In summary, the present study proposed a methodological
approach that is suitable for use at
regional scales and has been used to detect a robust
signal supporting the hypothesis proposed by previous
authors (García-Ruiz and Lasanta 1990) from a
descriptive perspective without any numerical verification:
traditional management in European mountains,
especially in Mediterranean mountains, has
resulted in an increased diversity of land cover,
although new homogenization trends have emerged.
Results obtained herein also show that land-cover
diversity is the final result of synergies among environmental
and anthropogenic factors, but that the
effect of human management on landscape trends
(diversification–homogenization) differs in relation
to geographical context. The availability of the data
used herein for many European countries supports
the applicability of this approach to other landscapes
in order to gain a better regional-scale insight into
diversification–homogenization trends where detailed
information on land-cover changes based on aerial
photographs or remote-sensing images is unavailable.
It is important to emphasize that the results contain
a degree of uncertainty. I have assessed only two
environmental variables (climatic variability and
lithological diversity) to explain land-cover diversity.
These variables were chosen because they synthesize
most of the abiotic factors that comprise the
landscape system, although other variables such as
soils or geomorphology could also be used in this
model. Nevertheless, these kinds of data are not
usually available at a regional scale and the applicability
of the model would then be reduced.