Blue crabs are insane. They managed to conquer a huge part of the spanish mediterranean, didn't expect to see them in the atlantic aswell. We should do somethinh bf it's too late. Greetings from Barcelona and keep working guys, you are great.
Blue crab is indeed bad news for our project area and we are looking at this problem and the needed actions with that urgency you identified. Thank you for your support and say tuned for good news on this! Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Hi Teresa! I'm from Catalonia and I knew blie crabs were in the Delta del Ebre region were there are brackish waters for km and also a lot of rice fields. We also have a lot of catfish, like 2.7m monsters, carps, apple snail, american red crayfish, numerous sport-fishing species, some tropical birds and the list goes on. Two weeks ago I was cycling the coast of Valencia and oranges and fruit trees are a big thing there (huge). The terrain is mostly flat from the sea for many km's inland and there are a lot of irrigation channels. There you could see anything but indigenous fauna. I saw some big blue crabs but the biggest problem (as far as I undersand) are the florida turtles, there were hundreds. And this id everywhere here in Catalonia and I could say same in Valencia. We have two species of turtles here but they are rarely seen nowadays... Obrigado for your inmense work, you guys are trully inspiring!
@@rogersfc Thank you for this sharing! The situation you describe seems really concerning and, in fact, very similar to what we have here in the Mira Basin and are trying to tackle with our project: native species threatened and often almost substituted by a miriad of invasive species. We also have 2 species of iberian endemic turtles (Emys orbicularis and Mauremys leprosa) which are endangered and we have the invasive Florida turtles (Trachemys scripta), huge catfishes (Silurus glanis) and Louisiana red crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), among others, predating or outcompeting with the native species, be it turtles, fishes or plants. Climate change, land-use change and invasive species are the main threats to the Biodiversity Hotspot of the Mediterranean - which our project area, Mira, and also Valencia and Catalonia are a part of. Let's see which standards we can set here for these issues! Moltes gràcies for your kind words * Teresa
In Portugal they eat both crab and mussels so eat them up and then the native animals can grow in size and number. I would happily pay more for eating the animals that is causing problems!
I did a lot of beekeeping along this river back in the 2000s. Doing some forest conservatorship on the Odelouca basin right now. (though I live in Ourique) It's an uphill battle. Good luck.
You probably met this river in very different freshwater conditions than one finds it nowadays...? It is great hearing you are facing that uphill battle by Odelouca - very important area too. Keep up the good work also and thank you for the support. Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes I believe I witnessed the first cuts, but I was too young to remember the days before the forest. I did meet many holdouts, and the social impact of that forest isn't properly recorded. Turns out, the riots they had back then in Brunheiras where they uprooted a good 20ha of new trees were well-informed.
@@CanalTremocos that is very interesting information! Will definitely try to know more about those riots in Brunheiras and the history behind deforestation in the area. Thank you * Teresa
Hello! Thanks for an informative and interesting video. There are apparently many invasive species to fight against. As usual, you do a fantastic job. It is good that you also name species by their scientific name (Latin), when you can (because it is the same in all countries and you know exactly which species you are talking about). Best regards from a Swede who also lives in Portugal. 💚🙏🌱
Thank you for this input, I will try to not miss again one species without its scientific name. The ones already mentioned were: aquatic plants (Myriophyllum spicatum, Potamogeton pectinatus, Potamogeton x serrulifer and Apium sp.), invasive aquatic animals (Callinectes sapidus (blue crab) and Corbicula fluminea (asian mussle)) and native oak trees, Quercus faginea, and ash trees, Fraxinus angustifolia. The exotic species we are removing is Eucalyptus globulus. In the video we also show 2 invasive fish, and these were not mentioned by the scientific name because it is difficult to identify rigorously at the species level. The little fish in the net seems to be but they seemed to be Gambusia holbrooki and the big one swimming next to the blue crab is from the Mugilidae familly. Teresa
Thank you so much Teresa! Now it will be even more interesting and educational to join you! Hope other followers also appreciate the scientific name as well. /Fredrik
Yes, we are considering horse logging :) and logging trucks after! It will be a matter of technical availability in South Portugal regarding the horses. More to come on this soon. * Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes you could girdle the trees, which is cutting or using a chain to cut completely around, this will kill the tree and leave it standing. Would be a lot cheaper and get habitat for wildlife
Interesting. Fighting invasive species like euec, can be made easier with light natural grazing, as native species are normally tolerant to it. That is the experience from DK. Check professor Jens-Christian Svenningsen's work. They made the same exp in Scotland.
