Fine-scale mapping of High Nature Value farmlands: novel approaches to improve the management of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services

High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf) are defined as rural lands characterized by high levels of biodiversity and extensive farming practices. These farmlands are also known to provide important ecosystems services, such as food production, pollination, water purification and landscape recreation. Recently, this concept has been introduced in Rural Development Programmes related to biodiversity preservation in traditional agricultural landscapes. However, there are no specific rules concerning the practical use of the concept, particularly on the identification of potential HNVf areas at a local scale. However, this application becomes important for farmland biodiversity protection in the context of multi-scale agricultural development. We present a novel approach for HNVf mapping, which provides an improved local discrimination of farmlands according to their contribution for the conservation of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services. Our approach is based on a multi-criteria valuation of habitat types based on the national land cover map and agrarian censuses. It is onsidered applicable in other EU countries since comparable datasets are usually available. This methodology is also expected to provide the backbone of a standard, cost-effective methodology for HNVf monitoring, with an emphasis on the impacts of land use change on species, habitats and landscape function

Phytosociologic associations and Natura 2000 habitats of Portuguese coastal sand dunes

The Portuguese coastline is quite long and the littoral ecosystems are of the outmost importance in the context of the national flora and vegetation. The diversity of vegetation types and the endemicity of their flora justify the attention paid to coastal habitats in the implementation of the Natura 2000 network. In this paper we present a synatoxonomical revision of the phanerophytic, chamaephytic and hemicryptophytic communities occurring in the sandy coastal areas of Portugal, together with their correspondence to the “Natura 2000” natural habitat types. The production of synthetic tables with all available relevés has allowed the segregation of plant community types. We also include maps concerning the distribution of all validated vegetation types occurring in the Portuguese sandy coastal areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Regional planning of river protection and restoration to promote ecosystem services and nature conservation

[Except] International conservation and sustainability agendas (CBD, 2010; European Union, 2011; IPBES, 2018; United Nations, 2018) have repeatedly called for conservation, restoration and sustainable use of biodiversity as well as the enhancement of ecosystem services and benefits to society. These calls are particularly relevant for freshwater ecosystems, which combine conservation interest and high societal value through the supply of multiple ecosystem services (Tharme, Tickner, Hughes, Conallin, & Zielinski, 2018). Freshwater habitats, biodiversity and ecological functions are also amongst the most threatened worldwide, due to a broad range of anthropogenic pressures (IPBES, 2018; Reid et al., 2019). In the European Union, 63% of river and lake habitats protected under the Habitats Directive are considered to hold “Unfavourable” conservation status, and 60% of water bodies are not in “Good” ecological status (IPBES, 2018). [...]Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) through a doctoral fellowship (SFRH/BD/115030/2016) co-financed by the European Social Fund through the Human Capital Operational Program (POCH), the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE2020) and national funds from the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (MCTES). CV would like to acknowledge the support of the Portuguese Infrastructure of Scientific Collections (POCI-01-0145FEDER-022168) (PRISC.pt). JG developed this work within the scope of the project proMetheus – Research Unit on Materials, Energy and Environment for Sustainability, FCT Ref. UID/05975/2020, financed by national funds through the FCT/MCTE

Effects of cooking over the stability of fatty acids as bioactive compounds in enriched pasta with a fish by-product

Background and objectives: Fusilli pasta enriched with sea bass concentrate (Dicentrarchus labrax) was developed with the aim of increasing its content in proteins and especially in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) like Omega-3. Pasta made from two types of cereals (wheat and spelt) and fish by-product with or without a natural antioxidant were cooking prior to consumption, and nutritional and physicochemical characteristics were evaluated. Findings: Enriched developed pasta showed high levels of protein, fat, and fiber, and the fatty acid profiles confirmed a substantial enrichment in bioactive compounds (omega-3 fatty acids). The cooking of pasta before consumption was able to reduce bacterial loads guaranteeing food safety and improving nutritional availability. Furthermore, an increase in the MUFA and PUFA content was revealed, which could represent an advantage to offer a better source of functional ingredients (EPA & DHA). Conclusions: The combination of heat from cooking with formulations containing antioxidants seems to offer a remarkable synergistic effect to preserve unsaturated fatty acids with desirable nutritional properties. Significance and novelty: Pasta enriched with bioactive compounds from fish by-product after cooking treatment before consumption appears to be an effectiveness option to improve healthy human nutrition

