A ''dehesa'' () is a multifunctional, agrosylvopastoral system (a type of agroforestry) and cultural landscape of southern and central

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

and southern

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

; in Portugal, it is known as a ''montado''. Its name comes from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''defensa'' (fenced), referring to land that was fenced and usually destined for pasture. Dehesas may be private or communal property (usually belonging to the municipality). Used primarily for grazing, they produce a variety of products, including

non-timber forest product Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are useful foods, substances, materials and/or commodities obtained from forests other than timber. Harvest ranges from wild collection to farming. They typically include game animals, fur-bearers, nuts, see ...

s such as wild game,

mushrooms A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the name "mushroom" is ...

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of pl ...

, cork, and

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not heavily processed, and is in some sort of firelog, recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellet fuel, pellets. ...

. They are also used to raise the Spanish fighting bull and the source of jamón ibérico, the Iberian pig. The main tree component is oaks, usually holm ('' Quercus rotundifolia'') and cork ('' Quercus suber''). Other oaks, including melojo ('' Quercus pyrenaica'') and quejigo ('' Quercus faginea''), may be used to form dehesa, the species utilized depending on geographical location and elevation. Dehesa is an anthropogenic system that provides not only a variety of foods, but also wildlife habitat for endangered species such as the Spanish imperial eagle.

Ecology

The dehesa is derived from the Mediterranean forest ecosystem, consisting of grassland featuring herbaceous species, used for grazing cattle, goats, and sheep, and tree species belonging to the genus ''Quercus'' ( oak), such as the holm oak ( ''Quercus'' ''rotundifolia''), although other tree species such as

beech Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...

and pine trees may also be present. Oaks are protected and pruned to produce

acorn The acorn is the nut (fruit), nut of the oaks and their close relatives (genera ''Quercus'', ''Notholithocarpus'' and ''Lithocarpus'', in the family Fagaceae). It usually contains a seedling surrounded by two cotyledons (seedling leaves), en ...

s, which the famous black Iberian pigs feed on in the autumn during the ''montanera''. Ham produced from Iberian pigs fattened with acorns and air-dried at high elevations is known as '' Jamón ibérico'' (" presunto ibérico", or "pata negra" in Portuguese), and sells for premium prices, especially if only acorns have been used for fattening. In a typical dehesa, oaks are managed to persist for about 250 years. If cork oaks are present, the cork is harvested about every 9 to 12 years, depending on the productivity of the site. The understory is usually cleared every 7 to 10 years to prevent the takeover of the woodland by shrubs of the rock rose family ( Cistaceae), often referred to as "''jara''", or by oak seedlings. Oaks are spaced to maximize overall productivity by balancing light for the grasses in the understory, water use in the soils, and acorn production for pigs and game. The dehesa is in many ways similar to the California oak woodland, although the former is typically much more intensively managed.

Importance and economic context

The dehesa system has great economic and social importance on the Iberian Peninsula because of both the large amount of land involved and its importance in maintaining rural population levels. The major source of income for dehesa owners is usually cork, a sustainable product that supports this ancient production system and old growth oaks.McGrath (2007)

Extent

Dehesas cover nearly 20,000 square kilometers on the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

, mainly in: ;Portugal Francisco Manuel Parejo Moorish, 2010 *

Alentejo Alentejo ( , , ) is a geographical, historical, and cultural region of south–central and southern Portugal. In Portuguese, its name means "beyond the Tagus" (). Alentejo includes the regions of Alto Alentejo Province, Alto Alentejo and Bai ...

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

;Spain * Córdoba *

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

* Sierra Morena ** Sierra de Aracena ** Sierra Norte de Sevilla

References

Notes

Bibliography

Fra. Paleo, Urbano. (2010). "The ''dehesa/montado'' landscape".
pp. 149–151 in ''Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity in Socio-ecological Production Landscapes,'' eds. Bélair, C., Ichikawa, K., Wong, B.Y.L. and Mulongoy, K.J. Montreal: Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Technical Series no. 52. * Huntsinger, Lynn; Adriana Sulak; Lauren Gwin; and Tobias Plieninger. (2004). "Oak woodland ranchers in California and Spain: Conservation and diversification". In ''Advances in Geoecology'', ed. S. F. A. Schnabel. * Joffre, R; Rambal, S; Ratte, JP. (1999). "The dehesa system of southern Spain and Portugal as a natural ecosystem mimic," '' Journal of Agroforestry'' 45(1-3): 57-79.
McGrath, Susan. (2007). "Corkscrewed,"
'' Audubon magazine'', January–February.

External links

Plataforma integralDehesa
- Página web de agentes del sector
Proyecto Biodehesa

Foro encinal

Dehesas ibéricas

Observatorio de la dehesa y el montado
{{Non-timber forest products Natural regions of Europe Geography of Spain Agriculture in Spain Non-timber forest products Forestry in Spain Agriculture in Portugal Geography of Portugal Agroforestry systems Quercus Cultural landscapes