We find no register of domestic or wild herbivores able to graze eucalyptus leaves in Portugal, but will definitely check the work of Jens-Christian Svenningsen. Thank you for the recommendation! *Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Thanks for the reply. I doubt you find many studies on that, as euc are not native. What native grazers such as hoses & cattle could do, is to include it their varied diets. That is what is happening at Mols Laboratoriet a 120 ha area with invasive yellow bush and year round no added feeding of their exmoor and cattle. They don't eat the grown up plants, but graze the roots shoots and after a while, the plant will die, leaving no decendents. Same with seeds, as it will be grazed too.
Hello Mary, yes we can sell the eucalyptus logs for their wood value and we will. Depending on the landowner, we can then put the money towards the project, and make the ecological restoration economically viable in its operations. Fortunately, with our first plot landowner, we are able to do this which is a key for the sustainable scale up of this idea. Thank you for the support! * Teresa
We plan to shred the larger branches and leave them onsite as mulch. For the big logs, however, we see greater value in selling them for their wood, which will help offset the costs of this expensive operation and make it more affordable. This approach will also allow us to scale the project, which is a key objective. Our goal is to refine these operations until they’re compelling for thousands of Portuguese landowners, encouraging them to replace abandoned eucalyptus plantations (up to 400k hectares at the moment!) with native forests. For this to happen, it must be economically viable. Eucalyptus is also known to contain allelopathic compounds that inhibit native Portuguese flora. Therefore, leaving only the branches and foliage onsite should provide sufficient mulching without further impacting the soil. I hope this clarifies things! * Teresa
why do you hate goshawks? "Goshawks predominantly selected eucalypt trees (92% of nests) and avoided oaks (1.6%) and pines (4.7%) as nest trees". the freedom of choice is an amazing thing. you should give this freedom to donors. team goshawk lovers team goshawk haters whichever team donates the most would win.
Liking apples doesnt make you hate pears. They said theyd like to have more oaks in the region for massively increased biodiversity and reduced fire risk. Dont worry, they wont chop down all eucalyptus in sight.
@@maurin1899 we must live in different worlds. in my world, there are infinite places without a single tree. it must be the complete opposite in your world, given that tree planting is a matter of mutual exclusivity. if a tree is to be planted a tree must be chopped down: that is the law. sounds like you have infinite forests on your planet. what's it called? i'd love to visit. my planet is called earth, don't visit, it's a desolate wasteland. the root problem with my planet is we use a stupid system called representative democracy to elect people to decide for everyone how many trees get planted. if each person could simply choose where their own taxes go, then we'd see which country spent the most taxes on planting trees. tree lovers like myself would move there and it would be heaven on earth. everyone in the world would quickly see and understand the benefit of spending money on trees.
@@epiphyte8646 It will be a desolation if they don't reduce those Eucalypt trees, hard to maintain a nest in a fire storm. These people know what they are doing, you are off you're rocker if you are comparing this to whole sale deforestation. Perhaps some of large specimens could be kept for the hawks. But the young trees must not be allowed to cluster. Fire prevention 101, and that knowledge goes way back before Europeans showed up in any gum forests. If there are Eucalypts involved management is essential.
@@epiphyte8646 We definitely live in different worlds. How do you think most of current day problems are caused? By taxes reducing the ability for people to buy more stuff they do not need? In my world, the problem lies at the sole capitalist purpose of economic growth for the sake of growth. We're living on a finite planet. How much disposable income do you think will make people decide to plant trees instead of buying new phones, cars, better food, a nicer apartment etc?
@@malteb.9585 planting a tree = public good buying a new phone = private good you're complaining that the supply of public goods is wrong. but what's the demand for public goods? we don't know, because we can't choose where our taxes go. 1. choose where our taxes go 2. see the demand for public goods 3. then, and only then, can you blame capitalism if you're still unhappy with the supply of public goods
Interesting to see which species are able to cope with the brackish water but hopefully we can do something about the blue crab!
Blue crabs are insane. They managed to conquer a huge part of the spanish mediterranean, didn't expect to see them in the atlantic aswell. We should do somethinh bf it's too late.
Greetings from Barcelona and keep working guys, you are great.
Blue crab is indeed bad news for our project area and we are looking at this problem and the needed actions with that urgency you identified.
Thank you for your support and say tuned for good news on this!
Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Hi Teresa! I'm from Catalonia and I knew blie crabs were in the Delta del Ebre region were there are brackish waters for km and also a lot of rice fields. We also have a lot of catfish, like 2.7m monsters, carps, apple snail, american red crayfish, numerous sport-fishing species, some tropical birds and the list goes on.
Two weeks ago I was cycling the coast of Valencia and oranges and fruit trees are a big thing there (huge). The terrain is mostly flat from the sea for many km's inland and there are a lot of irrigation channels. There you could see anything but indigenous fauna. I saw some big blue crabs but the biggest problem (as far as I undersand) are the florida turtles, there were hundreds. And this id everywhere here in Catalonia and I could say same in Valencia. We have two species of turtles here but they are rarely seen nowadays...
Obrigado for your inmense work, you guys are trully inspiring!
@@rogersfc Thank you for this sharing! The situation you describe seems really concerning and, in fact, very similar to what we have here in the Mira Basin and are trying to tackle with our project: native species threatened and often almost substituted by a miriad of invasive species. We also have 2 species of iberian endemic turtles (Emys orbicularis and Mauremys leprosa) which are endangered and we have the invasive Florida turtles (Trachemys scripta), huge catfishes (Silurus glanis) and Louisiana red crayfish (Procambarus clarkii), among others, predating or outcompeting with the native species, be it turtles, fishes or plants. Climate change, land-use change and invasive species are the main threats to the Biodiversity Hotspot of the Mediterranean - which our project area, Mira, and also Valencia and Catalonia are a part of. Let's see which standards we can set here for these issues! Moltes gràcies for your kind words * Teresa
Talking about the fire prone nature of eucalyptus and as an Australian I am just like "Preach"
Another great project vlog :)
In Portugal they eat both crab and mussels so eat them up and then the native animals can grow in size and number.
I would happily pay more for eating the animals that is causing problems!
Yes, that is a definitely a way to go!
Please stay tuned for next updates on this delicious invasive animal eating idea.
Teresa
👍
I did a lot of beekeeping along this river back in the 2000s. Doing some forest conservatorship on the Odelouca basin right now. (though I live in Ourique) It's an uphill battle. Good luck.
You probably met this river in very different freshwater conditions than one finds it nowadays...?
It is great hearing you are facing that uphill battle by Odelouca - very important area too. Keep up the good work also and thank you for the support.
Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes I believe I witnessed the first cuts, but I was too young to remember the days before the forest. I did meet many holdouts, and the social impact of that forest isn't properly recorded.
Turns out, the riots they had back then in Brunheiras where they uprooted a good 20ha of new trees were well-informed.
@@CanalTremocos that is very interesting information! Will definitely try to know more about those riots in Brunheiras and the history behind deforestation in the area. Thank you * Teresa
I love this!
Hello!
Thanks for an informative and interesting video.
There are apparently many invasive species to fight against.
As usual, you do a fantastic job.
It is good that you also name species by their scientific name (Latin), when you can (because it is the same in all countries and you know exactly which species you are talking about).
Best regards from a Swede who also lives in Portugal.
💚🙏🌱
Thank you for this input, I will try to not miss again one species without its scientific name.
The ones already mentioned were: aquatic plants (Myriophyllum spicatum, Potamogeton pectinatus, Potamogeton x serrulifer and Apium sp.), invasive aquatic animals (Callinectes sapidus (blue crab) and Corbicula fluminea (asian mussle)) and native oak trees, Quercus faginea, and ash trees, Fraxinus angustifolia. The exotic species we are removing is Eucalyptus globulus. In the video we also show 2 invasive fish, and these were not mentioned by the scientific name because it is difficult to identify rigorously at the species level. The little fish in the net seems to be but they seemed to be Gambusia holbrooki and the big one swimming next to the blue crab is from the Mugilidae familly.
Teresa
Thank you so much Teresa! Now it will be even more interesting and educational to join you!
Hope other followers also appreciate the scientific name as well.
/Fredrik
@@greenleaf58 I am sure others will. We'll keep it up! Thank you Fredrik * Teresa
When are seeing this in the main channel?
Amazing work as always
Early next year! But there will be a lot coming don't you worry. We have big plans in motion in the Mira :) - Cheers, Duarte
Use cows or horses to pull the logs to a central location, then use logging trucks to get rid of them.
Yes, we are considering horse logging :) and logging trucks after! It will be a matter of technical availability in South Portugal regarding the horses. More to come on this soon.
* Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes you could girdle the trees, which is cutting or using a chain to cut completely around, this will kill the tree and leave it standing. Would be a lot cheaper and get habitat for wildlife
Interesting. Fighting invasive species like euec, can be made easier with light natural grazing, as native species are normally tolerant to it. That is the experience from DK. Check professor Jens-Christian Svenningsen's work. They made the same exp in Scotland.
We find no register of domestic or wild herbivores able to graze eucalyptus leaves in Portugal, but will definitely check the work of Jens-Christian Svenningsen. Thank you for the recommendation!
*Teresa
@@MossyEarth-FieldNotes Thanks for the reply. I doubt you find many studies on that, as euc are not native. What native grazers such as hoses & cattle could do, is to include it their varied diets. That is what is happening at Mols Laboratoriet a 120 ha area with invasive yellow bush and year round no added feeding of their exmoor and cattle. They don't eat the grown up plants, but graze the roots shoots and after a while, the plant will die, leaving no decendents.
Same with seeds, as it will be grazed too.
Can you sell the eucalyptus logs? Put the money towards replanting native species? Good job, people!
Hello Mary, yes we can sell the eucalyptus logs for their wood value and we will. Depending on the landowner, we can then put the money towards the project, and make the ecological restoration economically viable in its operations. Fortunately, with our first plot landowner, we are able to do this which is a key for the sustainable scale up of this idea.
Thank you for the support! * Teresa
Why remove the Eucalyptus off site? why not use wood chippers and turn them into mulch ???
We plan to shred the larger branches and leave them onsite as mulch.
For the big logs, however, we see greater value in selling them for their wood, which will help offset the costs of this expensive operation and make it more affordable. This approach will also allow us to scale the project, which is a key objective. Our goal is to refine these operations until they’re compelling for thousands of Portuguese landowners, encouraging them to replace abandoned eucalyptus plantations (up to 400k hectares at the moment!) with native forests. For this to happen, it must be economically viable.
Eucalyptus is also known to contain allelopathic compounds that inhibit native Portuguese flora. Therefore, leaving only the branches and foliage onsite should provide sufficient mulching without further impacting the soil.
I hope this clarifies things! * Teresa
why do you hate goshawks? "Goshawks predominantly selected eucalypt trees (92% of nests) and avoided oaks (1.6%) and pines (4.7%) as nest trees". the freedom of choice is an amazing thing. you should give this freedom to donors.
team goshawk lovers
team goshawk haters
whichever team donates the most would win.
Liking apples doesnt make you hate pears. They said theyd like to have more oaks in the region for massively increased biodiversity and reduced fire risk. Dont worry, they wont chop down all eucalyptus in sight.
@@maurin1899 we must live in different worlds. in my world, there are infinite places without a single tree. it must be the complete opposite in your world, given that tree planting is a matter of mutual exclusivity. if a tree is to be planted a tree must be chopped down: that is the law. sounds like you have infinite forests on your planet. what's it called? i'd love to visit. my planet is called earth, don't visit, it's a desolate wasteland.
the root problem with my planet is we use a stupid system called representative democracy to elect people to decide for everyone how many trees get planted. if each person could simply choose where their own taxes go, then we'd see which country spent the most taxes on planting trees. tree lovers like myself would move there and it would be heaven on earth. everyone in the world would quickly see and understand the benefit of spending money on trees.
@@epiphyte8646 It will be a desolation if they don't reduce those Eucalypt trees, hard to maintain a nest in a fire storm. These people know what they are doing, you are off you're rocker if you are comparing this to whole sale deforestation.
Perhaps some of large specimens could be kept for the hawks. But the young trees must not be allowed to cluster. Fire prevention 101, and that knowledge goes way back before Europeans showed up in any gum forests.
If there are Eucalypts involved management is essential.
@@epiphyte8646 We definitely live in different worlds. How do you think most of current day problems are caused? By taxes reducing the ability for people to buy more stuff they do not need?
In my world, the problem lies at the sole capitalist purpose of economic growth for the sake of growth. We're living on a finite planet. How much disposable income do you think will make people decide to plant trees instead of buying new phones, cars, better food, a nicer apartment etc?
@@malteb.9585
planting a tree = public good
buying a new phone = private good
you're complaining that the supply of public goods is wrong. but what's the demand for public goods? we don't know, because we can't choose where our taxes go.
1. choose where our taxes go
2. see the demand for public goods
3. then, and only then, can you blame capitalism if you're still unhappy with the supply of public goods