Progress in analytical approaches integrating Livestock and Biodiversity to identify HNV Montados

The World Congress Silvo-Pastoral Systems 2016 aims to gather researchers from different disciplines, practitioners and policy makers at different governance levels that deal with the management and sustainability of silvo-pastoral systems. In this way the congress will create a fertile context to progress through interdisciplinarity research approaches that can help translate scientific knowledge into new adaptive management solutions, and thus bridge from science to practice. The aim is also to gather and compare knowledge from silvo-pastoral systems around the world, which share drought as a limiting factor, so that they can be discussed and evaluated.

Automated inspection of aircraft parts using a modified ICP algorithm

The application of computer-aided inspection integrated with the coordinate measuring machine and laser scanners to inspect manufactured aircraft parts using robust registration of two-point datasets is a subject of active research in computational metrology. This paper presents a novel approach to automated inspection by matching shapes based on the modified iterative closest point (ICP) method to define a criterion for the acceptance or rejection of a part. This procedure improves upon existing methods by doing away with the following, viz., the need for constructing either a tessellated or smooth representation of the inspected part and requirements for an a priori knowledge of approximate registration and correspondence between the points representing the computer-aided design datasets and the part to be inspected. In addition, this procedure establishes a better measure for error between the two matched datasets. The use of localized region-based triangulation is proposed for tracking the error. The approach described improves the convergence of the ICP technique with a dramatic decrease in computational effort. Experimental results obtained by implementing this proposed approach using both synthetic and practical data show that the present method is efficient and robust. This method thereby validates the algorithm, and the examples demonstrate its potential to be used in engineering applications.

AIWIN - A fast and jigless inspection technique for machined parts

Precision inspection of manufactured components having multiple complex surfaces and variable tolerance definition is an involved, complex and time-consuming function. In routine practice, a jig is used to present the part in a known reference frame to carry out the inspection process. Jigs involve both time and cost in their development, manufacture and use. This paper describes 'as is where is inspection' (AIWIN), a new automated inspection technique that accelerates the inspection process by carrying out a fast registration procedure and establishing a quick correspondence between the part to inspect and its CAD geometry. The main challenge in doing away with a jig is that the inspection reference frame could be far removed from the CAD frame. Traditional techniques based on iterative closest point (ICP) or Newton methods require either a large number of iterations for convergence or fail in such a situation. A two-step coarse registration process is proposed to provide a good initial guess for a modified ICP algorithm developed earlier (Ravishankar et al., Int J Adv Manuf Technol 46(1-4):227-236, 2010). The first step uses a calibrated sphere for local hard registration and fixing the translation error. This transformation locates the centre for the sphere in the CAD frame. In the second step, the inverse transformation (involving pure rotation about multiple axes) required to align the inspection points measured on the manufactured part with the CAD point dataset of the model is determined and enforced. This completes the coarse registration enabling fast convergence of the modified ICP algorithm. The new technique has been implemented on complex freeform machined components and the inspection results clearly show that the process is precise and reliable with rapid convergence. © 2011 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

Os Sistemas agrícolas extensivos na paisagem mediterrânica – perspectivas de evolução

Os sistemas agrícolas extensivos na paisagem mediterrânica – perspectivas de evolução faz uma abordagem às características únicas do sistema montado, nomeadamente como sistema agrícola de elevado valor natural (HNV), sobre a complexidade, suas dinâmicas espaciais, os efeitos do pastoreio e a importância das decisões de gestão do Montado

Can birds play a role as High Nature Value indicators of montado system?

Montados form a heterogeneous landscape of wooded matrix dominated by cork and/or holm oak with open areas characterized by fuzzy boundaries. Montado supports a high biological diversity associated to low intensity management and a landscape diversity provided by a continuous gradient of land cover. Among other features this permits the classification of montados as a High Nature Value (HNV) system. We assessed the role of birds as HNV indicators for montado, and tested several bird groups—farmland, edge, forest generalists and forest specialists species; and some universal indicators such as species conservation status, Shannon’s diversity index and species richness. Our study areas covered the North–South distribution of cork oak in Portugal, and we surveyed the breeding bird communities across 117 sampling sites. In addition to variables related to management and sanitary status, we considered variables that characterize the landscape heterogeneity inside the montado—trees and shrub density and richness of woody vegetation. Our results suggest that specific bird guilds can be used as HNV indicators of particular typologies of montado, and highlight the need to develop an indicator that could be transversally applied to all types of montado.

The influence of forest management on bird communities of portuguese montados

The world distribution of cork oak Quercus suber and holm oak Q. rotundifolia is basically restricted to the western Mediterranean basin. These two evergreen oaks are the base of the Portuguese montado and the Spanish dehesa. This thesis aims to analyse how bird communities of the montado are influenced by management practices. We used different approaches to study this relationship, and to evaluate which features are responsible for species distribution in different typologies of montado. First, we reviewed the concept of montado in order to better understand the system and to set thresholds on what can be considered as montado. Afterwards, we studied the elements that promote higher species diversity and individual species, or group of species, that can act as indicators of High Nature Value for montados. Finally, we evaluated how the bird communities are structured, and the influence of the main management actions (e.g. cattle and cork exploitation) on those communities; Resumo: A distribuição mundial do sobreiro Quercus suber e da azinheira Quercus rotundifolia é praticamente restrita à bacia do Mediterrâneo. Estas duas espécies de carvalhos são a base dos montados em Portugal e das dehesas em Espanha. No âmbito desta tese analisamos como as comunidades de aves do montado são influenciadas pela gestão florestal. Para este efeito usámos diferentes abordagens e avaliámos quais as características do montado responsáveis pela distribuição das espécies ao longo das suas diferentes tipologias. Fizemos uma revisão do conceito de montado e proposemos uma definição para o sistema, englobando a sua multifuncionalidade. Estudámos os elementos singulares que promovem a diversidade de aves e que podem ser simultaneamente indicadores de áreas de Alto Valor Natural (HNV). Por fim, avaliámos qual a influência da gestão (p. ex. pastoreio e descortiçamento) na estruturação das comunidades de aves.