of slopes

from regression analysis, where annual inte-
grated NDVI is the dependent variable and
time series independent variable
(1993–2000).

Influence of Land Uses and Land Covers in Spatial Dif-
ferentiation of Trends in ⌺NDVI. Table 1 shows the per-
centage of the different land covers affected by signif-
icant and nonsignificant trends in ⌺NDVI. The
percentage oscillates between 28.7% in coniferous for-
ests and 11% in bare rock and summer pastures. Co-
niferous forests, mixed forests, and shrubland areas
show that an important percentage of their surface is
affected by significant trends in ⌺NDVI values from
1993 to 2000. Therefore, the spatial distribution of
vegetation trends has clear patterns determined by the
differences in vegetation covers. Trend evolution is not
independent of the land covers in the study area and
the present vegetation of the basin affects the ⌺NDVI
evolution.
More significant are differences in ⌺NDVI trends
related to present land uses (Table 2). The percentage
of study area affected by significant trends oscillates
between 10.4% in areas of low vegetation cover and
30.8% in abandoned fields. Nowadays, areas with high
extensification, such as abandoned fields and pastures
where livestock graze in nonsummer months, represent
the highest percentages of area affected by positive and
significant trends. For this reason, the present manage-
812 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others

Table 1. Surface percentage in different land covers affected by significant and nonsignificant trends in SNDVI
evolution (1993–2000)
Land covers Nonsignificant Significant Total
Cultivation 87.9 12.1 100
Pasture 78 22.1 100
Leafy forest 80.4 19.6 100
Coniferous forest 71.3 28.7 100
Mixed forest 74 26 100
Shrubland 76.2 23.8 100
Bare rock and summer pasture 89 11 100

Table 2. Percentage of surface in different land uses affected by significant and nonsignificant trends in the SNDVI
evolution (1993–2000)
Land use Nonsignificant Significant Total
Summer pastures 84.26 15.74 100
Pastures used during the rest of the year 75.32 24.68 100
Yielding forest 80.15 19.85 100
Abandoned fields 69.20 30.80 100
Cultivated areas 83.80 16.20 100
Low vegetated areas 89.56 10.44 100
Bare rock and summer pastures 89.08 10.92 100

Table 3. ANOVA analysisa

Source Sum of squares df Mean square F ratio P
Between groups 0.076 6 0.012 15.89 ⬍.001
Within groups 1.38 1765 0.0008
Total (corrected) 1.46 1771
a
Independent variable is the slope of regression between SNDVI values and time series in years. Categorical factor is land-cover.

ment practices determine significantly the rates of veg-
etation annual growth in the study area, coinciding the
land uses of low utilization with areas of more positive
trends. We must highlight that abandoned fields and
pastures in nonsummer months represent 52.8% of the
study area, and both together represent 69.1% of the
areas with positive and significant trends.
Differences in Magnitude of Change in ⌺NDVI Related to
Land Uses and Land Covers. Table 3 shows the results of
analysis of variance where it is indicated that significant
differences are recorded in slope of temporal regres-
sions related to different land-covers.
Figure 11 shows means and confidence intervals of
slope values for the different land covers. Cultivations,
mixed forest, and shrubland areas have the highest
mean values of slopes (0.043, 0.045, and 0.046 respec-
tively). Pastures, leafy forests, and specially areas of bare
rock with alpine pastures have the lowest slopes. This
fact indicates that in these areas the magnitude of
vegetation biomass increase has been lower.
Table 4 indicates that significant differences are re-
corded between slope values for the different present
land-uses.
Figure 12 shows the means and confidence intervals
of slope values in relation to different land uses. The
highest mean values belong to cultivated areas and
abandoned fields (mean ⫽ 0.51 in both land uses),
whereas summer pastures and areas of bare rock with
alpine pastures have low slope values and, indeed, a
slower ⌺NDVI increase. Pastures in nonsummer sea-
sons also show high values of slope, whereas yielding
forest and low vegetated areas present a higher variabil-
ity caused by the low number of cases in both groups
(1.78% and 4.33% of the study area, respectively).
We must highlight that abandoned lands and
present cultivations have similar mean slope values.
Nevertheless we have proved in trend analysis that the
proportion of cultivations affected by significant and
positive trends is low (16.1%) in contrast with the pro-
portion of abandoned fields affected by significant and
 Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 813

Figure 11. Means and confidence inter-

vals of slope in function of the different
land covers: (1) cultivation, (2) pastures,
(3) leafy forest, (4) coniferous forest,
(5) mixed forest, (6) shrublands, (7)
bare rock and alpine pastures.

