ICETA University of Porto

Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologias Agrárias e Agroalimentares (ICETA) is a non-profit institution created in 1993 to support R&D programs granted to research groups from the University of Porto. It is the host institution for CECA, CEQUP and CIBIO, and is the core facility in terms of administration and project accounting for these three units. Presently, ICETA administrates 110 projects financed by FCT, the multiannual financing of the units mentioned above, EU projects and also these units’ Services and Consulting cost centres.

Within ICETA, the work proposed in the project will be coordinated by CIBIO-Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos (http://cibio.up.pt), which was evaluated as Excellent by an external scientific board organized by FCT in 2008. CIBIO carries out its activities in facilities from the University of Porto and other institutes, which are concentrated in the Campus Agrário de Vairão and include modern laboratories, classrooms, auditoriums and offices that are shared with LNIV and other entities from the Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, CIBIO has an external group of researchers hosted by the University of Azores, and facilities at the Faculty of Sciences in Porto. Besides a total of 10 research groups, CIBIO also hosts GEPE (Centre for Studies and Projects in Applied Ecology), which provides services in biodiversity conservation and monitoring.

Staff involved

João Pradinho Honrado

Dr. João Pradinho Honrado is a faculty member at the University of Porto and a member of the directive board of CIBIO, where he leads the Biodiversity & Conservation Ecology (BIOCON) group. His research focuses on vegetation and landscape ecology, and on biodiversity monitoring. Through his connection to CIBIO-ICETA, he has recently coordinated a project on indicator selection in coastal sand dune areas (POCTI/AMB/58047/2004) and another project on biodiversity and habitat monitoring, SIMBioN (QREN-ON2 Op. 3-2-14-1-1192), which will provide a regional biodiversity information and monitoring system for the North of Portugal. He also coordinates EcoSensing (PTDC/AGR-AAM/104819/2008), a project aimed at developing improved approaches to design monitoring networks for species and habitats.

Tiago Múrias

Dr. Tiago Múrias is a post-doctoral researcher at CIBIO, contracted by ICETA for projects on applied ecology, working primarily on bird monitoring and conservation biology. He has participated in more than 20 Portuguese research projects, and has an extensive background in ecological modelling applied to conservation planning, management and habitat restoration.
 

Paulo Alves

Dr. Paulo Alves is an experienced technician with a degree in Biology, who has been involved in applied ecological projects at CIBIO for more than ten years. He is related to ICETA as a hired technician for field surveys and data analysis, with an emphasis on vascular plants, vegetation and habitats. He is a data provider on plant distribution to international projects such as Flora Iberica.

Joaquim Alonso

Dr. Joaquim Alonso is a senior researcher at IPVC with a large experience in geographic and environmental information system management, spatial data infrastructures (SDI) and WEBGIS collaborative network development. He participated in several thematic/organizational GIS projects and coordinated the development of regional (007/6.2/C/NOR;01-03-06-FGR-00030) and cross-border SDIs (SIGNII/SP1. E197/03; SIGN/SP1.E55). Dr. Joaquim Alonso is formally a collaborator of CIBIO/ICETA for GIS and spatial data.

Pedro Castro

Dr. Pedro Castro is a faculty member and senior researcher at IPVC, and holds a PhD in Sciences of Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He has been working in the GIS field since having completed his Degree in Systems and Informatics Engineering from University of Minho in 1991. He has a large experience as a GIS analyst and developer (desktop and web), through the participation in several research projects. Currently his main interests include the development of Web GIS applications and geospatial data mining and knowledge discovery.

Isabel Pôças

Dr. Isabel Pôças is a researcher at CIBIO, hired by ICETA as specialized technician for image processing tasks. She has a PhD in Agricultural Sciences and her main research interests are related with the monitoring of vegetation dynamics and landscape changes based on remote sensing tools and satellite-based surface energy balance (SEB) models. She integrated the team of several research projects aiming the monitoring of agricultural systems and irrigation management through remote sensing tools (PTDC/AGR-PRO/111717/2009 and PTDC/AGR-AAM/67812/2006, funded by FCT; Project nº 307 of the framework FP6/OASIS project, funded by European Commission).

