Levantamento de Danos dos Azulejos da Capela de Nossa Senhora do Rosário do Mosteiro de São Bento de Cástris

The Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Rosário is located in the cloister of the São Bento de Cástris monastery and shows off a blue and white tile panel with 6 tiles of height, representing the scenes of the Life of the Virgin in five panels: Adoration of the Shepherds, Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, Annunciation, Visitation and The Marriage of the Virgin. The authorship of this work is unknown and its date has not yet found consensus. The tiles are in poor condition and have been the target of repeated vandalism or attempted theft over time. During the Residência Cisterciense (Cistercian Residence), held in São Bento de Cástris in September 2013, it has been made a survey of the tile panel’s observable damages including graphic and photographic record of its condition.

Factors affecting southern water vole (Arvicola sapidus) detection and occupancy probabilities in Mediterranean farmland

Failure to detect a species at sites where it is present (i.e. imperfect detection) is known to occur frequently, but this is often disregarded in monitoring programs and metapopulation studies. Here we modelled for the first time the probability of patch occupancy by a threatened small mammal, the southern water vole (Arvicola sapidus, while accounting for the probability of detection given occupancy. Based on replicated presence sign surveys conducted in autumn (November–December 2013) and winter (February–March 2014) in a farmland landscape, we used occupancy detection modelling to test the effects of vegetation, sampling effort, observer experience, and rainfall on detection probability. We then assessed whether occupancy was related to patch size, isolation, vegetation, or presence of water, after correcting for imperfect detection. The mean detection probabilities of water vole signs in autumn (0.71) and winter (0.81) indicated that false absences may be generated in about 20–30% of occupied patches surveyed by a single observer on a single occasion. There was no statistical support for the effects of covariates on detectability. After controlling for imperfect detection, the mean probabilities of occupancy in autumn (0.31) and winter (0.29) were positively related to patch size and presence of water, and negatively so, albeit weakly, to patch isolation. Overall, our study underlined the importance of accounting for imperfect detection in sign surveys of small mammals such as water voles, pointing out the need to use occupancy detection modelling together with replicate surveys for accurately estimating occupancy and the factors affecting it.