Table 4. ANOVA analysisa

Source Sum of squares df Mean square F ratio P
Between groups 0.129 6 0.02 26.87 ⬍ 0.01
Within groups 0.923 17.65 0.00052
Total (corrected) 1.052 1771
a
Independent variable is the slope of regression between SNDVI values and temporal series of years. Categorical factor is land-use.

Figure 12. Means and confidence inter-

vals of slope in function of land-uses: (1)
summer pastures, (2) pastures used dur-
ing the rest of the year, (3) yielding for-
est, (4) abandoned fields, (5) cultivated
areas, (6) low vegetated areas, (7) bare
rock and summer pastures.

positive trends (30.8%). This fact indicates that al-
though growth in both land uses is similar (equal mean
slopes), the change has been more sustained over time
in abandoned fields and is reflected in the high per-
centage of these spaces affected by positive trends.
Nevertheless, in cultivated areas the change has not
been progressive and only in the latter years of the
1990s has a significant change been recorded, probably
caused by the high temperatures and precipitation re-
corded during these years. This indicates that aban-
doned fields, more than other land uses, are increasing
their vegetation biomass progressively more indepen-
dently of climate conditions.
Discussion and Conclusions
A positive trend in the temporal evolution of vege-
tation biomass (using the annual integrated NDVI:
⌺NDVI) has been shown in the Spanish Central
Pyrenees using the nonparametric test and linear re-
814 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others
gression. Both methods have been widely used in the
analysis of temporal series for determining the signifi-
cance and magnitude of changes.
The results do not seem to be a consequence of
inhomogeneities or artificial trends in the series, which
have been previously calibrated. The results obtained
coincide with the evolution observed at global or con-
tinental scales by other authors. Kawabata and others
(2001) observe positive and significant trends of NDVI
between 1981 and 1990 in large areas of the world.
They found a high relationship between temperature
and NDVI annually (r2 ⫽ 0.3) and seasonally (r2 ⫽ 0.7)
and concluded that a thermal global increase could be
the principal cause of the positive evolution of vegeta-
tion biomass. Shabanov and others (2000) show the
highest increases of NDVI in high latitudes of the North
Hemisphere, mainly in the spring, confirming the cli-
matic cause of trends. Myneni and others (1997) ob-
tained similar results when analyzing the 1981–1991
period. They detected a seasonal amplitude increase of
the NDVI curves of around 10%, and an increase of the
vegetative period of 12 ⫾ 4 days). Slayback and others
(2003) found significant positive trends in averaged
NDVI for latitude bands above 35ºN, with trends in
general higher in the 1990s than in the 1980s. Lucht
and others (2002) obtained similar results, identifying a
strong vegetation increase from 1991, coinciding with
the temperature increment at global scale (Houghton
and others 2001).
In studies of smaller territories, other authors obtain
similar trends, but in explaning the causes of vegetation
evolution, they introduce the human role. Fuller
(1998) analyzed seven years of NDVI composites from
1987 to 1993 in Senegal and observed spatial differ-
ences in the temporal trends of NDVI depending on
agricultural and pasture management. Pelkey and oth-
ers (2000) indicated in Tanzania that the creation of
protected natural areas increases the growth of the
vegetation cover and vegetation biomass with respect to
areas with more intensive use.
In the Central Spanish Pyrenees we have shown that,
in general, there is a significant and positive trend that
can be related to the increment of annual mean tem-
perature. The close relationship between temperature
and ⌺NDVI seems confirm it. The results obtained in
the present work coincide with the results obtained
globally in areas with important climatic and environ-
mental limitations, confirming that not only high lati-
tudes are being affected by vegetation increases. Cli-
matic change processes are also affecting mountainous
areas, where temperature is the main restricted factor
for vegetation growth.
Nevertheless, in contrast to high northern latitudes,
where there is a higher spatial homogeneity in vegeta-
tion cover and trends (Lucht and others 2002, Slayback
and others 2003, Myneni and others 1997) due to
vegetation homogeneity (coniferous forests) and low
human management, the growth vegetation rhythm in
the mountain area analyzed in this paper is in strong
contrast to present land covers and land management
practices.
We must highlight that the results obtained could be
affected by the number of land uses and land covers
selected, because this mountainous area is complex and
the spatial diversity is very high. Nevertheless, at the
NOAA image spatial resolution (1 km2), the general
land covers and land uses are represented in the maps
used. The classes assignment to 1 km2, using the cate-
gory more represented (in surface) in the pixel, could
introduce some errors, however it is necessary to guar-
antee the spatial comparison between NDVI data set
and the categorical information. Moreover, the results
are spatially consistent and clear NDVI patterns are
recorded, which coincide with the spatial distribution
of land uses and land covers.
Abandoned fields present the greatest NDVI in-
crease, followed by shrub cover areas and forests. The
smallest increases correspond to areas with scarce or no
vegetation, including the badland areas, alpine pas-
tures, and summer pastures. These results point out the
important role of human management in the process
of vegetation biomass evolution. Areas intensively used
in the past and now abandoned or used extensively with
low cattle pasture have the greatest increase of vegeta-
tion cover with the most significant positive trends in
NDVI. The management practices and land covers in
the study area have not experienced any changes be-
tween 1990 and 2000 (Lasanta and others 2000, 2003).
For this reason the changes in NDVI between 1993 and
2000 are mainly caused by vegetation cover growth or
leaf area increases in the different land cover categories
(shrublands, pastures, and forests).
Other works by Lasanta and others (2000); and Vi-
cente-Serrano and others (2003) carried out in the
central Pyrenees considering a longer period (the sec-
ond half of 20th century), conclude that in low and
medium slopes the revegetation process has been more
intense than in other areas. Agricultural abandonment
and a shepherding decrease have produced a gradual
recovery of vegetal cover condition previous to inten-
sive uses. Abandoned fields are covered by herbaceous
species (Brachipodium pinnatum, Carex flacca, Galium lu-
cidum, Sanguisorba minor, etc.) immediately after aban-
donment; three to five years later the first shrubs ap-
pear (Genista scorpius and Rosa spp.). Fields are

