Francisco Rego

ABSTRACT: The objective of this project was to perform an assessment of the Portuguese Lookout Network (RNPV) and to present proposals to improve fire prevention. Work Developed: GPS and photographic registration of all lookouts included in the National Lookout; Network (RNPV) and update of existing information; Evaluation of the lookout activity and performance; Production of digital cartography at local, regional and national level; Proposal of measures to adopt for forest fire detection optimization in Portugal. Cartographic Production at the National Level (for continental Portugal): Visible and invisible areas from the RNPV; Vigilance cover rate by the RNPV; Location and characteristics of the RNPV; Priority areas for additional fire vigilance; Areas of public interest. ---------------------------------- RESUMO: O objectivo deste projecto foi fazer uma caracterização e avaliação da Rede Nacional de Postos de Vigia (RNPV) e apresentar propostas para melhorar a prevenção de incên...

This study assessed long-term effects of wildfires on aquatic ecosystems in the Mediterranean Basin, Portugal. Among Mediterranean countries, Portugal is prominently targeted by wildfires. Since 1990, more than 25% of the country burned and in 2003 and 2005 the burnt area was maximal and created the need and opportunity for this ongoing study. In Central Portugal, 9 sub-basins burnt between 2003 and 2007, dominated by eucalyptus (euc), maritime pine (mpn) and cork oak (cok) were selected and 27 reaches of first to third order streams were sampled for coarse (>0.05 m diameter) woody debris (CWD). Line Intersect Sampling and Census techniques were used along burned valleys and corresponding streams, respectively. First results indicate differences on potential debris delivery to streams according to tree species, whether in relation to log lengths (mpn>euc>cok), diameters (cok>mpn>euc) and number (euc>mpn>cok). Output and retention of CWD to the stream channel are...

Wildfires are an increasingly common disturbance influencing wood recruitment to streams, and thereby affecting their physical and biological condition. We examined 27 1st- through 3rd-order Portuguese streams from forests of cork oak (CO), eucalyptus (Ec), and maritime pine (MP), which experienced extensive recent wildfires. Many of the streams were intermittent, with stretches remaining dry for several months. First, we evaluated the physical structure of 2206 wood pieces surveyed within streams and across 100-200m transects perpendicular to the streams. Second, we quantified instream wood amounts and organization (segregated, random, aggregated). Third, we modeled the effects of wood characteristics and its instream emplacement on the probability of performing a function (e.g. creating pools and/or riffles). Burned wood was larger and straighter, had branches less often, and were more decayed. Inputs from burned MP forests are more likely to change stream hydraulics, relative to ...

Wildfires are an increasingly common disturbance influencing wood recruitment to streams, and thereby affecting their physical and biological condition. We examined 27 1st- through 3rd-order Portuguese streams from forests of cork oak (CO), eucalyptus (Ec), and maritime pine (MP), which experienced extensive recent wildfires. Many of the streams were intermittent, with stretches remaining dry for several months. We evaluated the physical structure of 1483 wood pieces intercepting stream bankfulls (1), and modeled the effects of wood characteristics (burned status, diameter, presence of rootwads) and its instream emplacement (position, location along the stream, wood length/channel width ratio, number of anchoring ends) on the probability of performing a physical function (e.g. creating pools and/or riffles). Probability of function increases on wood of greater diameter, and decreases on pieces longer than ~3 times the channel width. Probability of function was higher in the second h...

ABSTRACT Downed wood pieces are key links between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. They promote organic matter retention, create habitat, and potentially increase stream productivity. The stock of downed wood in a river system is a product of the interaction between wood supply, transport, in situ losses, and retention characteristics of the system. Fire and forest management are important disturbances that influence the amount and organization of stream wood with boom-and-bust periods of recruitment and fluvial transport processes. We examined 1 st -through 3 rd -order Portuguese streams flowing through 3 common silvicultural systems in southern Europe: forests of cork oak, eucalyptus, and maritime pine. Our data set included 1483 pieces of wood in 27 streams, all of which had experienced extensive wildfires within the previous 6 y. We used binned neighbor-k analysis to assess wood organization (segregated, random, or aggregated). We then used linear mixed-effects modeling to evaluate the effects of stream order, forest type, and their interaction on wood volume and organization. The best predictor of wood volume and organization was the interaction between forest type and stream order. Most wood pieces were burned and organization was low, suggesting that arrangement of wood was largely a product of input dynamics rather than transport processes at this time. Potential drivers of across-system variability included vegetation obstructions, wood length:channel width ratios, management actions, and effects of fire. Climate models predict more droughts in the Euro-Mediterranean region in the future, with implications for wood volume, transport, and function as terrestrial vegetation invades intermittent stream channels and plant communities shift from managed forests to shrublands with few trees.