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- Title
Wetland place names as indicators of manifestations of recent climate change in SW Spain (Doñana Natural Park).
- Authors
Sousa, Arturo; García-Murillo, Pablo; Sahin, Sükran; Morales, Julia; García-Barrón, Leoncio
- Abstract
Recent studies have shown the value of place names as environmental indicators. Until now they have not been applied to the effects of climate change, because verifying such relationship by this approach requires a multidisciplinary analysis and a study area where the anthropic impact has been recent. This study aims to test the possibility in a study area little altered by man until the second half of the twentieth century (Doñana Natural Park, SW Spain), and with a heritage very rich in wetlands. The results show that the desiccation of these wetlands is reflected in the local toponymy, and that in turn this regression is related with the end of the Little Ice Age and with the beginning of warming in southern Europe during the twentieth century. The coincidence of these results with data published for Arctic latitudes reveals—in our opinion—the possibility that certain place names can be used as indicators of recent climate changes, at least in some ecosystems.
- Subjects
SPAIN; CLIMATE change mitigation; GEOGRAPHIC names; WETLANDS; ENVIRONMENTAL indicators; PARQUE Nacional de Donana (Spain)
- Publication
Climatic Change, 2010, Vol 100, Issue 3/4, p525
- ISSN
0165-0009
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1007/s10584-009-9794-9