completely covered with shrubs 25 or 30 years after
abandonment. Later on, Crataegus monogyna, Prunus
spinosa; and Juniperus communis appear, and 60 years
from the time of abandonment the first trees appear
(Pinus sylvestris) (Montserrat 1990, Molinillo and others
1997). Trends in vegetation biomass growth in aban-
doned field landscapes are very evident.
Forest spaces are also undergoing a general biomass
increase, although a lower one with respect to the low
slopes of abandoned fields. At present, the forests are
little used (De la Riva 1997), and there is an advance in
the maturity stages. The forest areas with fewer NDVI
increments coincide with woodlands conserved in the
traditional farming system (beech forests and some oak
woods). This is true because their location was unfavor-
able for use as of cultivated fields and there was a
conservation interest because the community extracted
firewood, wood, and livestock pastures in these areas
(Puigdefábregas 1981). Other forests (coniferous and
mixed forest) advance more quickly in their vegetative
stages because they are succession woods that arise after
abandonment, i.e., the first decades of the 20th century
(Lasanta 1988).
Summer pastures present a low vegetation increase.
This evolution can be explained by the greater amount
of cattle shepherding in summertime than in other
areas studied (Vicente-Serrano 2001). Moreover, the
extreme environmental conditions will limit the succes-
sion process and vegetation recovery.
In summary, this paper has shown that in a repre-
sentative area of the Mediterranean mountain regions,
there is a significant increase of vegetation activity,
mostly explained by temperature increases. However,
the intense management transformations during 20th
century can not be neglected, since the temporal evo-
lution is spatially heterogeneous and the highest vege-
tation growth is recorded in abandoned areas.
Acknowledgements
The data used by the authors in this study include
data produced through funding from the Earth Observ-
ing System Pathfinder Program of NASA’s Mission to
Planet Earth in cooperation with the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration. The data were pro-
vided by the Earth Observing System Data and Infor-
mation System (EOSDIS), Distributed Active Archive
Center at Goddard Space Flight Center which archives,
manages, and distributes this data set. The authors wish
to acknowledge financial support from the following
projects: La recuperación del espacio agrícola como
estrategia de gestión integrada del territorio en área de
montaña: El ejemplo de los Altos Valles del Aragón y
Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 815
del Gállego (P049/2000), financed by the DGA; Carac-
terización espacio-temporal de las sequías en el valle
medio del Ebro e identificación de sus impactos
(BSO2002-02743); La identificación de fuentes de sedi-
mento y áreas generadoras de escorrentía en relación
con los cambios de uso del suelo (REN/2000-1709-
C04/01/GLO), and Efectos erosivos del fuego a lo
largo de un gradiente climático. Aportaciones para la
gestión de áreas quemadas (REN/2002-00133), fi-
nanced by the CICYT. We would like to thank to the
three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.
References
Aber, J. D., S. V. Ollinger, C. A. Federer, P. B. Reich, M. L.
Goulden, D. W. Kicklighter, J. M. Melillo, and R. G. Lath-
rop. 1995. Predicting the effects of climate change on water
yield and forest production in the northeastern United
States. Climate Research 5:207–222.
Bannari, A., D. Morin, F. Bonn, and A. R. Huete. 1995. A
review of vegetation indices. Remote Sensing Reviews
13:95–120.
Baret, F., and G. Guyot. 1991. Potential and limits of vegeta-
tion indices for LAI and APAR assessment. Remote Sensing of
Environment 35:161–173.
Bazin, G., and B. Roux. 1992. Les zones de montagne et
