\u201cGrupo do Risco is a group of artists and scientists who record in natural spaces, with drawings in field notebooks, with photographs and videos. It has been active for twelve years in expeditions to protected areas and biosphere reserves in mainland Portugal and Portuguese islands, in Brazil, in Northern Africa and in Pr\u00edncipe island. The M\u00e9rtola region has been one of the places most visited by the GdR over the last decade where, in addition to being a recurrent meeting point, some of its members have given numerous field drawing courses in the stunning landscapes of the oak forest and water courses of the Guadiana Natural Park\u201d (Pedro Salgado – Grupo do Risco Coordinator).
\n\u201cPollinators perform a vital service in the ecosystems and agriculture. By transporting pollen between flowers, i.e. carrying out pollination, they enable the reproduction of plants and the formation of fruit and seeds. They thus have an enormous ecological importance in nature and for human populations. About 75% of cultivated plants depend on pollinators. Pollinators ensure the pollination of about 90% of wild plants.
\nAlthough the vast majority of pollinators belong to the insect group, there are also some species of birds, bats and reptiles that play this important role in nature. Bumblebees, solitary bees and syrphids (also known as flower flies) are the most frequently observed pollinators. Other insects such as butterflies, moths, wasps and beetles, as well as some birds such as those mentioned in this calendar, also play an important role in pollination in Portugal.
\nIn recent decades pollinators have been facing many threats, and the populations of many species are endangered or even threatened with extinction. The main threats to pollinators are changes in land use, loss of habitat, intensive agriculture, the use of pesticides, pollution (including light pollution), predation by invasive alien species and climate change.
\nPollinators need places (habitats) with food, water and shelter to live, reproduce and thrive. Communities, organisations and even individual citizens can take small actions to help and enhance the necessary presence and proliferation of pollinators. Growing small gardens with a wide diversity of native wild plants, not cutting weeds nor pruning shrubs at flowering time, not using pesticides and creating shelters for pollinators are some examples of actions that are within everyone’s reach.
\nTo warn on the importance of pollinators and raise awareness in the community for a more active role in their defence and proliferation, BIOPOLIS\/CIBIO-InBIO researchers associated to the Biological Station of M\u00e9rtola, the group of illustrators of Grupo do Risco and the team of Casa das Artes M\u00e1rio Elias got together to create the contents of this new 2022 calendar.
\nIn the 2022 edition of the M\u00e9rtola Biological Station and M\u00e9rtola City Council Calendar, we will get to know some of the pollinators present in the Guadiana Valley, their phenology, vulnerabilities and some curiosities\u201d (Paulo C\u00e9lio Alves and Rosinda Pimenta).<\/p>\n
Credits:
\nGeneral Coordination: Rosinda Pimenta and Paulo C\u00e9lio Alves
\nConcept and graphic design: Pedro Salgado and Cl\u00e1udio Baeta
\nIllustrators: Catarina Fran\u00e7a, Cristina Esp\u00edrito Santo, Dilar Pereira, Lu\u00eds Frasco, Marco Nunes Correia, Marcos Oliveira, N\u00e1dia Torres, Pedro Salgado, Pedro Salvador Mendes, S\u00edlvia Escardu\u00e7a, Rita Cortez.
\nPhotographer: Steve Stoer
\nTexts: S\u00f3nia Ferreira and Lu\u00eds Silva
\nProduction: Lu\u00eds Baeta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"