Pedro Santos

• PhD
• Universidade de Évora

We examined the reproductive phenology of wild boar populations in four regions of the western Iberian Peninsula during the 1999/2000 hunting season (October–February). To estimate conception dates and birth distribution frequencies, we used foetal weights. Regions differed significantly, and we detected a relationship between region and birth dist...

In the last decades, wild boar (Sus scrofa) distribution has increased world-wide, the Iberian Peninsula being no exception. The wild boar now inhabits almost the entire Iberian territory, where today it is one of the most important big game species. In this paper, for the first time, bag analysis from two ecological different regions are presented...

This study was carried out in the Iberian-Mediterranean region of Alentejo (Southern Portugal) to discover which ‘montado’ management practices significantly affected reptile variables (abundance, richness). Field surveys on 30 sampling plots allowed us to identify 370 individuals distributed among 12 terrestrial reptile species (six lizards, one a...

The coexistence of wild boars and domestic pigs across Eurasia makes it feasible to conduct comparative genetic or genomic analyses for addressing how genetically different a domestic species is from its wild ancestor. To test whether there are differences in patterns of genetic variability between wild and domestic pigs at immunity-related genes a...

Montado decline has been reported since the end of the nineteenth century in southern Portugal and increased markedly during the 1980s. Consensual reports in the literature suggest that this decline is due to a number of factors, such as environmental constraints, forest diseases, inappropriate management, and socioeconomic issues. An assessment on...

Chapter about conservation status of Sus scrofa (wild boar)

Seminatural European grasslands and pastures have a high conservation value because they provide different goods and services (meat, wool, carbon sequestration, etc.) and harbor diverse communities of plants and animals. These land use systems were created by low-and moderate-intensity use and, nowadays , face threats from both abandonment and over...

Game species with home ranges exceeding the area of the management units may entail conflicts over hunting rights and cause damage to crops and forest stands in surrounding areas. This is currently the case in the Mendro Mountain Range (Portugal), inhabited by free-ranging red (Cervus elaphus) and fallow deer (Dama dama) populations. This study’s p...

Red and fallow deer have become overabundant species in some areas of the Iberian Peninsula, namely in enclosures located in agro-silvo-pastoral systems called “montado” in Portugal and “dehesa” in Spain. Reliable methods to estimate deer density in such conditions are required for proper population management. Inconsistent conclusions regarding th...

Abstract: Invasive alien species are responsible for several negative impacts worldwide. Managing biological invasions is often difficult and the success rate is quite low but with good planning it is possible to achieve good results. Besides employing the correct methods and techniques, an overall strategy based on landscape dynamics and expected...

Nesta comunicação serão discutidos os principais desafios sentidos no restauro deste habitat, nomeadamente: apoio de proprietários privados e públicos; a produção e plantação de espécies raras; as dificuldades no restauro da estrutura e função; o controle de espécies exóticas; e o assegurar financiamento para a gestão futura. Apresentaremos também...

The “LDTtool” python toolbox is introduced. This ArcGIS toolbox can be applied to assess land cover or land use changes between two or three moments, considering landscape composition and configuration. The development of LDTtool occurs in a time when the studies on landscape dynamics looking at amount and configuration changes are becoming mainstr...

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is a problematic invasive species which has colonized the threatened Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Our objective was to evaluate if population control and seasonality affect the circadian rhythm of wild boar activity. Wild boar activity was monitored by camera-traps for 1 year without population-control methods and 1 year wi...

Wild rabbit is a relevant species in the Iberian Peninsula due to its ecological and economic roles. Conservationists and game managers therefore have a shared interest in assuring the existence of resilient and sustainable populations. Although management principles and guidelines are mostly known and understood, often the results are not as good...

The wild boar (Sus scrofa Linnaeus, 1758) is considered one of the 100 worst invasive species in the world and is present in the high-elevation forests in Brazil. Our objective was to understand how landscape and atmospheric conditions affect space use by wild boars. We hypothesized that wild boars would be more frequent at lower elevations, warmer...

Local people’s perception of nature-based tourism evolution and consequent impacts on their well-being are crucial in promoting ecotourism and achieving sustainable development. This study focused on indigenous populations’ attitudes concerning tourism activities taking place in the Iona National Park, located in the Namibe Province of Angola, wher...

LDTtool is an ArcGIS toolbox that implements the Landscape Dynamics Typology method (Machado et al., 2018) to assess landscapes.

No âmbito das atividades do XIII Seminário Internacional de Gestão e Conservação da Biodiversidade – Vale do Lobo, Loulé (Algarve – Portugal), desenvolveu-se o presente trabalho, com o objetivo de aprofundar o conhecimento da flora e vegetação dos locais a visitar no contexto do itinerário da excursão geobotânica aos territórios algarvios. Assim, a...