défavorisées méditerranénnes françaises. Situation et évolu-
tion récente. Etudes économiques. París.
Braswell, B. M., D. S. Schimel, and E. Linder. 1997. The
response of global terrestrial ecosystems to interannual tem-
perature variability. Science 278:870 – 872.
Burgess, D. W., P. Lewis, and J. P. AL. Muller. 1995. Topo-
graphic effects in AVHRR NDVI data. Remote Sensing of
Environment 54:223–232.
Calle, A., J. L. Casanova, A. Romo, and F.González-Alonso.
2000. An operational system for the forest fire risk assess-
ment by means of NOAA images. Pages 363 –368 J. L.
Casanova Remote sensing in the 21st century: economic
and environmental applications. Balkema Rotterdam.
Carlson, T. N., and D. A. Ripley. 1997. On the relation be-
tween NDVI, fractional vegetation cover, and leaf area in-
dex. Remote Sensing of Environment 62:241–252.
Carlson, T. N., E. M. Perry, and T. J. Schumugge. 1990.
Remote estimation of soil moisture availability and frac-
tional vegetation cover for agricultural fields. Agricultural
and Forest Meteorology 52:45– 69.
Changnon, S. A., and M. Demissie. 1996. Detection of changes
in streamflow and floods resulting from climate fluctuations
and land use-drainage changes. Climatic Change 32:411– 421.
Choudhury, B. J., N. U. Ahmed, S. B. Idso, R. J. Reginato, and
C. S. T. Daughtru. 1994. Relation between evaporation
coefficients and vegetation indices studied by model simu-
lations. Remote Sensing of Environment 50:1–17.
Cihlar, J., L. St-Laurent, and J. A. Dyer. 1991. Relation be-
tween the normalized difference vegetation index and eco-
logical variables. Remote Sensing of Environment 35:279 –298.
De Fries, R. S., M. C. Hansen, and J. R. G. Townshend. 2000.
816 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others
Global continuous fields of vegetation characteristics: a lin-
ear mixture model applied to multiyear 8 km AVHRR data.
International Journal of Remote Sensing 21:1389 –1414.
De la Riva, J. 1997. Los montes de la Jacetania. Caracterización
fisica y explotación forestal. Publicaciones del Consejo de
Protección de la Naturaleza en Aragón. Serie Investigación.
Zaragoza, 358 pp.
Delgado, J. 1991. Clasificación y análisis de nubes mediante
imágenes Meteosat. Unpublished PhD thesis. Universidad
de Valladolid.
Diallo, O., A. Diouf, N. P. Hanan, A. Ndiaye, and Y.Prévost.
1991. AVHRR monitoring of savana primary production in
Senegal, West Africa: 1987–1988. International Journal of Re-
mote Sensing 12:1259 –1279.
Duncan, J., D. Stow, J. Franklin, and A. Hope. 1993. Assessing
the relationship between spectral vegetation indices and
shrub cover in the Jordana Basin, New Mexico. International
Journal of Remote Sensing 14:3395–3416.
Farrar, T. J., S. E. Nicholson, and A. R. Lare. 1994. The
influence of soil type on the relationships between NDVI,
rainfall and soil moisture in semiarid Botswana II. NDVI
response to soil moisture. Remote Sensing of Environment
50:121–133.
Ferrer, C. 1988. Los recursos pascícolas del Pirineo aragonés.
Pages 23– 65 in Actas de la XXVIII Reunión Científica de la
Sociedad Española para el Estudio de los Pastos. SEEP. Jaca.
Fitter, A. H., and R. S. R. Fitter. 2002. Rapid changes in
flowering time in British plants. Science 296:1689 –1691.
Florinsky, I. V., and G. A. Kuryakova. 1996. Influence of
topography on some vegetation cover properties. Catena
27:123–141.
Fuller, D. O. 1998. Trends in NDVI time series and their
relation to rangeland and crop production in Senegal,
1987–1993. International Journal of Remote Sensing
19:2013–2018.
J. M.García-Ruiz 1988. La evolución reciente de la agricultura
de montaña y sus efectos sobre la dinámica del paisaje.
Revista de Estudios Agrosociales 146:7–37.
J. M.García-Ruiz 1990. Geoecología de las áreas de montaña.
Geoforma Ediciones, Logroño 337.
J. M.García-Ruiz, and T. Lasanta. 1990. Land-use changes in
