The Vale Telheiro Cave, at the gates of the city of Loulé, an important underground biodiversity habitat, will be studied over the next three years.
The conservation, monitoring and ecological restoration of this hot spot world-class cave biodiversity is the main goal of the team of researchers led by the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon. But the idea is that the first “Long-Term Ecological Research” (LTER) site will be created here in a cave in Western Europe.
Last Friday, May 3rd, the Municipality of Loulé, owner of the land where the Cave is located, and the Faculty signed a protocol that will provide the conditions to develop the “Barrocal-Cave” project, but also create a proposal for a legal framework to protect this habitat and the species found here.
«Under this earth we have some of the most threatened, rarest and most unprotected species on our Planet. These animals that live beneath our feet in the municipality of Loulé have an extraordinarily small geographic distribution, live only here and are, in themselves, a unique heritage. These animals are completely neglected in terms of conservation policies and are forgotten in climate agendas and other types of events», explained Ana Sofia Reboleira, the biologist who will coordinate the work.
Switching from small things, the researcher immediately pointed out the more pragmatic side of the importance of these beings: «it is these organisms that guarantee water quality, a very limiting factor in the Algarve territory», highlighted the Barrocal-Cave coordinator.
One of these species, which serves as the project’s flagship, is the giant “pseudo” scorpion, an arachnid considered “one of the 100 most spectacular species on our Planet” and one of the “living fossils”, contemporary with the salamander. Metoposaurus algarvensisiswhich was already in the territory before the continents separated, 170 million years ago.
This is one of the fundamental organisms for the normal functioning of this ecosystem, which «contribute to these biogeochemical cycles, of nutrients, carbon, organic matter and, above all, the purification of the water reserves that we have underground», explained Ana Sofia Reboleira.
In 2016, Science Magazine recognized this Cave as hot spot of underground biodiversity worldwide, a classification that implies the existence of more than 20 cave species. This is, therefore, «one of the rare sites in the world» as at the moment around 25 species are registered here.
Urbanization, pollution and deterioration of this area of influence around the cave constitute major threats to the healthy functioning of the ecosystems and organisms that live in the depths of this cave. The project precisely fills this gap, by studying and monitoring the biodiversity that exists in the location, assessing the needs for ecological restoration and implementing protection figures «so that these ecosystems can continue to function as they should».
Alongside the assessment of the biodiversity and conservation status of the cave and the surrounding area, the aim is to create a “Long-Term Ecological Research” (LTER), the first in a cave habitat in Western Europe (and throughout European continent there is only one), which will allow the European network of LTERs.
But this partnership with the Municipality of Loulé will also lead to the creation of a proposal for a legal framework for the protection of the habitat and the most relevant species, similar to what the Municipality is developing, for example with the creation of the Local Natural Reserve of Foz do Almargem and Trafal.
The team of researchers hopes to achieve the environmental and ecological characterization of the Cave, and implement a long-term monitoring station, to remotely access the interior of the cave, and assess the ecological restoration needs to keep the ecosystem functioning.
Mayor Vítor Aleixo, one of the signatories of the protocol, highlighted the importance of this heritage, which also reinforces the candidacy of the aspiring Algarvensis Geopark for UNESCO World Geopark.
«I am very proud of the fact that I am lucky enough to have identified all this wealth in our territory. With this protocol what we are doing is supporting the knowledge of this wealth, studying it, classifying it and disseminating it”, he assured.
This project is financed by the 2nd edition of the Belmiro de Azevedo Prize, from the Foundation for Science and Technology.
The team from the aspiring Geoparque Algarvensis is also part of the project team and was present at the meeting, with its executive coordinator Elizabeth Silva, geologist Gonçalo Maurício and paleontologist Hugo Campo, as this is one of the key biodiversity sites in the candidacy the UNESCO World Geopark and that one of the bases of the Geopark’s work is Science.
In addition to the Loulé City Council, the host institution – the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon and its Center for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes at this Faculty – also has the support of the University, the University of Algarve and the Science Center Viva do Algarve where there will be a final exhibition with the results of this work.
Furthermore, several collaborators and students will be integrated throughout this research network that will be created around the project.
