Coastal lagoons and their watersheds as GWDE: a case study in the southwest coast of Portugal

The study of groundwater dependent ecosystems opened the opportunity to involve specialists of different areas of knowledge in order to obtain answers for complex interrelations between groundwater and the associated ecosystems. The actual study, carried out in two coastal lagoons of the Portuguese SW coast, showed the high dependency of the marine life and vegetation of the lagoons and associated streams discharging in the lagoons on the fresh water supply of these two lagoons and the high contribution they receive from groundwater in the dry period, which corresponds to more than half of each hydrologic year. Every year, the lagoons are artificially opened to the ocean for a few days to a few weeks, which dramatically changes the inside salinity. The sensitivity of these ecological niches is demonstrated by the strong dependence that some species that are more sensitive to high salinity waters show in relation to the entrance of freshwater resultant from the discharge of the phreatic aquifer of Sines sedimentary Basin. The great biodiversity of these lagoons and its precarious balance is only possible to preserve if the aquifer continue to act as a regulatory factor of the lagoon’s salinity. The equilibrium can be changed in the event of overexploitation of the phreatic aquifer, which is not at risk in the near future. In a scenario of climate change the lagoons will benefit from a slow increase in groundwater contribution, due to the rise of sea level, which will be accompanied by a rise in groundwater levels in the aquifer near the sea.

Between the centre and the margins: Services location, economic (re)structuring and quality of life in metropolitan periurban areas.

This paper aims to discuss the specificities of the role of services in the economic structuring and in the social liveliness and attractiveness of periurban areas. Drawing upon on the result of an empirical work developed in 5 different parishes of Lisbon Metropolitan area, which represent five categories of periurban spaces previously identified, it is analysed the role of services in these “in-between” territories and the way they are important in the spatial economic structuring of these areas and in the quality of life and well-being of their inhabitants and users. A tentative typology for framing the analysis of the role of services on periurban metropolitan spaces is suggested and some policy implications are pointed out.