Urban public policies: towards the improvement of landscape ecological system. The case-study of the city of Évora, Portugal.

The Charter of European Planning 2013 presents a Vision for the future of European cities and regions, highlighting the sustainability of cities and the preservation of urban ecosystems, integrating the man-made environment with the natural ecosystems and contribute to the well-being and quality of life of their inhabitants and other stakeholders. Thus, urban public policies are crucial to the improvement of the landscape ecological system, achievable by city planning and design. The paper aims to analyse if public urban policies in Portugal have been integrating strategies and/or guidelines to enhance the ecological system of the landscape. Then, which new perspectives are possible, framed by the recently approved law Bases of Public Policy of Soils, Land Management and Urban Planning (2014). This new law, in contrast with the previous ones, don’t allow reserving land to urbanize, in municipal master plans. Moreover, it is possible to revert land classified for urban purposes in those plans into rustic soils (when it is not yet infra-structured or built). It allows creating new planning and design dynamics, convert several areas and including them in the urban ecological structure, essential to the enhancement of landscape ecological system. This is a filed of work where landscape architecture has huge responsibilities, by associating and harmonize man-made environment with natural systems, enlightening sustainability consistent with conservation and improvement of Nature while contributing to the well-being and quality of life of Man. A sustainability that is ethical, aesthetic, ecological and cultural. The study is supported by a case study – the city of Évora. The ultimate goal is to propose measures to promote larger and better integration of ecological component in urban public policies, framed by the new territorial management law, taking into account and highlighting the specificities of the landscape system – Man and Nature – at the local level.

Natural recovery of the benthic nematode assemblages associated to Zostera noltii seagrass beds after physical disturbance caused by digging harvest activity

Seagrass beds are productive ecosystems that maintain high levels of biodiversity, making them susceptible to anthropogenic pressures such as bivalve harvesting. Nematodes are considered great ecological indicators as changes in their density, diversity and structure may represent changes in the environment. This experimental fieldwork aimed to assess the impact of the bivalve harvesting on the nematodes assemblage of a seagrass bed in the Mira estuary by simulating the digging activity. Two plots were subjected to the digging (D1 and D19) and two plots were control (C11 and C18). The sampling took place in five occasions: T0 – before digging; T1 – 14 days; T2 – 45 days; T3 – 75 days; and T4 – 165 days after digging. The results showed no significant difference in the nematode assemblages’ density, diversity and trophic composition between treatments and sampling times, evidencing their high tolerance for naturally stressed environments and to the level of digging they were exposed; Recuperação natural das comunidades de nematodes bentónicos associados aos povoamentos de Zostera noltii após atividade de marisqueio Resumo: As pradarias marinhas são ecossistemas produtivos que suportam elevados níveis de biodiversidade, pelo que estão sujeitos a pressões antropogénicas. Os nematodes são bons indicadores ecológicos pois respondem rapidamente a qualquer perturbação por alterações na densidade, diversidade e estrutura. Este trabalho experimental teve como finalidade o estudo da recuperação natural das comunidades de nematodes associados aos povoamentos de Zostera noltii pela simulação da atividade de marisqueio. Dois plots foram sujeitos a revolvimento (D1 e D19) e dois plots serviram como controlo (C11 e C18) e foram efetuadas amostragens em cinco ocasiões: T0 – antes do revolvimento; T1 – 14 dias; T2 – 45 dias; T3 – 75 dias; e T4 – 165 dias após revolvimento. Os resultados obtidos não mostraram diferenças significativas na diversidade, densidade e composição trófica das comunidades de nematodes entre tratamentos e tempos de amostragem, evidenciando a sua elevada tolerância a ambientes naturalmente dinâmicos e ao nível de revolvimento a que foram expostas.

Relative effect of food supplementation and natural resources on female red deer distribution in a Mediterranean ecosystem

Supplementary feeding is a widespread game management practice in several red deer (Cervus elaphus) populations, with important potential consequences on the biology of this species. InMediterranean ecosystems food supplementation occurs in the rutting period, when it may change mating system characteristics. We studied the role of food supplementation relative to natural resources in the spatial distribution, aggregation, and mean harem size of females in Iberian red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) during the rut. We studied 30 red deer populations of southwestern Spain, 63% of which experienced supplementary feeding. Using multivariate spatial analyses we found that food supplementation affected distribution of females in 95% of the populations in which it occurred. Green meadows present during the mating season acted as an important natural resource influencing female distribution. Additionally, the level of female aggregation and mean harem size were significantly higher in those populations in which food supplementation determined female distribution than in populations in which female distribution did not depend on supplementary feeding. Because female aggregation and mean harem size are key elements in sexual selection, supplementary feeding may constitute an important anthropogenic element with potential evolutionary implications for populations of Iberian red deer.

Development of molecular approaches to assess the diversity and abundance of marine nematodes assemblages for assessment of Good Environmental Status of the estuarine and marine ecosystems

In Europe, the concerns with the status of marine ecosystems have increased, and the Marine Directive has as main goal the achievement of Good Environmental Status (GES) of EU marine waters by 2020. Molecular tools are seen as promising and emerging approaches to improve ecosystem monitoring, and have led ecology into a new era, representing perhaps the most source of innovation in marine monitoring techniques. Benthic nematodes are considered ideal organisms to be used as biological indicator of natural and anthropogenic disturbances in aquatic ecosystems underpinning monitoring programmes on the ecological quality of marine ecosystems, very useful to assess the GES of the marine environment. dT-RFLP (directed Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) allows to assess the diversity of nematode communities, but also allows studying the functioning of the ecosystem, and combined with relative real-time PCR (qPCR), provides a high-throughput semi-quantitative characterization of nematode communities. These characteristics make the two molecular tools good descriptors for the good environmental status assessment. The main aim of this study is to develop and optimize the dT-RFLP and qPCR in Mira estuary (SW coast, Portugal). A molecular phylogenetic analysis of marine and estuarine nematodes is being performed combining morphological and molecular analysis to evaluate the diversity of free-living marine nematodes in Mira estuary. After morphological identification, barcoding of 18S rDNA and COI genes are being determined for each nematode species morphologically identified. So far we generated 40 new sequences belonging to 32 different genus and 17 families, and the study has shown a good degree of concordance between traditional morphology-based identification and DNA sequences. These results will improve the assessment of marine nematode diversity and contribute to a more robust nematode taxonomy. The DNA sequences are being used to develop the dT-RFLP with the ability to easily process large sample numbers (hundreds and thousands), rather than typical of classical taxonomic or low throughput molecular analyses. A preliminary study showed that the digest enzymes used in dT-RFLP for terrestrial assemblages separated poorly the marine nematodes at taxonomic level for functional group analysis. A new digest combination was designed using the software tool DRAT (Directed Terminal Restriction Analysis Tool) to distinguished marine nematode taxa. Several solutions were provided by DRAT and tested empirically to select the solution that cuts most efficiently. A combination of three enzymes and a single digest showed to be the best solution to separate the different clusters. Parallel to this, another tool is being developed to estimate the population size (qPCR). An improvement in qPCR estimation of gene copy number using an artificial reference is being performed for marine nematodes communities to quantify the abundance. Once developed, it is proposed to validate both methodologies by determining the spatial and temporal variability of benthic nematodes assemblages across different environments. The application of these high-throughput molecular approaches for benthic nematodes will improve sample throughput and their implementation more efficient and faster as indicator of ecological status of marine ecosystems.