A classe Cytisetea scopario-striati em Portugal continental

Giestais são a designação vulgar em português para as comunidades silicícolas que se inserem na classe Cytisetea scopario-striati e são dominadas por espécies de leguminosas dos géneros Cytisus, Genista, Adenocarpus e Retama. Esta classe tem o seu óptimo na Península Ibérica e representa normalmente as orlas ou etapas de regressão de bosques climácicos da Quercetalia roboris e da Quercion broteroi. No presente trabalho apresentam-se as diversas comunidades da classe Cytisetea scopario-striati que ocorrem em Portugal continental. Propõem-se os seguintes novos sintáxones: Ulici latebracteati-Cytisetum striati cytisetosum grandiflori, Cytiso multiflori-Retametum sphaerocarpae cytisetosum scoparii, Cytiso multiflori-Retametum sphaerocarpae cytisetosum eriocarpi, Cytisetum cabezudo

Community structure informs species geographic distributions

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this recordUnderstanding what determines species’ geographic distributions is crucial for assessing global change threats to biodiversity. Measuring limits on distributions is usually, and necessarily, done with data at large geographic extents and coarse spatial resolution. However, survival of individuals is determined by processes that happen at small spatial assembly processes occurring at small scales, and are often available for relatively extensive areas, so could be useful for explaining species distributions. We demonstrate that Bayesian Network Inference (BNI) can overcome several challenges to including community structure into studies of species distributions, despite having been little used to date. We hypothesized that the relative abundance of coexisting species can improve predictions of species distributions. In 1570 assemblages of 68 Mediterranean woody plant species we used BNI to incorporate community structure into Species Distribution Models (SDMs), alongside environmental information. Information on species associations improved SDM predictions of community structure and species distributions moderately, though for some habitat specialists the deviance explained increased by up to 15%. We demonstrate that most species associations (95%) were positive and occurred between species with ecologically similar traits. This suggests that SDM improvement could be because species co-occurrences are a proxy for local ecological processes. Our study shows that Bayesian Networks, when interpreted carefully, can be used to include local conditions into measurements of species’ large-scale distributions, and this information can improve the predictions of species distributionsThis work was funded by FCT Project “QuerCom” (EXPL/AAG-GLO/2488/2013) and the ERA-Net BiodivERsA project “EC21C” (BIODIVERSA/0003/2011). A.M.N. was supported by a Bolsa de Investigacao de Pos-doutoramento (BI_Pos-Doc_UEvora_Catedra Rui Nabeiro_EXPL_AAG-GLO_2488_2013) and postdoctoral fellowships from the Ministry of Economy and Competitivity (FPDI-2013-16266 and IJCI‐2015‐23498). MGM acknowledges support by a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme (FORECOMM). J. Vicente is supported by POPH/FSE funds and by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under the Portuguese Science Foundation (FCT) through Post-doctoral grant SFRH/BPD/84044/2012. AE has a postdoctoral contract funded by the project CN-17-022 (Principado de Asturias, Spain). We are grateful to OneGeology for providing the geological data

A methodological approach to potential vegetation modeling using GIS techniques and phytosociological expert-knowledge: application to mainland Portugal