the Spanish Pyrenees. Mountain Research and Development
10:267–279.
J. M.García-Ruiz, and T. Lasanta. 1993. Land-use conflicts as
result of land-use change in the Central Spanish Pyrenees:
a review. Mountain Research and Development 13:295–304.
J. M.García-Ruiz, and J.Puigdefábregas. 1982. Formas de
erosión en el flysch eoceno surpirenaico. Cuadernos de In-
vestigación Geográfica 8:85–124.
J. M.García-Ruiz, and B. Valero. 1998. Historical geomorphic
processes and human activities in the Central Spanish
Pyrenees. Mountain Research and Development 18:309 –320.
J. M.García-Ruiz, J.Puigdefábregas, and J. Creus. 1985. Los
recursos hídricos superficiales del Alto Aragón. Colección
de Estudios Altoaragoneses, Huesca 224.
J. M.García-Ruiz, T. Lasanta, L. Ortigosa, P. RuisFlaño,
C.Martí, and C.González. 1995. Sediment yield under dif-
ferent land-uses in the Spanish Pyrenees. Mountain Research
and Development 15:229 –240.
Gillies, R. R., T. N. Carlson, J. Cui, W. P. Kustas, and K. S.
Humes. 1997. A verification of the triangle method for
obtaining surface soil water content and energy fluxes from
remote measurements of the Normalized Difference Vege-
tation Index (NDVI) and surface radiant temperature. In-
ternational Journal of Remote Sensing 18:3145–3166.
F.González-Alonso, J. M. Cuevas, J. Casanova, A. Calle, and P.
Illera. 1995. Drought monitoring in Spain using satellite
remote sensing. Pages 88 –90 P. Askne Sensors and envi-
ronmental applications of remote sensing. Balkema
Rotterdam.
F.González-Alonso, A.Vázquez, J. M. Cuevas, A. Calle, and J. L.
Casanova. 2000. Towards an operational monitoring of
drought conditions in Spain using satellite images. Pages
403 – 405 J. L. Casanova Remote sensing in the 21st century:
economic and environmental applications. Balkema
Rotterdam.
González-Alonso, F., A. Calle, A. Vázquez, J. L. Casanova, J. M.
Cuevas, and A. Romo. 2001. Seguimiento de la sequía en
España, en el año 2000, mediante técnicas de teledetección
espacial. Pages 83– 85 in J. I. Rosell and Martínez-Casasno-
vas (eds.), Teledetección, medioambiente y cambio global.
Universidad de Lleida, Lleida.
Goward, S. N., B. Markham, D. G. Dye, W. Dulaney, and Y.
Yang. 1991. Normalized difference vegetation index mea-
surements from the advanced very high resolution radiom-
eter. Remote Sensing of Environment 35:257–277.
Gutman, G. 1991. Vegetation indices from AVHRR: an update
and future prospects. Remote Sensing of Environment
35:121–136.
Gutman, G., D. Tarpley, A. Ignatov, and S. Olson. 1995. The
enhanced NOAA global land dataset from the advanced
very high resolution radiometer. Bulletin of the American
Meteorological Society 76:1141–1156.
Hester, A. J., D. R. Miller, and W. Towers. 1996. Landscape
scale vegetation change in the Cairngorms, Scotland, 1946 –
1988: implications for land management. Biological Conser-
vation 77:41–51.
Holben, B. N. 1986. Characteristics of maximum-value com-
posite images from temporal AVHRR data. International
Journal of Remote Sensing 7:1417–1434.
Holben, B. N., and C. O. Justice. 1981. An examination of
spectral band rationing to reduce the topographic effect on
remotely sensed data. International Journal of Remote Sensing
2:115–133.
Houghton, J. T., Y. Ding, D. Giggs, M. Noguet, P. Van del
Linden, X. Dai, A. Maskell, and C. A. Johnson. 2001. Cli-
mate change 2001: the scientific basis. Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, Cambridge.
Huete, A. R. 1988. A soil adjusted vegetation index (SAVI).
Remote Sensing of Environment 25:295–309.
Hutges, R. W. A., P. Kabat, S. W. Running, W. J. Shuttleworth,
and others. 1998. Biospheric Aspects of the Hydrological
Cycle. Journal of Hydrology 212–213:1–21.
Illera, P., J. Delgado, and A. Calle. 1996a. A navigation algo-
rithm for satellite images. International Journal of Remote
Sensing 15:577–588.

