Teresa Batista

Guidelines for the integration of biological and cultural values in a landscape interpretation centre: application in southern Portugal

The city of Évora (the Roman Ebora Liberalitas Julia) is the most important town in Alentejo province (Southern Portugal) and is surrounded by a quite rich cultural and biological landscape involving archaeological sites of several epochs, old field networks and farms, as well as specific multifunctional cultural landscapes, the agro-forestry-pastoral systems called montados. Based on previous studies and land surveys, in which where identified the best preserved sectors and marks around Évora concerning the old cadastral systems, ecological corridors networks and the most important montados areas for preservation, it is presented the main guidelines for the development of an interpretation centre for the cultural and biological values in the Évora region. The methodology applies GIS spatial analysis and multilevel approaches and gives the guidelines for the integration of the different cultural and biological values in a holistic approach of landscape. The conceptual model is presented as well as the results obtained for the Évora Region.

Photo interpretation and geographic information systems for dolmen identification in Portugal: The case study of Mora and Arraiolos

Aerial archaeology use vertical aerial photography and satellite images, allowing the identification of archaeological sites, both isolated or in agglomeration, since aerial images capture large scales of the territory. These images combined with Geographic Information Systems are powerful tools in Archaeology. This work, through the integration of photo interpretation techniques over aerial and satellites images available in Google Earth and BING, is presented as a non-intrusive prospecting method. This method was used to analyse standard features of dolmens in Alentejo Central, more specifically between Mora and Arraiolos municipalities (South Portugal). The analysis of these images permitted the perception of the dolmens size, colour, texture, structure and distribution pattern, allowing to find key criteria to photo interpreter already referenced archaeological sites more accurately, as well as to prospect potential new dolmens.

Conservation status of vegetation in the North and Central area of Pardiela river basin (Évora, Portugal)

Abstract Pardiela’s stream watershed was selected for a preliminary test of an ecological assessment through the application of the Potentiality Distance Index (PDI) methodology, based on current and potential vegetation maps. This analysis reveals the distance of a given vegetation community from its optimal potential state (climax) and the final PDI values portray the conservation status of the territory and allow the sketching of its needs for recovery or protection. Hence, territory management policies can subsequently be adjusted for better land use and biodiversity conservation. For this reason, this methodology can be an important step for landscape planning because it allows the adjustment of development proposals and activity monitoring. The final PDI value for the study area is 0.2509, indicating that Pardiela’s basin conservation status is moderate.

Contribution to Local Landscape Units definition in OTALEX II

Abstract OTALEX II is the Territorial and Environmental Observatory of Alentejo (Portugal) and Extremadura (Spain), co-financed by POCTEP, developed with the cross-border collaboration of several Portuguese and Spanish bodies. It is composed of a Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) created in 2007, SDI-OTALEX (www.ideotalex.eu), which is an exchange platform for geographic information and Webmapping services among project partners. The integration of environmental indicators such as landscape indicators, for the characterization and monitoring of the Alentejo Extremadura area is one of the most relevant components of the project. This paper reports the achievements in defining Local Landscape Units (LLU) for a pilot area of Central Alentejo – the Pardiela river basin. The methodological approach applied Geographic Information System tools to integrate soils, geomorphology and land cover. The land cover map applies the CORINE Land Cover Legend Level 5 to Central Alentejo at a scale of 1 : 10,000. This map contains variables related to vegetation, hydrology (streams and water bodies) and human settlements (buildings, equipment, roads). The validation of the results obtained for LLU with previously defined Landscape Units and potential vegetation mapping confirm the reliability and replicability of the present methodology for similar territories.