An attempt to obtain a consistent spatial model of natural potential vegetation (NPV) for the mainland Portuguese territory is reported. Spatial modeling procedures performed in a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment, aimed to operationalize phytosociological expert-knowledge about the putative distribution of potential zona1 forest communities dominam in the Portuguese continental territories. The paradigm for NPV assumed was that of RIVAS-MARTINE(1Z9 76) and RIVAS-MARTINEeZt al. (1999), which presupposes, for a given territory, a univocal correspondence between a uniform combination of bioclimatic stage and lithology' gi ven a biogeographical context, and a unique successional sequence leading to a single climax community (i. e. a vegetation series (VS)). Information issued from both literature and a team of phytosociologists possessing detailed knowledge about Portuguese vegetation, namely about forests and its seria1 vegetation, was acknowledged as a starting point for the construction of such a habitat-vegetation correspondence model. First, a bioclimatic map concerning the "Worldwide Bioclimatic Classification System" (WBCS) of RIVAS-MARTINE(1Z9 81 -2004), obtained by multivariate grostatistical interpolation issuing from the work of MESQUITA(2 005), was set. Severa1 partia1 matrices, one for each biogeographical Province, combined such habitat statements to VS. Initial incoherence due to vagueness of statements led to an important amount of both superimposition of VS and habitat gaps in the matrices. Further rearrangement of the table according to known field distribution of VS by experts allowed setting an approximate univocal correspondence VS-habitat. Finally, an intersection of bioclimatic, lithology and biogeographic maps yielded over a thousand habitat combinations to be associated each to a single VS through implementation of the matrices as a set of rules. Again, inconsistencies were solved likewise, but this time by direct observation of the map by experts. Keeping of phytosociological consistency and fidelity to information on actual vegetation field distribution was always mandatory during the proces

Serviços dos ecossistemas hidrológicos: o caso de estudo da bacia do Rio Vez

O Homem precisa dos ecossistemas para usufruir de serviços relacionados com a água, tais como: quantidade e qualidade da água, e controle da erosão do solo. A produção de serviços de ecossistema hidrológicos é influenciada não só pelas alterações climáticas, mas também pela mudança na ocupação do solo. É pois importante conhecer os impactos hidrológicos destes stressores ambientais para uma melhor gestão adaptativa às mudanças globais. Os efeitos separados e combinados da alteração da ocupação e uso solo e das condições climáticas futuras na prestação de serviços hidrológicos foram avaliados na bacia do rio Vez, Noroeste de Portugal. O modelo eco-hidrológico SWAT (Ferramenta de Avaliação de Água e Solo) foi calibrado em relação ao caudal, sedimentos, nitratos e evapotranspiração, com uma boa concordância entre as previsões do modelo e os dados observados. Foram aplicados quatro cenários de ocupação do solo em condições climáticas atuais (eucalipto/pinheiro; carvalho; agricultura/vinha e vegetação rasteira) para ver as consequências para a sazonalidade do caudal, a qualidade da água em termos de nitratos e a erosão do solo. Posteriormente, foram aplicados cenários climáticos para os períodos 2021-40 e 2041-60 usando o cenário RCP 4.5, e comparados o período de controle 1971-2000. Por fim, os efeitos combinados de condições climáticas futuras foram avaliados sob os cenários de ocupação do solo. Os resultados para o uso solo revelaram que a opção por um determinado cenário não comprometeria a prestação global de serviços hidrológicos. Embora as alterações climáticas tenham apenas um efeito modesto na redução do caudal anual (-7%), o efeito sobre os caudais de verão foi mais acentuado (entre -15% e -38%). Os efeitos combinados das alterações climáticas e uso do solo podem melhorar ou degradar a provisão de serviços hidrológicos. O declínio do caudal anual devido às mudanças climáticas poderá ser agravado num cenário de floresta de eucalipto/pinheiro, com especial ênfase na redução de caudais no verão (entre -34% e -49%). Por outro lado, os picos de caudal e a erosão do solo poderão ser atenuados. Num cenário de aumento da área de vinha a redução do caudal anual é menos afetada, mas as concentrações de sedimentos e nitratos no rio serão agravadas. Os resultados, salientam a necessidade de se considerar os impactos tanto do clima como da ocupação do solo na gestão de bacias hidrográficas. A modelação permite simular cenários que são úteis para os decisores tomarem opções informadas para a gestão e ordenamento do territóri