Illera, P., A.Fernández, and J. Delgado. 1996b. Temporal evo-
lution of the NDVI as an indicator of forest fire danger.
International Journal of Remote Sensing 17:1093–1105.
Illera, P., J. Delgado, A.Fernández-Unzueta, and A. A.Fernán-
dez Manso. 2000. Integration of NOAA-AVHRR and mete-
orological data in a GIS-application for vegetation monitor-
ing in Castilla y Le ón, Spain. Pages 47 –54 J. L. Casanova
Remote sensing in the 21st century: economic and environ-
mental applications. Balkema Rotterdam.
James, M. E., and S. N. V. Kalluri. 1994. The Pathfinder
AVHRR land data set: an improved coarse resolution data
set for terrestrial monitoring. International Journal of Remote
Sensing 15:3347–3363.
Justice, C. O., and J. R. Townshend. 1994. Data sets for global
remote sensing: lessons learnt. International Journal of Remote
Sensing 15:3621–3639.
Kammerbauer, J., and C. Ardon. 1999. Land use dynamics and
landscape change pattern in a typical watershed in the
hillside region of Central Honduras. Agriculture, Ecosystems
and Environment 75:1–2.
Kaufmann, R. K., L. Zhou, N. V. Shabanov, R. B. Myneni, and
C. J. Tucker. 2000. Effect of orbital drift and sensor changes
on the time series of AVHRR vegetation index data. IEEE
Transactions in Geoscience and Remote Sensing 38:2584 –2597.
Kawabata, A., Ichii K., and Y. Yamaguchi. 2001. Global moni-
toring of interannual changes in vegetation activities using
NDVI and its relationships to temperature and precipita-
tion. International Journal of Remote Sensing 22:1377–1382.
Kergoat, L. 1998. A model for hydrological equilibrium of leaf
area index on a global scale. Journal of Hydrology :268 –286.
Knipling, E. B. 1970. Physical and physiological basis for the
reflectance of visible and near infrared radiation from veg-
etation. Remote Sensing of Environment 1:155–159.
Kogan, F. N., and X. Zhu. 2001. Evolution of long-term errors
in NDVI time series: 1985–1999. Advances in Space Research
28:149 –153.
Kok, K., B. M. W. Clavaux, W. M. Heerebout, and K.
Bronsveld. 1995. Land degradation and land cover change
detection using low-resolution satellite images and the CO-
RINE database: a case study in Spain. ITC Journal
1995-3:217–227.
Lanzante, J. R. 1996. Resistant, robust and non-parametric
techniques for the analysis of climate data: theory and
examples including applications to historical radiosonde
station data. International Journal of Climatology
16:1197–1226.
Lasanta, T. 1988. The process of desertion of cultivated areas
in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. Pirineos 132:15–36.
Lasanta, T. 1989. Evolución reciente de la agricultura de
montaña. Geoforma Edición, Logroño 220.
Lasanta, T. 1990. Tendançes actuelles de l’organisation spa-
tiale des montagnes espagnoles. Annales de Géographie
551:51–71.
Lasanta, T., and M. P. Errea. 2001. Usos agrarios del suelo.
Pages 43– 46 in El medio físico y su peligrosidad en un
sector del Pirineo Central. Ministerio de Ciencia y Tec-
nología and IGME, Zaragoza.
Lasanta, T., S. M. Vicente Serrano, and J. M. Cuadrat. 2000.
Vegetation Cover in the Pyrenees 817
Marginación productiva y recuperación de la cubierta veg-
etal en el Pirineo: un caso de estudio en el valle de Borau.
Boletín de la AGE 29:5–28.
Lucht, W., I. C. Prentice, R. B. Myneni, S. Sitch, P. Friedling-
stein, W. Cramer, P. Bousquet, W. Buermann, and B. Smith.
2002. Climatic control of the high-latitude vegetation
greening trend and Pinatubo effect. Science 296:1687–1689.
Lasanta, T., S. M. Vicente Serrano, and J. M. Cuadrat. 2003.
