Calçada

Portuguese artistic pavement under threat

In almost every village, town and city in Portugal you will find parts of the unique traditional Calçada Portuguesa pavement made up of black and white decorative cobblestones.
This masonry art craft is unique to Portugal – mainland, islands and former colonies – and an iconic part of its cultural craftmanship.

It has its first origins from the Romans who used stoned and mosaics to make roads. Later, the Moors – during their time on the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th and 12th century – added to the craft by making geometric patterns on their floors.
However, it was in the 19th century that the art developed further as the first large calçada area was created in 1842 at St. George Castle in Lisbon.

Over time, the Calçada Portuguesa has consolidated itself as a fundamental element of the urban landscape, contributing to the Portuguese history and culture whereas the Portuguese Calçada Association is bidding for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status for the art and knowledge of how to lay Portuguese cobblestones.

In the meantime, the Lisbon Paver’s school – which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year – is ‘virtually defunct,’ argues Nuno Almeida, President of the Municipal Workers Union (STML).

The trade union leader points out that in the past the school fostered a great deal of knowledge and helped recruit workers – called mestres calceteiros (paving masters) – but ‘over the last 15 years there has been a dramatic reduction in the provision of comprehensive training courses, which is also why the school has failed to attract the attention of young people.’

He further emphasises, that there is a trend towards outsourcing these services with private contractors being hired instead of recruiting staff onto Lisbon’s City Council permanent staff. ‘We strongly urge the Council to reinstate the school not only as a training initiative, but also as a means to attract workers. At present, apprentices are thrown straight into practical work without any prior training and have to learn from their colleagues.’

With only 20 paving masters nowadays, most already of advanced age, ‘the profession of paver is at risk of disappearing from the city, not solely due to the threatening closure of the school but also because of the lack of recognition and appreciation of the workers within the public sector and the issue of low wages’, he explains.

Joana Baptista – the councillor responsible for Public Spaces at Lisbon City Council – takes a different view, declaring that the Council has been strengthening its training programme and is recruiting new staff. ‘There is even an ongoing recruitment initiative for 20 vacancies to double the number of professionals specialising in Portuguese paving, which is expected to be completed by the end of the year’, she declared.

Enjoy the week            Aproveite a semana                (pic Lusa/Sapo)

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Rabbits

Recognition of the Iberian rabbit as a ‘distinct species’ prevents its extinction

International research from Portugal and the UK say the European rabbit is in fact two species split two million years ago, the Iberian one now being in decline.
Until recently, scientists took it for granted that only a single species of rabbit lived on the Iberian Peninsula.
A study – ‘When taxonomy lags behind evolution’- published in Biological Conservation now calls that into question.

According to the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO) of the University of Porto, it is in fact a case of two species with separate evolutionary histories: the Iberian rabbit (Oryctolagus algirus) and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

The former occurs naturally in Portugal and south-western Spain, while the latter dominates the eastern part of the Peninsula and is the source of the populations introduced in Europe, Oceania and the Americas, where it often behaves as an invasive species.


The two animals diverged roughly two million years ago, when they became isolated in different refuges during the Quaternary glaciation: one in the Ebro Valley, the other in the Gulf of Cádiz. Since then they have barely interbred to any significant extent, despite looking very similar at first glance.

The differences are not confined to genetics. There are profound biological differences. The Iberian rabbit is smaller, with darker fur, smaller litters with lower population densities  and earlier sexual maturity than the European species. They also differ in their gut microbiome and the parasites they harbour.
The authors point to precedents: giraffes long grouped as a single species until genomics revealed that there are in fact four.

While the European rabbit populations remain stable – or are even increasing to the point of causing agricultural damage – the Iberian rabbit is in marked decline in Portugal and western Spain and meets the criteria ’endangered species.’ The problem is not just statistic. Game restocking usually releases European rabbits – which are more abundant and prolific – into areas where only the Iberian species previously lived. That can accelerate its replacement through competition.  

The issue goes well beyond the animal itself.
Rabbits are prey for the Iberian lynx and the Spanish imperial eagle, so its conservation status shapes that of much Mediterranean wildlife.

‘It is no longer possible to manage rabbit populations in the Iberian Peninsula as if they constituted a single biological entity. Recognising these two species is fundamental to developing appropriate and tailor-made conservation measures and preventing a single evolutionary lineage from continuing its decline’, emphasis Nuno Ferrand, director at CIBIO and one of the authors of the study.

Enjoy your week          Aproveite a semana                        (pic Wiki)









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