António Mira

Carmo Silva; Sofia Eufrázio; Vânia Salgueiro; Pedro A. Salgueiro; Amália

Oliveira; Otília Miralto; Denis Medinas; Alexandra Silva & António Mira

Quarries meet biodiversity: fauna

insights from a long-term project of

quarry rehabilitation

Arrábida’s Natural Park (green)

Study area: SECIL - Outão

SECIL’s property: green (L) – limestone areabrown (M) – marl area .

LB

L90

M90

M00

MB

MN

M80

L80

L00

LN

- Plant facilities

- Natural and burned (2004) areas

- 2 active quarries (limestone + marl)

- Rehabilitated area

MAIN GOALS

• Understand and minimize theimpacts of quarry activities onfauna and associated processes ofecosystem functioning

• Promote the recovery of ecosystemstructure and functioning to helpnatural colonization from quarrysurroundings.

Understanding and valuing

biodiversity (fauna)

1. Characterize biodiversity and main drivers influencing it

2. Design and implement an Action Plan to recover biodiversity

3. Monitor biodiversity, comparing with surrounding natural areas

4. Better understand key ecosystem functions to help implement rehabilitation actions and potentiate ecosystem services

Main steps

Baseline referential

(2007)

70 Insects

35 Butterflies

35 Ground beetles

3 Amphibians

7 Reptiles

52 Birds

4 Birds of prey

2 Owls

46 Passerines

16 Mammals

4 Bats

5 Small mammals

1 Lagomorphs

0 Ungulates

6 Carnivores

Total: 148 species

Drivers of Biodiversity

Potentiating

- High prey abundance

- High density of herbaceous in

some areas

- Large natural wood and shrub

patches surrounding the quarry

Limiting

- Habitat fragmentation and

low connectivity

- Few shelters

- High disturbance

- Low water availability

- Feral dogs and cats

Action Plan

Hands-on it…

Action Plan

A1. Environmental Awareness

A2. Surveillance

A3. Feral animals control

A4. Vegetation management

A5. Shelters

A6. Water availability

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Propriedade SECIL-Outão

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Plan o d e Acção p ara a B iodiversidad e

Com po nen te da Faun a

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Vegetation

Surveillence

Shelter

Water

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280

260

240

220

200

190

Propriedade SECIL-Outão

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Plan o d e Acção p ara a B iodiversidad e

Com po nen te da Faun a

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Management actions

proposed location

Monitoring

Evaluating successes and failures

Water - Artificial ponds

Water availability is an import action as it

attracted fauna into recovered areas

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Aves Mamíferos A.assilvestrados Temperatura (ºC) Humidade (%)

Specie

s R

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Birds Mammals Feral species Temperature (ºC) Humidity (%)

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Season

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Temperature (º C)

Season

Winter

Fall

Spring

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R2= 0.595

p < 0.001

Shelters - Rock piles

Increase of wood mouse in

natural marl (p<0.001)

Abundance (Capture index)

Before After

Shelter – Bird nest-boxes

Eurasian blue tit

Before After

Great tit

132 nest-boxesEurasian blue tit, European crested tit and great

tit; Black redstart; short-toed treecreeper; and robin

Before After

Increase the abundance of Eurasian blue tit

(p=0.002) and great tit (p<0,001) during the winter

in areas with nest boxes

Long-term Monitoring

Distinguishing between true

trends and natural fluctuations

Limestone

Marl

Convergence in species

composition of

rehabilitated areas

towards natural habitats

Case-studies

Towards Ecosystem functioning

To the wood mouse the quarry is connectedwith the natural areas.

Female

Male

Case 1 - Connectivity

SECIL-Outão’ propertyRehabilitated area and quarryFactory buildings Roads

Buffer 50mBuffer550mRehabilitated areas

Location of the feed stations

Carnivores dispersed seeds in the

rehabilitated areas, in the natural areas

and between both

Case 2 - Seed dispersal

(Herrera, 2016)

Framing Fauna diversity at SECIL-

Outão in its surroundings

Inside the Arrábida Natural Park

To frame Fauna diversity at SECIL-Outão in its surroundings

To evaluate the effect of the distance to the quarry

To define the environmental characteristics that best explain the abundance and richness of wildlife groups in order to propose management measures

Objectives

Arrábida Natural Park

Municipalities

Arrábida Natural Park

Luiz Saldanha Marine Park

SECIL-OutãoSampling sites in 2013Sampling sites in 2016

GroupNumber of species in

the Natural ParkNumber of species at

SECIL-OutãoGround beetles 34 27Butterflies 44 24Passerines 49 40Other birds 16 12Birds of prey 8 4Owls 6 2Bats 7 7Rabbits 1 1Ungulates 1 1Carnivores 6 5TOTAL 172 123

Park vs. Quarry

5 587 ha 425 ha

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Habitat 1 Habitat 2 Orography Quarry

Main drivers of species occurrence

Habitat characteristics are the most important features explaining species occurrence. The relevance of distance to Quarry is weak in most cases.

37 guilds analyzed

Effects of distance to the Quarry

(preliminary incomplete results)

Lower abundance of butterfliesnear the quarry.

Higher activity of carnivores andbirds do prey suggests thequarry may be an importantfeeding area.

However, nesting of carnivoresand birds of prey in the quarryis rare

R² = 0,2047

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(24h)

Distância à Pedreira da SECIL-Outão (metros)

A

R2 = 0,205

Wild carnivoresactivity

Take home messages

• A 11-year study on the response of fauna

to an ongoing rehabilitation of a quarry

allows for the evaluation of trends

• Quarries have local impact on fauna despite

this, if properly managed, they may hold a

high biodiversity and can sustain important

ecosystem functioning and services

• Distance to quarries is a minor driver of

fauna diversity and activity in surrounding

areas, the most important being habitat

related characteristics;

• Opportunities made available by the

quarries (abundance of prey, rocky habitats)

should be valued in recovery programs.

• Rehabilitation should focus on species but

also ecosystem functioning and natural

services, to allow the fully re-establishment

of ecological processes.

Sofia Eufrázio

Carmo Silva

AntónioMira

Pedro Salgueiro

Vânia Salgueiro

VanesaRivera

OtiliaMiralto

AmáliaOliveira

Actual UE team

Ana Galantinho

Denis Medinas

Filipe Carvalho

Rafael Carvalho

Giovanni ManghiLena Marques Nelson Varela Nuno Faria Vanessa Alves André Raposo Carla Cruz Ilaria Campana A. M.CarvalhoEdgar Gomes Pedro Barbosa Pedro Pereira Tiago Marques

Alexandra Silva José Oliveira Cátia SáNuno Marques Joana Cardoso Rita Ferro Nelson Cristina

Rute Caraça Filipa Costa Eulália Freitas Fernando Camolas

Teresa Mexia Joana Gusmão Alice Nunes Graça Oliveira Otília Correia