Socio-Ecological Systems
Principal Investigator: Úrsula Gonzales Barron
The Socio-Ecological Systems group aims to address the following scientific and sustainability challenges:
- Innovation in the agro-food chains and networks
- Circular economy in productive sectors in mountain areas
- Resource use efficiency (inputs, energy, labour) in agriculture, forestry, water management and other fields
- Multifunctionality of mountain systems and provision of highly valuable ecosystem services
- Resilience and adaptation and other responses of mountain systems to global change
- Biodiversity and ecosystem function under global change
This research group is dedicated to productive systems in mountain areas and the products of these systems. All systems addressed in Socio-Ecological Systems produce goods and services. Production goods in this Group are raw materials for Group 2 (Sustainable Processes and Products) where they will be transformed and valorized.
The main research topics of the Group are:
Socio-Ecological Resilience
It is dedicated to the study of the interactions of drivers and pressures of change on processes, functions, and services provided by forests, shrubland, landscapes, rivers, lakes, and other mountain systems.
It covers diverse scientific fields such as forest ecology, forest modelling, silviculture, fire behaviour, beekeeping management, plant and vegetation conservation, freshwater ecology, conservation and restauration, genetic diversity conservation, soil management and conservation, among others.
- Improvement of the level of knowledge and understanding of systems such as forests, shrublands, pasturelands, landscapes, rivers, and others, in particular within a global change framework;
- Understanding and forecasting the effects of changes in drivers and pressures such as climate change, land abandonment or intensification, and other, on these systems and on the ecosystem services they provide;
- Understanding the interactions between biodiverstity, ecosystem function management, and resilience in mountain systems;
- Supporting resilience, adaptation and other responses of mountain socio-ecological systems to drivers of global change;
- Definition of measures for resource use efficienty in forestry, soil, water management and other fields;
- Promoting multifunctionality of mountain systems and provision of highly valuable ecosystem services.
Topic Coordinator: Maria Alice Pinto
Sustainable Agriculture and Innovative Agro-food Chains
It covers mountain crop systems management, the quality, authenticity, and traceability of mountain food products, the methodologies for nutritional, chemical, biochemical and microbiological analyses of food products, food safety control in traditional and innovative mountain food products, and food and non-food mountain products and markets.
- Improvement of scientific understanding of agriculture systems;
- Definition of management practices to increase efficiency, resilience, and the maintenance of the provision of essential ecosystem services of mountain agriculture systems under scenarios of climate and socioeconomic change;
- Evaluation of quality, authenticity, and traceability of mountain food products (e.g., wild mushrooms and plants, olive oil and other olive products, chestnuts, honey and other bee products, meat products, cheese and other dairy products);
- Development of methodologies for nutritional, chemical, biochemical and microbiological analyses of food products;
- Study of the aspects related to food safety control in traditional and innovative mountain food products, and increase the relevance of mountain products to achieve food security;
- Promotion of agro-industry business and access to markets based on quality and innovation of mountain products.
Topic Coordinator: Paula Cristina dos Santos Baptista