Mountain mediterranean landscape evolution caused by
the abandonment of traditional primary activities: a study of
the Spanish central Pyrenees. Applied Geography
(submitted).
MacDonald, D., J. R. Crabtree, G. Wiesinger, T. Dax, N.
Stamou, P. Fleury, J.Gutiérrez Lazpita, and A. Gibom. 2000.
Agricultural abandonment in mountain areas of Europe:
Environmental consequences and policy response. Journal
of Environmental Management 59:47– 69.
Molinillo, M., T. Lasanta, and J. M.García-Ruiz. 1997. Manag-
ing mountainous degraded landscapes after farmland aban-
donment in the Central Spanish Pyrenees. Environmental
Management 21:587–598.
Montserrat, G. 1990. Estudio de la colonización vegetal en
campos abandonados del valle de Aísa (Jaca, Huesca). In-
forme del Proyecto LUCDEME: Erosión y colonización veg-
etal en campos abandonados, Jaca, 77 pp.
Montserrat, J. 1992. Evolución glaciar y postglaciar del clima y
la vegetación en la vertiente sur del Pirineo: Estudio pali-
nológico. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología. Jaca, 147 pp.
Myneni, R. B., F. G. Hall, P. J. Sellers, and A. L. Marshak. 1995.
The interpretation of spectral vegetation indexes. IEEE
Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 33:481– 486.
Myneni, R. B., C. D. Keeling, C. J. Tucker, G. Asrar, and R. R.
Nemani. 1997. Increase plant growth in the northern high
latitudes from 1981–1991. Nature 386:698 –702.
Myneni, R. B., C. J. Tucker, G. Asrar, and C. D. Keeling. 1998.
Interannual variations in satellite-sensed vegetation index
data from 1981 to 1991. Journal of Geophysical Research
103:6145– 6160.
NASA. 2003. PAL daily tile readme. http://daac.gsfc.nasa.
gov/campaign_docs/land_bio/glbdst_data.html.
Olsson, E. G. A., G. Austrheim, and S. N. Grenne. 2000.
Landscape change patterns in mountains, land use and
environmental diversity, Mid-Norway 1960-1993. Landscape
Ecology 15:155–177.
Pelkey, N. W., C. J. Stoner, and T. M. Caro. 2000. Vegetation
in Tanzania: assessing long term trends and effects of pro-
tection using satellite imaginery. Biological Conservation
94:297–309.
J.Peñuelas, and I. Filellas. 2001. Responses to a Warming
World. Science 294:793–795.
Price, J. C. 1991. Timing of NOAA afternoon passes. Interna-
tional Journal of Remote Sensing 12:193–198.
Prince, S. D. 1991. Satellite remote sensing of primary pro-
duction: comparison of results for sahelian grasslands
1981–1988. International Journal of Remote Sensing
12:1301–1311.
Prince, S. D., and C. J. Tucker. 1986. Satellite remote sensing
of rangelands in Botswana II: NOAA-AVHRR and herba-
 818 S.M. Vicente-Serrano and others
ceous vegetation. International Journal of Remote Sensing
7:1555–1570.
Puigdefábregas, J. 1981. El pinar altoaragonés de Pinus sylves-
tris. Estructura y producción primaria neta. Unpublished
PhD thesis. University of Navarra, 757 pp.
J.Puigdefábregas, and F. Fillat. 1986. Ecological adaptation of
traditional land-uses in the Spanish Pyrenees. Mountain
Research and Development 6:63–72.
Rao, C. R. N., and J. Chen. 1995. Inter-satellite calibration
linkages for the visible and near-infrared channels of the
Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on the
NOAA-7, -9 and -11 spacecraft. International Journal of Remote
Sensing 16:1931–1942.
Rao, C. R. N., and J. Chen. 1999. Revised post-launch calibra-
tion of the visible and near- infrared channels of the Ad-
vanced Very High Resolution Radiometer on the NOAA-14
spacecraft. International Journal of Remote Sensing
20:3485–3491.
Riebsame, W. E., W. B. Meyer, and B. L. Turner. 1994. Mod-
