Profiling Portugal - the Serra de Monchique

General description

The Serra de Monchique is located in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The area, which is the highest in the Algarve, comprises the two Massifs of Foia (902 m) and Picotta (774 m). The rare syenite geology of the mountains combined with the higher altitudes and Atlantic climatic conditions create a variety of distinctive habitat types that support a wide range of flora and fauna. These habitats include heathland with rock outcrops, indigenous woodlands and sweet chestnust coppices. Due to its wildlife values, 76,008 ha of the area has been put forward as a Special Area for Conservation (SAC) under the Natura 2000 scheme.

Importance for conservation

Despite significant and often damaging changes in land use in recent years, many of the mountains’ wildlife values are still intact. A study of the flora in a 400 ha area near Foia in 2003 recorded a total of 236 species distributed across 69 families and 174 genera, including important taxa such as the "monchiquensis" subspecies of Armeria beirana, the ornate, orange-flowered Iberian Knapweed Centaurea crocata, and the rhododendron Rhododendron ponticum ssp baeticum. The Serra de Monchique also provides good habitat for birds, insects and mammals such as the Short-toed Eagle, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Scarce Swallowtail butterfly and the endangered and illusive Iberian Lynx.

Conservation threats

Sizable portions of the Serra de Monchique have been transformed into cash crop plantations of eucalyptus, pine and acacia, to the detriment of natural oak woodlands with their indigenous biodiversity and traditional forms of woodland management. One result has been the increase in forest fires – a disturbance agent which is generally beneficial in Mediterranean-type ecosystems, but potentially detrimental to biodiversity when seen at above normal frequencies and intensities. Fires in 2003 burned an area of approximately 70,000 ha and whilst it is expected that the common plant species will recover it is less certain whether the rarer ones will.

Achievements to date

A Rocha has studied the the Monchique Mountains since 1993 when a survey and mapping of the vegetation and flora of Picota was undertaken. An investigation by A Rocha in 1995/96 into the effect on native fauna and flora of replacing cork oak woodland with eucalyptus plantation encompassed some study areas in Monchique. Further vegetation data were collected in 2003 just before the forest fires that year, and enabling the post-fire recovery of the vegetation to be monitored in 2005 and 2006, partially through a collaboration with Cambridge University who are testing LiDAR technology for such use. It is intended to apply these and future results to influencing forestry policy in the region towards more sustainable, wildlife-rich forest systems.

Vision for the future

A Rocha supports the initiative to create a Bio-Parque for Monchique, integrating as it does nature conservation objectives with better revenue-generation through ecotourism and support of regional handicrafts and other small enterprises based on sustainable land management. Our vision for the mountains is for a return to a richer, more mixed and less fire-prone landscape that is better adapted to the local geography and climatic conditions, balancing the need for economically productive plantations with the return of more indigenous forests. Only in this way can the exceptional biodiversity of the region be safeguarded and enhanced.