> Ponds in Odemira are still dry in March 2018
Normally the Temporary Ponds begin to flood with the autumn rains reaching their maximum capacity of filling in winter. The water evaporates gradually during the spring and dry fully in the summer. This is typical in habitats that exist in regions with Mediterranean climate where, generally, winters are cold and rainy and summers are hot and dry.
This dynamic is one of the main characteristics that defines the habitat 3170: Mediterranean Temporary Ponds, together with the plant communities that are perfectly adapted to the annual alternation between the flooded phase and the dry phase that form communities of vegetation organized by belts around the pond with some rare plants species.
There are several faunistic groups in perfect harmony with the spatial-temporal dynamics of this habitat, such as the large crustacean branchiopods, which are completely dependent on this dynamism. The annual mean rainfall is therefore the driving force for biodiversity functionality in the Mediterranean Temporary Ponds.
However, since the beginning of the LIFE Charcos Project there have been several irregularities in the frequency and intensity of precipitation within the SCI of the Southwest Coast. Records indicate that only the hydrological year of 2014/15 was normal within this area when compared to the average of the reference period (1971-2000).
There have been also asymmetries along the 120km extension of the project intervention area indicating that ponds in Odemira county, in the north, have received less rain than the ponds in Vila do Bispo county, in the south. Evidence of this is the fact that Odemira's ponds are still dry by the end of this winter whereas Vila do Bispo’ ponds are full.
On the other hand, Odemira county has a strong pressure to change land use for more intensive and industrialized agricultural practices being an higher risk for the conservation of ponds. Thus, climate change is not only influencing negatively the ecological cycle of Odemira’ ponds but is also interfering with the correct identification of the habitat in its normal season. Consequently, the fact that ponds do not have water during winter or spring may lead some owners or managers of land less sensitized to consider that they do not exist on the ground and could ultimately destroy them.