Bruno Marcos

Bruno Marcos is a researcher at CIBIO/ICETA with an MSc in Environmental Sciences, and his main research interests are related with the monitoring of vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functioning based on remote sensing tools. He integrated the team of several projects related to biodiversity and habitat monitoring, such as SIMBioN (QREN-ON2 Op. 3-2-12-1-1192), aimed to provide a regional biodiversity information and monitoring system for the North of Portugal.
 

Carlos Guerra

Carlos Guerra is a researcher at IPVC　with a large experience in geographic and environmental information system　management, spatial analysis and　vulnerability assessment. He has participated　in several thematic GIS projects co-coordinated tasks related to spatial　modelling, risk assessment and spatial and　environmental planning. He has also collaborated in the conceptual design and development of　regional and cross-border SDI’s　(projects 007/6.2/C/NOR; 01-03-06-FGR-00030; SIGNII/SP1.　E197/03; SIGN/SP1.E55).

Claudio Paredes

Claudio Paredes is a researcher at IPVC, specialized in image processing and image classification with remote sensing, with a large experience in geographic information systems. He participated in several national and international projects, and has extensive experience in land cover map production.

João Gonçalves

João Gonçalves is a researcher at CIBIO/ICETA since 2007 and has both a BSc and an MSc in Environmental Sciences. He participated in several research projects related to natural resources and biodiversity management and conservation, natural and endogenous territorial resource valuation, and multi-scalar valuation and monitoring of social-ecological systems, encompassing the design of sampling networks and the active monitoring of landscapes and ecosystems through techniques of spatiotemporal analysis and modelling.
 

Luís Martins

Luís Martins is a researcher at IPVC with a large experience in software development and database management. He has a degree in Engineering of Computer Graphics and Multimedia, completed in 2007, and integrates the development team of several research projects, participating in the development of Web GIS and geospatial applications.

Selected references

Capelo, J., Mesquita, S., Costa, J.C., Ribeiro, S., Arsénio, P., Neto, C., Monteiro, T., Aguiar, C., Honrado, J., Espírito-Santo, D., Lousã, M. (2007). A methodological approach to potential vegetation modeling using GIS techniques and phytosociological expert-knowledge: application to mainland Portugal. Phytocoenologia 37: 399-415.

Lomba, A., Alves, P., Honrado, J. (2008). Endemic sand-dune vegetation from Northwest Iberian Peninsula: Diversity, dynamics and significance for bioindication and monitoring of coastal landscapes. Journal of Coastal Research 24(2b): 113-121.

Lomba, A., Pellissier, L., Randin, C., Vicente, J., Moreira, F., Honrado, J. & Guisan, A. (2010). Overcoming the rare species modelling paradox: A novel hierarchical framework applied to an Iberian endemic plant. Biological Conservation 143: 2647-2657.

Silva-Santos, P., Pardal, M.A., Lopes, R.J., Múrias, T. & Cabral, J.A. (2008). Testing the Stochastic Dynamic Methodology (StDM) as a management tool in a shallow temperate estuary of south Europe (Mondego, Portugal). Ecological Modelling 210: 447-402.

Torres, J., Brito J.C., Vasconcelos M.J., Catarino L., Gonçalves J. & Honrado J. (2010). Ensemble models of habitat suitability relate chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) conservation to forest and landscape dynamics in Western Africa. Biological Conservation 43: 416-425.

Vicente, J., Alves, P., Randin, C., Guisan, A. & Honrado, J. (2010). What drives invasibility? A multi-model inference test and spatial modelling of alien plant species richness patterns in Northern Portugal. Ecography 33: 1081-1092.