A functional habitat descriptionArtificial area Quarry habitat

Granite extraction area

With an intense human frequentation, this is the area where the industrial buildings and offices are placed.

But it still can be the place of interesting species. A pair of kestrels had a nest on this building till last year, when repairing works of the ceiling destroyed their nest.

A potential habitat for rock and cliff breeding birds but that keeps void because of the extraction works and manly because the sound waves of the blasts (one per week). Human frequentation localized on machine trails and punctual extraction areas.

A potential breedeing place

Deforested and bare areas with low human frequentation. It provides ecosystem services to the surrounding natural habitats by different ways.

1: Circaetus gallicus hunting reptiles over the quarry. 2: One of the temporals ponds. 3: Natterjack toad tadpoles (Bufo calamita) on the pond of the photo 2; 4: roe deer tracks left when going for water; 5: the soft texture of the soil of the granitic quary is ideal for rabbit holes and dens; 6: Typha latifolia; 7: Cyanistes caeruleus on a Salix elaeagnos; 8: flowering Lavandula estoechas most visited by bees.

Dimension of time and size

1970

1970 2012

2012

Hypothetic scenario for 2040

Hypothetic scenario for 2040

As the photographic flight of 1970 shows, Ivonne's quarry is at least 42 years old. The photo shows the highway under construction. So, quarries are usually modified habitats that can last for decades. We propose here an hypothetic scenario with a boundary that optimizes the surface/volume ratio and so, minimizes the non profitable volume of altered granitic material.

21% 2

38.913 m21% 38.913 m2

39% 274.229 m

39% 74.229 m

2

40% 2

75.735 m40% 75.735 m

2

44% 2145.143 m

44% 145.143 m

244%

2145.143 m44% 145.143 m2

12% 238.913 m

12% 38.913 m

2

The quarry may grow, but the treatment installations will keep the same size and on the same place. As the quarry may grow on next decades, the

share of the different habitats can change. The range of high human frequentation will keep the same size, thus its share will be halved.

Conversely the quarry habitat will double in size. So there is an important opportunity for environmental management.

As time passes, some quarry habitats change and others don't . Fortunately the best quarry habitats grow with time.

Quarry area in 2012 Hypothetic limit in 2040

Functional relationships with natural habitats

Two types of interactions:Fauna associated with new habitats: Typically cliff and rock nesting

birds and fauna but also “playa” nesting birds, like the pair of ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) which nested on the flats close to a temporal pond last year. Cliff and rock nesting birds are by now occasional visitors and potential breeders when rocky and cliff landscape incorporates to the quarry habitat category (mainly as the extraction cavity gets bigger and then new quiet areas appear).

Clear ecosystem services to surrounding habitats: The quarry habitat (mainly already exploited

areas, or places that are just deforested for future extraction) is more than a new set of microhabitats and places characterized by being more exposed to sunlight, with local accumulation of water and unvegetated soils: the quarry habitat offers some interesting ecosystem services to the surrounding natural areas. A lot of fauna comes just for water. Rabbits get a safe place with an ideal substrate to excavate their dens. The sunny habitat is also the place of thermophilous vegetation which is also exploited by a lot of pollinators. Different predators hunt on the area, and the quarry ponds are the only reproduction habitat for natterjack toads.

We have observed short toed eagle (Circaetus gallicus) and

buzzards (Buteo buteo), but there is a high probability for goshawk (Accipiter gentiles) presence. All those species uses the quarry as

hunting area. A pair of kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) nested on the

highest building of the quarry till reparation works following an

accidental fire on the building. Badger tracks are common on the

areas close to natural forest. The quarry habitat has a density of

rabbits significantly higher than in the surrounding areas. The presence of palatable herbs and a sandy soil where excavate their dens are probably the main reasons for this abundance.

The deforested areas that conserve the original soil

constitute, within the ponds, the areas with more biodiversity. The better exposition to sun promotes a notable abundance of flowering shrubs which, on their side, maintains a bunch of

pollinator invertebrates. From mid June, when local streams

dry up, the ponds of the quarry are the only source of water in a 5Km radius area. Roe deer is the most significant species

visiting the quarry for watering. Alisma plantago-aquatica,

Typha latifolia, Tamarix gallica, Salix elaeagnos, and Polypogon monspeliensis, are the most remarkable plants colonizing the ponds.

The metapopulation of natterjack toad

(Bufo calamita) of the central Catalan littoral mountain range survives almost exclusively on the temporal and semi-permanent ponds that forms on active and abandoned quarries. The breeding of ringed plovers (Charadrius

hiaticula) is frequent on the quiet playas close

to the quarry ponds. The Blue Rock Thrush

(Monticola solitarius) is a rock breeding species that has been observed on the extraction area of the quarry. It's quite probable that with the appearance of rocky areas protected from the sound of blasts, it will become a regular nesting species.

