NATURE CONSERVATION

Amphibians: Facing Extinction

Amphibians are an old group of animals, that have developed in the Devonian period, about 370 million years ago, from lobe-finned fish which were similar to the modern coelacanth and lungfish. Amphibians are also considered the most endangered and rapidly declining group of the terrestrial vertebrates. The Iberian Peninsula is one of the regions of Europe with the highest diversity of amphibians, with several endemic species. (...)

The Art Of Bird Ringing

Birds are a group of tetrapods that include about 10 000 species, spread across the planet. All these species evolved from a group of dinosaurs, known as theropods, during the Jurassic, 165 to 150 million years ago. Since then, birds have adapted to the most varied habitats and acquired incredibly peculiar forms and behaviours. (...)

Photography And Nature Conservation

Currently more than 7.6 billion people live on planet earth, but the United Nations projects world population to reach 10 billion in the year 2056. This numbers are worrying, because we live in a consumer society, where too much is not enough and as a result we are using more 25% natural resources than the planet can sustain. To match our needs, we have been destroying ancient forests (...)

The Land Of Fire

Every year Portugal is devoured by thousands of wildfires. In average, between 2007 and 2016, 3662 fires occurred each year, corresponding to 84671 ha of burned area. In 2017 alone more than 440 000 ha of forest, shrubland and villages were destroyed by fires, which corresponds to 4 times more than what was registered in the last 10 years (an increase of 428%). (...)