Dizem nos os botanicos que Portugal ja foi em tempos um territorio coberto de florestas de carvalhos, sobretudo nas regioes a Norte do Tejo. No entanto, quem percorre as paisagens do nosso pais, tem alguma dificuldade em encontrar vestigios dessa floresta do passado. Mesmo nas regioes onde encontramos as arvores, o tipo de formacoes que constituem pouco ou nada tem a ver com o que terao sido os bosques de outrora. Umas vezes porque sao frequentemente cortadas, queimadas ou pastoreadas e como tal nunca chegam a atingir um porte de acordo com as potencialidades do solo e clima locais. Outras vezes porque se encontram de tal forma dispersas na paisagem que dificilmente conseguimos ter uma ideia de floresta. Se bem que em rigor devessemos incluir outras especies do genero Quercus, como a azinheira e o sobreiro, na designacao de “carvalho”, e comum associar a esta designacao apenas as especies de folha caduca (que cai no Outono) ou marcescente (que permanece algum tempo na arvore depois de secar). Deste modo reunem se neste volume informacoes sobre as tres principais especies de carvalhos stricto sensu do nosso pais: o carvalho portugues, o carvalho negral e o carvalho roble, cada uma delas constituindo uma Parte distinta e independente do volume. No entanto mais do que descrever cada especie em si interessou nos sobretudo descrever as formacoes que constituem ou seja, os diferentes tipos de carvalhal. A justificacao de um volume com uma serie de textos dedicados aos carvalhais reside assim na necessidade de informar e consciencializar o publico portugues sobre estas formacoes florestais, hoje em dia tao pouco representadas na nossa paisagem. Na verdade os dados mais recentes referem que, apesar da maior consciencializacao sobre o seu valor, os carvalhais continuam a declinar em termos de area ocupada (10% nos ultimos 10 anos), o que e um motivo de grande preocupacao. Deste modo pretendeu se com o presente volume abordar toda uma serie de aspectos relacionados com os carvalhais, tendo em conta quer a vertente tecnica e cientifica relacionada com a sua biologia, ecologia, silvicultura, utilizacao tecnologica e distribuicao, quer a vertente cultural e historica associada a cada uma das respectivas especies e as regioes onde ocorrem ou ocorreram. Assim a cada uma das tres especies esta associado um conjunto de cinco capitulos onde se abordam os diferen10 tes aspectos referidos. Muito embora o conjunto dos cinco capitulos tente cobrir de forma coerente todos os diferentes aspectos ligados a cada especie de carvalho e as respectivas formacoes, cada texto reflecte bastante a perspectiva individual de quem o escreveu. A perspectiva que e dada tem por vezes um caracter inevitavelmente tecnico, mas tenta se sempre que possivel utilizar uma linguagem proxima do cidadão comum. O presente volume e sobretudo um assumido conjunto de textos que se complementam mas que nao pretendem de forma alguma constituir uma monografia sobre os carvalhais de Portugal. Devemos referir ainda que nao existiu grande preocupacao em evitar a ocorrencia de algumas redundancias e mesmo de algumas contradicoes, tentando assim reproduzir fielmente a perspectiva pessoal de cada autor sobre cada tema, mesmo aqueles que aparecem abordados mais que uma vez. Os autores que foram convidados a escrever cada um dos capitulos sao reconhecidos especialistas a nivel nacional, representando por isso o melhor do conhecimento disponivel em Portugal sobre cada um dos temas. De entre todos os autores ha a destacar a colaboracao do Prof. Joao Paulo Carvalho que tomou a seu cargo a lideranca de maioria dos capítulos referentes ao carvalho negral e ao carvalho roble. Tao importantes quanto os textos sao as fotografias que aqui se apresentam, numa tentativa tambem de mostrar ao leitor o esplendor de paisagens que hoje em dia ja temos muita dificuldade em encontrar. O nosso convite ao leitor e assim para que aprenda com os textos e para que desfrute das imagens, na esperanca que dessa forma mais pessoas possam saber apreciar o nosso patrimonio florestal natural. O objectivo geral de divulgar e tornar mais proxima do publico a realidade florestal do nosso pais, tem como uma das finalidades principais o cumprir o designio superior de alertar para a preservacao e fomento da floresta autoctone em Portugal e nomeadamente dos bosques de carvalho. Porque a ignorancia e a maior inimiga da natureza e porque so se ama aquilo que se conhece.

