Macroecology

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• Macroecology Conservation Unit
• www.cea.uevora.pt/umc

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• Research group that operates within the
  University of Évora, Portugal
• Former Laboratory of Biological Cartography
  
• Main area of research Macroecology
• Main technical skills GIS and statistics applied
  to ecology and conservation

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Some of our research questions

• What factors govern the occurrence of species at
  different spatial scales?
• What factors govern the occurrence of species at
  different temporal scales?
• Where will species occur given projected
  environmental changes?
• Where are the most important areas for
  biodiversity conservation?

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The GIS approach

• Remote sensing
• Field data (biological surveys and field
  validation)
• Databases
• Modelling

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The projects

• (1) SatTagis a project on the left bank of the
  Tagus Estuary, a Nature Reserve just outside the
  city of Lisbon (3 million inhabitants).
• We have built a time series of aerial photographs
  from 1958 up to 2000, and a series of satellite
  imagery from 1990 to 2001.
• We have been comparing the efficiency of either
  methodology in studying land use changes over the
  study area.

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(1) SatTagis
LandSat 5 TM 1985 Fotointerpretation of aerial
photographs 1958
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(2) The Alqueva Dam Project

• The Alqueva Dam was recently built in the South
  of Portugal. It just started flooding 25,000ha of
  land, causing a great impact on the landscape
  the induced habitat reduction and fragmentation
  will greatly affect local flora and fauna
  species.
• We have used GIS to integrate data from surveys
  of plants, macroinvertebrate, herptiles, birds
  and mammals, with environmental data, in order
  both to look out for endangered populations and
  to prioritise areas for conservation.

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(2) The Alqueva Dam Project forecasting the flood
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(2) The Alqueva Dam Project area selection for
conservation
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(3) The Alqueva islands

• Some 100 islands will emerge within the
  reservoir we have used GIS to model the
  islands-to-be at different water levels

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(4) The UNIBA Project

• This is our main database, probably the most
  complete database on flora and fauna species of
  Southern Portugal (117,000 records so far).
• It started has a project on its own, and it is
  now been fed by all other ongoing projects we
  have.
• We plan to provide free access to some of the
  data online we already establish protocols with
  other researchers/institutions that find UNIBA
  useful.

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(4) UNIBA
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(5) PortGap statistics applied to conservation

• Field surveys are subjected to financial and
  time constrains how far can we go in predicting
  species distribution and nature reserves
  location?
• In this project we compare the performance of
  six main techniques (General Linear Models,
  General Additive Models, Classification and
  Regression Trees, Artificial Neural Networks,
  Spatial Interpolators and Environmental
  Envelopes) to assess sp distribution and
  viability.
• Also we use complementary-based methods (e.g.
  Gap Analysis) to choose and prioritise
  conservation areas.

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Environmental variables
Observed occurrences
Probabilities of occurrence
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(6) The Greenbelt Project

• Ecological corridors are often crucial to
  maintain a nature conservation network healthy.
• At the UMC we have been investigating the
  ecological corridors of Southern Portugal.
• By joining the Greenbelt Project we consider
  connectivity at a broader scale, at an
  international level. Also we consider the need to
  translate complex research findings into units
  that make sense in conservation policies.

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(6) The Greenbelt Project, Southern Portugal
Species sightings
Species density
Neighbourhood analysis
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