Avaliação do impacto dos factores climáticos na qualidade do habitat do Sisão (...

• Author(s): Martins, Ana Rita Mendes
• Date: 2012
• Persistent ID: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/5316
• Origin: Repositório da UTL
• Subject(s): little bustard; Tetrax tetrax; breeding season; NDVI; rainfall; soil productivity; climate change
• Document Type: Master Thesis
• Language: Portuguese
• Advisor(s): Silva, João Paulo Campbell Alves; Moreira, Francisco Manuel Ribeiro Ferraria

Description

Mestrado em Engenharia do Ambiente - Instituto Superior de Agronomia The Little Bustard Tetrax tetrax is a bird adapted to agricultural systems, considered endangered in the Iberian Peninsula, Europe region particularly vulnerable to climate change. During the breeding season, Little Bustard shows preference for fallow land and pastures, feeding mainly of vegetable matter. The NDVI, extracted from satellite images, can be interpreted as an index of vegetation greenness and therefore with a high potential as a predictive variable of the distribution and abundance of the Little Bustard. The objective of this study aims to understand how climate influences the NDVI and how NDVI relates to the Little Bustard abundance in the period coinciding with the start of the breeding season. Using AVHRR images within a time series of 25 years (1981-2006), it was analyzed at the scale of Alentejo the effect of accumulated rainfall and the land use in NDVI values. According to statistical modeling techniques for both variables, significantly and positively influence the NDVI values. It was found, on the other hand, a negative relationship between the abundance of Little Bustard and NDVI. It is believed that the areas of greatest abundance (with lower NDVI) correspond to locations where suitable habitat exists for Little Bustard breeding, which, with the climate change scenarios, will be more vulnerable