O papel da biodiversidade no aumento do valorização do amendoal

The current increase in almond popularity in consumer markets has led to a notable expansion in both the cultivation area and production of this crop, a trend particularly evident in Portugal (INE, 2023; Santos & Teixeira, 2020). However, there's a notable gap in our understanding of critical ecosystem services linked to almond cultivation, particularly in pollination and pest control, with limited studies assessing these aspects in Europe and none specifically in Portugal. Currently, almond production heavily relies on a substantial amount of chemical inputs for pest and disease control (Rodrigues, 2017), intensifying constraints on other aspects of crop production, particularly those related to pollination (Shannon et al., 2023). The proposed project aims to assess how various landscape and crop management practices influence biodiversity and quantify the economic value of ecosystem services in almond production. The primary objective is to reconcile crop production with biodiversity conservation through ecological intensification. Ultimately, our goal is to enhance the current understanding of biotic interactions and ecosystem services provided by wildlife, particularly in terms of pollination and pest control, evaluate their economic value, and explore methods for increasing ecological intensification in a typical animal-pollinated crop setting. The proposed project is structured into seven tasks, each with clear objectives: Task 1: Evaluate the diversity and activity of the diurnal insect pollinators of almonds and analyse how they are influenced by landscape and management variables, assessing their impact on fruit production. Task 2: Investigate the role of often overlooked pollinator groups such as birds and moths in almond pollination. Task 3: Quantify the economic impact of animal pollination in the highly efficient almond orchards. Task 4: Assess the contribution of individual species within the pollinator community present in almond orchards. Task 5: Analyse the potential of flower visitors as vectors for almond diseases and dispersers of other fungi. Task 6: Investigate how landscape and management practices affect bats and birds in almond orchards, evaluating their role as predators of almond pests and the economic value of their pest predation service. Task 7: Raise biodiversity awareness among the general public and disseminate all the results from the project. Given the widespread adoption of highly efficient almond production systems, we anticipate that our findings will provide valuable insights applicable to numerous other regions across Europe. We aim to generate robust results that offer clear guidance on better management practices for almonds and other animal-pollinated crops. We anticipate being able to assess the significance of various pollinators and pest controllers, analyse the local and landscape factors influencing these groups, and evaluate their economic importance. Our expected outcomes include gaining insight into the influence of orchard management practices and landscape composition on biodiversity and their impact on almond productivity. This research will offer practical recommendations for farmers and landowners to enhance almond production. Furthermore, it will provide valuable information to regional authorities regarding landscape management strategies, e.g., land restoration initiatives, which can economically benefit local communities while simultaneously promoting biodiversity conservation.