elling land use and cover as part of global environmental
change. Climatic Change 28:1–10.
Salinas-Zavala, C. A., A. V. Douglas, and H. F.Díaz. 2002.
Interannual variability of NDVI in Northwest Mexico. Asso-
ciated climatic mechanisms and ecological implications.
Remote Sensing of Environment 82:417– 430.
Shabanov, N. V., L. Zhou, Y. Knyazikhin, R. B. Myneni, and
C. J. Tucker. 2002. Analysis of interannual changes in north-
ern vegetation activity observed in AVHRR data from 1981
to 1994. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Rensing
40:115–130.
Slayback, D. A., J. E. Pinzon, S. O. Los, and C. J. Tucker. 2003.
Northern hemisphere photosynthetic trends 1982–99.
Global Change Biology 9:1–15.
Smith, P. M., S. N. V. Kalluri, S. D. Prince, and R. S. DeFries.
1997. The NOAA/NASA pathfinder AVHRR 8-km land data
set. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing 63:12–31.
Soler-Sampere, M., and C.Puigdefábregas. 1972. Esquema li-
tológico del Alto Aragón Occidental. Pirineos 106:5–15.
Staylor, W. F. 1990. Degradation rates of the AVHRR visible
channel from the NOAA-6, -7, and -9 spacecraft. Journal of
Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology 7:411– 423.
Stohlgren, T. J., T. N. Chase, R. A. Pielke, T. G. F. Kittel, and
J. S. Baron. 1998. Evidence that local land use practices
influence regional climate, vegetation and stream flow pat-
View publication stats
terns in adjacent natural areas. Global Change Biology
4:495–504.
Tucker, C. J. 1979. Red and photographic infrared linear
combinations for monitoring vegetation. Remote Sensing of
Environment 8:127–150.
Tucker, C. J., and P. Sellers. 1986. Satellite remote Sensing of
primary production. International Journal of Remote Sensing
7:1395–1416.
Tucker, C. J., B. N. Holben, J. H. Elgin, and J. E. McMurtrey.
1981. Remote Sensing of total dry matter accumulation in
winter wheat. Remote Sensing of Environment 11:171–189.
Tucker, C. J., C. Vanpraet, E. Boerwinkel, and A. Gaston.
1983. Satellite remote sensing of total dry matter produc-
tion in the senegalese sahel. Remote Sensing of Environment
13:461– 474.
Van Wijngaarden, W. 1991. The green cover of the Earth: a
dynamic resource in a changing environment. ITC Journal
1991-3:113–121.
A.Vázquez, F.González-Alonso, A. Calle, J. M. Cuevas, and J. L.
Casanova. 2001. Producci ón asegurada de cereales y
anomal ías en el índice de vegetaci ón en Espa ña penin-
sular: 1995 –1998. Pages 37 – 40 J. I. Rosell J. A. Mart
ínez-Casasnovas Teledetecci ón, medioambiente y cambio
global. Universidad de Lleida Lleida.
Vicente-Serrano, S. M. 2001. El papel reciente de la ganadería
extensiva de montaña en la dinámica del paisaje y en el
desarrollo sostenible. El ejemplo del Valle de Borau. Pub-
licaciones del Consejo de Protección de la Naturaleza de
Aragón, Zaragoza, 181 pp.
Vicente-Serrano, S. M., T. Lasanta, and J. M. Cuadrat. 2002.
Diferencias espaciales en el proceso de revegetación: influ-
encia de los factores ambientales y de la gestión en el
Pirineo central. Pages 31– 46 In: Maxzolff, I., Reiss, J.B., De
la riva, j., Seeger, M. (Eds.). laudutzungswandel wnd Laud-
degradation in Spanien. universidad de Zavcagoza.
Zaragoza.
Wylie, B. K., D. J. Meyer, L. L. Tieszen, and S. Mannel. 2002.
Satellite mapping of surface biophysical parameters at the
biome scale over the North American grassland. A case
study. Remote Sensing of Environment 79:266 –278.
Zeng, J., D. Neelin, K. M. Lan, and C. J. Tucker. 1999. En-
hancement of interdecadal climate variability in the Sahel
by vegetation interaction. Science 286:1537–1540.