Stakeholders sustainable management in agriculture: lessons from participatory processes

XXIII International Conference Society for Human Ecology, «Navigating complexity: human-environmental solutions for a challenging future», Lisbon 7-10July 2018.Stakeholders are nowadays encouraged to become actively involved in the sustainable management of the territory and, in rural areas such as Castro Verde which is Natura 2000 Special Protection Area and nowadays a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, as well as in the all country, equilibrium between nature conservation and farm production systems is a key factor for sustainability. This paper focuses on the contribution of local actors to evaluate the agro-environmental commitments applied during the last Portuguese Rural Development Program (PRODER/2007-2013). It aims to propose adjustments and new ideas to improve agricultural sustainable practices by assessing the existing commitments and supporting new public strategies regarding the new 2014-2020 programming cycle of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. This was accomplished through the participation of local stakeholders in a set of five workshops, each one in different agricultural region of Portugal. The three-hour workshops were based on interactive techniques as drivers to generate debate, promote knowledge exchanges and produce new knowledge to be presented to policy makers

A nationwide collapse of a priority grassland bird related to livestock conversion and intensification

Grassland birds are among the most threatened and fastest declining terrestrial vertebrate species in Europe, principally due to agricultural intensification and transformation. The little bustard is a priority grassland bird under the European Directive (2009/147/CE) that led to the classification of a network of Special Protected Areas (SPAs) in Portugal. A third national survey carried out in 2022 reveals a worsening of an ongoing population collapse at a national scale. The population declined by 77% and 56% compared to the previous surveys in 2006 and 2016, respectively. We found that the little bustard has greatly disappeared outside SPAs, while the remaining breeding population concentrated within the protected area network is showing a steep decline at a rate of 9% a year. This decline is now twice as fast when compared to the period 2006–2016. Analysis of the variation of the breeding densities between 2006 and 2022 at 49 survey sites revealed that those that initially had higher bustard densities and shifted toward a higher proportion of cattle among the total stocking rate experienced steeper declines. Areas where the density of roads increased also experienced declines over the course of the study period. Agricultural areas converted to or dominated by beef production likely relate to low breeding success and mortality of nesting females in fodder crops. Still, major habitat conversion outside SPAs to permanent crops led to overall habitat destruction, which contributed to the species decline and range contraction. Other threats are likely acting synergistically such as fragmentation, climate change and anthropogenic mortality. The extinction of the little bustard in Portugal is expected in the short term if no conservation actions are put in place

Manual De Boas Práticas Para A Conservação Dos Charcos Temporários Mediterrânicos

Este Manual de Boas Praticas pretende divulgar as medidas de gestão sustentável que permitem compatibilizar as atividades humanas com a proteção dos Charcos Temporários Mediterrânicos

LesserKestrel_chick_data

Biometries (mass and wing lenght) and posterior recruitment in the population of Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) chicks ringed as fledglings between 2003 and 2014 in Castro Verde Portugal. Information on brood (clutch size, laying date) of each chick is also provided

Data from: Mechanisms and fitness consequences of laying decisions in a migratory raptor

Seasonal decline in breeding performance is a commonly observed pattern in birds, but disentangling the contributions of environmental conditions (“timing” hypothesis) and individual quality (“quality” hypothesis) to such a pattern is challenging. Moreover, despite the strong selection for early breeding, the individual optimization model predicts that each individual has an optimal breeding window. We investigated the causes and consequences of laying decisions in the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni) by combining a long-term dataset on reproductive traits with information on food availability. A marked seasonal decline was found in breeding success, mostly mediated by a decline in clutch size. The “timing” hypothesis, supported by the decline in consumption of mole crickets, key prey for prelaying females, seems to explain the seasonal trend in clutch size, as this pattern was recorded in both higher (adults) and lower (yearlings) quality individuals. Contrarily, the higher proportion of yearlings breeding late in the season, rather than a decay in food availability during chick rearing, seems to drive the decline in fledging success, giving support to the “quality” hypothesis. Advanced breeding and increased clutch size, as proxies of reproductive effort, were not offset by lower survival. Low repeatability in both these traits suggests that individual quality is a dynamic attribute and reproduction costs are minimized by individual optimization. Understanding the mechanisms driving individual breeding decisions is critical to anticipate species’ ability to cope with environmental changes. Here, we show that lesser kestrels failing the prelaying food window opportunity compromise reproductive performance, mostly regardless of their individual quality

grasshoppers_transects_abundance

Mean number of grasshoppers counted in walked transects in fallow grassland patches around Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) colonies between 2012 and 2015

LesserKestrel_female_mass_wing

Weight and wing length of female Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni) captured during the incubation period between 2003 and 2014 in Castro Verde, Portugal

LesserKestrel_breeding_parameters_whole_dataset

Breeding parameters of Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) in Castro Verde, Portugal, between 2003-2014

grasshopper_molecricket_pellets

Mean number of grasshoppers (Acrididae and Tetigonidae) and mole crickets (Gryllotalpidae) found in Lesser Kestrel (Falco naumanni) pellets collected in several colonies between 2007-2008 and 2012-2014

LessserKestrel_breeding_parameters_ringed_birds_dataset

Breeding parameters, age and recapture data of Lesser Kestrels (Falco naumanni) ringed between 2003 and 2014 at Castro Verde, Portuga