The European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, a keystone species of Mediterranean ecosystems, is the target of several recovery and management plans throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The majority of these plans are limited in time by budget constraints and lack postintervention monitoring of population trends. This study was conducted in south-west Portugal and aimed to understand the effect of habitat management and its early cessation on rabbit populations. We assessed rabbit presence and relative abundance before management (2007), during the implementation of measures (2008), immediately after (2009) and 3 years after measures ended (2012). We applied a model selection approach, using general zed linear models to determine the relative importance of MANAGED and UNMANAGED habitat features on rabbit presence in each year. We used spatial eigenvector mapping to describe the spatial autocorrelation in rabbit presence and a variation partitioning approach to quantify the relative effects of management-related variables, unmanaged environmental descriptors and spatial characteristics on rabbit presence. Rabbit presence and abundance increased shortly after the management intervention but decreased 3 years after. Rabbit presence was positively related to the proximity of installed crops and the existence of favorable soils for digging. Habitat management-related variables explained most of the variation in all models. Habitat improvement actions, particularly the sowing of pastures, contributed to increased rabbit presence. We propose a continued long-term intervention and the cultivation of crops with auto-regeneration properties (e.g., subterranean clover—Trifolium subterraneum) with the aim of continuing to increase rabbit presence and abundance in areas where rabbit populations are scarce.

The European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus, a keystone species of Mediterranean ecosystems, is the target of several recovery and management plans throughout the Iberian Peninsula. The majority of these plans are limited in time by budget constraints and lack postintervention monitoring of population trends. This study was conducted in south-west Portugal and aimed to understand the effect of habitat management and its early cessation on rabbit populations. We assessed rabbit presence and relative abundance before management (2007), during the implementation of measures (2008), immediately after (2009) and 3 years after measures ended (2012). We applied a model selection approach, using generalized linear models to determine the relative importance of MANAGED and UNMANAGED habitat features on rabbit presence in each year. We used spatial eigenvector mapping to describe the spatial autocorrelation in rabbit presence and a variation partitioning approach to quantify the relative effects of management-related variables, unmanaged environmental descriptors and spatial characteristics on rabbit presence. Rabbit presence and abundance increased shortly after the management intervention but decreased 3 years after. Rabbit presence was positively related to the proximity of installed crops and the existence of favorable soils for digging. Habitat management-related variables explained most of the variation in all models. Habitat improvement actions, particularly the sowing of pastures, contributed to increased rabbit presence. We propose a continued long-term intervention and the cultivation of crops with auto-regeneration properties (e.g., subterranean clover—Trifolium subterraneum) with the aim of continuing to increase rabbit presence and abundance in areas where rabbit populations are scarce.

Restocking is widely used to recover depleted wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, populations in the Iberian Peninsula. However, in general, it’s costly and unsuccessful. In this work, we developed a wild rabbit restocking protocol based on recommendations from existing literature to enhance its success. We released 75 Iberian rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus algirus, in a 1.7-ha restocking park, a fenced semi-natural enclosure, with similar resources as the surrounding area, in Monchique, southern Portugal. We tracked 22 radio-collared rabbits (sex ratio 1:1) for 6 months. We released some rabbits inside warrens, and others in shrub patches. After a 72-day acclimation period, we opened the restocking park passages to allow the rabbits to disperse. We then accessed rabbit survival and space use. We found that survival rates stabilised 74 days after restocking, with an estimated probability of survival at the end of the study of 35.4%. Predation by birds of prey was the primary cause of death. Regarding space use, the restocked population took 96.364 ± SE 12.615 days to stabilise home ranges. After the acclimation period, the maximum distances travelled by rabbits significantly increased. However, before and after the opening of the passages, the home ranges remained within the limits of the restocking park, indicating that the surviving rabbits settled within the enclosure. Rabbits released within warrens had significantly smaller core areas, while those released in shrubs exhibited more ranging behaviour. Considering our findings, we recommend implementing several measures to improve similar rabbit restocking programs.

Roads represent barriers to animal movement due to physical obstruction, mortality, or behavioural avoidance. The population-level consequences of such constraints remain poorly understood, because successful crossings may be sufficient to counteract negative effects of fragmentation and isolation. Here we examine the individualand population-level barrier effects of a motorway on the common genet Genetta genetta, by combining long-term road mortality, radio tracking and population genetics data. We found 84 genets killed at roads, of which 68% were subadults, with a peak mortality during the dispersal period. The home ranges of resident adults often bordered the motorway, and their sizes were similar close to (314 ha, n=9) and far from (258 ha, n=10) the motorway. The crossing rate was much higher for dispersing subadults (4.1 crossings/100 nights, n=3) than for resident adults living near the motorway (0.2 crossings/100 nights, n=9), though the number of tracked subadults crossing the motorway was low. Genetic kinship analysis revealed seven crossings based on father offspring and half-sibling relationships. There was no significant genetic differentiation related to the motorway. The movement of residents were strongly constrained by the motorway, though gene flow mediated by successful crossings, particularly by subadults, likely prevented genetic differentiation. Genet movements across the motorway were probably facilitated by low traffic flow and the presence of crossing structures. Our study implies that evaluating mitigation strategies to reduce the barrier effects of roads would benefit from the integration of mortality, animal behaviour, and population genetics data, to increase effectiveness and avoid wasting scarce conservation resources.