A quarry is an ecosystem services provider

Quarry area in 2012 Hypothetic limit in 2040

Ecosystem management during extraction

Biodiversity management opportunities

As the extraction phase can last some decades (Ivonne quarry has already 42 years), there is an opportunity for ecosystem management. The basic traits being: The most altered zones with buildings and intense frequentation will remain the same size and in the same place.! As the extraction area will increase it's surface, there is a need to construct quiet places of rock and cliff habitat. ! As cliffs and ponds are important habitats and potential biodiversity hot spots, there is a need to construct as much of those habitats during the extraction phase as possible. The stability and rock falling prevention should be compatible with this aim.

One immediate objective is to get back the breeding pair of kestrels. A simple nest-box is needed. Placing bat nest-boxes on the property area (that should be excavated in the future) on trees and cliffs

would be an important opportunity to attract bats.

The extent of flowering herbs and shrubs should not be limited to the “preparation area” (deforested

zone before works of extraction); but also extended to the forest area of the property, and mainly on the area that in a future could be excavated. This property forest should be cleared to a tree density slightly under 300 trees/ha . This would lower the risk of forest fire and should enhance biodiversity.

Queep the hunting free area on the quarry in order to protect and enhance rabbit population. Natural looking cliffs construction. Eagle owl (Bubo bubo) is a possible breeder on quiet cliffs.

Promote pond construction, mainly as retention basins to prevent sediment transportation by runoff.

Keep the limits with the natural area without barriers to animal movement. No entry zone for people to

prevent risks of accident on the cliff area.

Natural habitat around the quarry is affected by landscape dynamics.

Abandonment of forest management practices affects

negatively the forest structure of the plantations of, P. pinea; P. pinaster and P. radiata.

The disappearance of rain fed agriculture leads to afforestation.

Afforestation reduces runoff, thus lowering stream water discharge and even interrupting streamflow.

Natural temporal ponds disappear except on quarries.

The quarry activity involves modifications of landscapes. New landscapes varies from simple deforestation on preparation works, to profound modifications of the relief and soil disappearance.

The extraction phase of the quarry can last several

decades. Time enough for establishing ecosystem

interchange with surrounding habitats

Pond formation on concavities and pond construction as

retention basins to prevent silt transport by runoff.

Net loss of biodiversity linked to open habitat disapperance

Agricultural fauna and mostly ground nesting birds : Miliaria calandra, Athene noctua, Alauda arvensis,

Oryctolagus cuniculus, Tymon lepidus, Bufo calamita..

The quarry as ecosystem services provider

The biodiversity linked to temporal ponds becomes quarry biodiversity.

When local streams dry up on mid summer, the ponds of the quarry become the only source of water.

Roe deer and other species visit the quarry for watering

Quarry areas with natural soil becomes a reserve on flowering herbs and shrubs,

and its pollinator invertebrate fauna.

Soils developed from granite are easily excavated by rabbits. No human hunting area + palatable herbs abundance + easy

den excavation = rabbit abundance.

Quarry ponds become vistually the only suitable reproduction habitat for natterjack toads (Bufo calamita).

Presence of birds of prey (Buteo buteo, Circaetus gallicus). Quarry as hunting

range.

Barren soils, rocks and cliffs as new habitats

Opportunities for rock and cliff nesting species: Bubo bubo,

Monticola solitarius,..

Conventional decision environment

Restoration projects ignoring the ecological interactions of the quarry habitat during the extraction phase.

Aesthetic landscape management restricted to mimicking the pre-

existing situation. Landscape visual treatment = camouflage?

The recuperation of previous relief is the main objective.

Environmental consequences of prevailing dogmas

Loss of quarry habitats

Impact on Natterjack toad

populations

Rabbit population

decline

Frequent erosion problems on attempts to restore

vegetation on slopes over 15%

The camouflage landscape objective rarely accomplished as it is difficult to

grow xenophile vegetation on reconstructed hillsides, and so the cover of vegetation is much lower.

Proposal for an integrated management approach

Restoration projects must be a consequence

of the ecosystem dynamics during the

extraction phase.

Why not to try to "sculpture" stable natural looking cliffs?

Implement the biodiversity management plans during the

extraction phase taking into account the ecosystem services that the quarry

habitat provides to the surrounding natural landscapes.

GIS analysis use to optimize useful extraction volume. Optimize

quarry production on ecological grounds is not a sin!

Ecosystem dynamics and decision environment

A flowchart for our proposal