The organisms and their habitats do not know borders. Thus, the conservation of biodiversity and the management of natural renewable resources along geopolitical borders should be concerted between neighboring countries. Furthermore, Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) projects and strategies should deeply analyze how «border effect» affects the differe...

City and countryside, by their mutual dependency, constitute a unique system, which is the basis for the development of a global landscape. This interaction is far from the country being simply the city's food supply. The interaction should be reinforced through ecological corridors allowing the biodiversity movement that guarantees the landscape i...

Due to their complex structure and traditional low-intensity management, Portuguese oak woodland rangelands known as montados are often considered high nature value (HNV) farming systems, and as such, they may be deemed eligible for subsidies and incentives by governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Too little is known about how the HNV concept...

To assess the characteristics of Iona National Park’s visitors, we analyzed secondary data and conducted a survey by administering face-to-face interviews. We used information referring to a total of 354 visitors to assess tourists’ personal characteristics (bio-data), their motivation for visiting, and their level of satisfaction. The majority of...

Wild rabbit is a very important species in the Mediterranean region. Its relevance is both ecological, being a keystone species —prey for several predators— and economic, as it is the most important and the most managed small game species among mammals in the Iberian Peninsula. Although both researchers and game managers claim restocking operations...

Landscape transformations have been a central topic in landscape ecology due to their influence on ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation. Landscape dynamics can be very complex and one of the most difficult issues to analyse is the contribution and the effects of landscape composition and configuration changes to the overall impact. We e...

In sexually reproducing organisms, the specific combinations of parental alleles can have important consequences on offspring viability and fitness. Accordingly, genetic relationship between mates can be used as a criterion for mate choice. Here, we used microsatellite genetic markers to estimate the genetic relationship between mating pairs in the...

Although the extractive operations of quarrying are often considered environmental threats, there is some evidence that abandoned quarries may have a significant positive impact on biodiversity by enhancing habitat quality for several species. In Estremoz Anticlinal, SE Portugal, many of the existing marble quarries have been inactive for decades a...

The maintenance of genetic diversity across generations depends on both the number of reproducing males and females. Variance in reproductive success, multiple paternity and litter size can all affect the relative contributions of male and female parents to genetic variation of progeny. The mating system of the wild boar (Sus scrofa) has been descr...

Understanding the relationship between spatial patterns of landscape attributes and population presence and abundance is essential for understanding population processes as well as supporting management and conservation strategies. This study evaluates the influence of three factors: environment, habitat management, and season on the presence and a...

O Livro Verde dos Montados apresenta diversos objectivos que se interligam: Em primeiro lugar, o Livro Verde pretende reunir e sistematizar, de uma forma simples e acessível ao público, o conhecimento produzido em Portugal pelos investigadores e técnicos de várias instituições de investigação ou de gestão que estudam o Montado. Assume-se como uma o...

The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is among the most widespread mammal species throughout the old world. Presently, studies concerning microsatellites in domestic pigs and wild boars have been carried out in order to investigate domestication, social behavior and general diversity patterns among either populations or breeds. The purpose of the current stud...

The interferon-induced guanylate-binding protein 1 gene (GBP1) plays an important role in host defense against viral, bacterial and protozoan infections. To explore novel genetic variants in this gene, we re-sequenced a 587-bp fragment spanning the exon 2 of the GBP1 gene in a sample panel consisting of 34 wild boars and 59 local domestic pigs from...

Harvesting of wildlife by man has been linked to demographic and evolutionary impacts in many populations. We investigated the sex ratio and age class structure in hunting bags of wild boar harvested by espera—nocturnal single hunt at bait—during four hunting seasons in Alentejo (Portugal). In addition, we assessed whether the hunting method is a s...

Small-game hunting is of great economic importance in Portugal. Game managers claim that game management restrictions regarding shoots inside the Nature 2000 Network negatively influence small-game bags, particularly of hare, wild rabbit and red-legged partridge. We analyse whether different habitat and game management practices are associated with...

Multiple paternity within litters occurs in various groups of mammals exhibiting different mating systems. Using seven genetic markers (i.e., microsatellites), we investigated the paternity of littermates in free-ranging wild boar (Sus scrofa) in a Mediterranean habitat. Using the software CERVUS 2.0 we estimated the probability of detecting multip...

El jabalí es una especie de caza mayor relativamente nueva en Portugal. La legislación de caza portuguesa está basada en la de otros países europeos y su aplicación no tiene en cuenta la variabilidad regional y ecológica. Este estudio fue realizado en tres regiones de Portugal: Trás-os-Montes (al norte), Beiras (en el centro) y Alentejo (al sur). D...

Este estudio se ha llevado a cabo en campos agrícolas intercalados con bosques. Dos jabalíes, una hembra adulta y un macho juvenil, fueron marcados con collares radio-transmisores con sensores que registraban su actividad. Se estudió a la hembra durante cerca de dos años y al macho durante 4 meses, entre primavera y verano. Las rutas de sondeo, de...