Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal
Autor(a) principal: | |
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Data de Publicação: | 2015 |
Outros Autores: | , , |
Tipo de documento: | Artigo |
Idioma: | eng |
Título da fonte: | Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
Texto Completo: | http://hdl.handle.net/10174/17319 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-015-9888-5 |
Resumo: | The Mediterranean silvo-pastoral system known as Montado, in Portugal, is a complex land use system composed of an open tree stratum in various densities and an herbaceous layer, used for livestock grazing. Livestock also profit from the acorns, and the grazing contributes to avoid shrub encroachment. In the last 20 years, subsidies from the European Union have greatly promoted cattle rearing in this system and the introduction of heavy breeds, at the expense of sheep, goats or the native cattle breeds. The balance of the traditional system is thus threatened, and a precise assessment of the balance between the different components of the system, therefore is highly needed. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of a Montado farm system with cattle rearing as the major economic activity by applying the emergy evaluation method to calculate indices of yield, investment, environmental loading and sustainability. By integrating different ecosystem components, the emergy evaluation method allows a comprehensive evaluation of this complex and multifunctional system at the scale of an individual farm. This method provides a set of indices that can help us understand the system and design management strategies that maximize emergy flow in the farm. In this paper, we apply the emergy evaluation method to a Montado farm with cattle rearing, as a way to gain a better understanding of this system at the farm scale. The value for the transformity of veal (2.66E+06 sej J−1) is slightly higher, when compared to other systems producing protein. That means that the investment of nature and man in this product was higher and it requires a premium price on the market. The renewability for Holm Oaks Farm (49 %), lower than for other similar systems, supports the assumption that this is a farm in which, comparing with others, the number of purchased inputs in relation to renewable inputs provided by nature, is higher. The Emergy Investment Ratio is 0.91 for cattle rearing compared to a value of 0.49 for cork and 0.43 for firewood harvesting, making it clear that cattle rearing is a more labor demanding activity comparing with extractive activities as cork and firewood harvesting. |
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Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern PortugalMontadoEmergyCattle rearingMultifunctionalityIntensificationThe Mediterranean silvo-pastoral system known as Montado, in Portugal, is a complex land use system composed of an open tree stratum in various densities and an herbaceous layer, used for livestock grazing. Livestock also profit from the acorns, and the grazing contributes to avoid shrub encroachment. In the last 20 years, subsidies from the European Union have greatly promoted cattle rearing in this system and the introduction of heavy breeds, at the expense of sheep, goats or the native cattle breeds. The balance of the traditional system is thus threatened, and a precise assessment of the balance between the different components of the system, therefore is highly needed. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of a Montado farm system with cattle rearing as the major economic activity by applying the emergy evaluation method to calculate indices of yield, investment, environmental loading and sustainability. By integrating different ecosystem components, the emergy evaluation method allows a comprehensive evaluation of this complex and multifunctional system at the scale of an individual farm. This method provides a set of indices that can help us understand the system and design management strategies that maximize emergy flow in the farm. In this paper, we apply the emergy evaluation method to a Montado farm with cattle rearing, as a way to gain a better understanding of this system at the farm scale. The value for the transformity of veal (2.66E+06 sej J−1) is slightly higher, when compared to other systems producing protein. That means that the investment of nature and man in this product was higher and it requires a premium price on the market. The renewability for Holm Oaks Farm (49 %), lower than for other similar systems, supports the assumption that this is a farm in which, comparing with others, the number of purchased inputs in relation to renewable inputs provided by nature, is higher. The Emergy Investment Ratio is 0.91 for cattle rearing compared to a value of 0.49 for cork and 0.43 for firewood harvesting, making it clear that cattle rearing is a more labor demanding activity comparing with extractive activities as cork and firewood harvesting.Agroforestry Systems2016-02-15T12:10:41Z2016-02-152015-12-30T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://hdl.handle.net/10174/17319http://hdl.handle.net/10174/17319https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-015-9888-5engFonseca A.M., Marques C., Pinto-Correia T. and Campbell D., 2015. Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal. Agroforestry Systems. DOI:10.1007/s10457-015-9888-5PAO - Publicações - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais Com Arbitragem Científicaanafonseca@uevora.ptndmtpc@uevora.ptnd212Fonseca, A.M.Marques, C.Pinto-Correia, T.Campbell, D.info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2024-01-03T19:04:49Zoai:dspace.uevora.pt:10174/17319Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-20T01:09:32.669928Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse |
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
title |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
spellingShingle |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal Fonseca, A.M. Montado Emergy Cattle rearing Multifunctionality Intensification |
title_short |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
title_full |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
title_fullStr |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
title_full_unstemmed |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
title_sort |
Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal |
author |
Fonseca, A.M. |
author_facet |
Fonseca, A.M. Marques, C. Pinto-Correia, T. Campbell, D. |
author_role |
author |
author2 |
Marques, C. Pinto-Correia, T. Campbell, D. |
author2_role |
author author author |
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv |
Fonseca, A.M. Marques, C. Pinto-Correia, T. Campbell, D. |
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv |
Montado Emergy Cattle rearing Multifunctionality Intensification |
topic |
Montado Emergy Cattle rearing Multifunctionality Intensification |
description |
The Mediterranean silvo-pastoral system known as Montado, in Portugal, is a complex land use system composed of an open tree stratum in various densities and an herbaceous layer, used for livestock grazing. Livestock also profit from the acorns, and the grazing contributes to avoid shrub encroachment. In the last 20 years, subsidies from the European Union have greatly promoted cattle rearing in this system and the introduction of heavy breeds, at the expense of sheep, goats or the native cattle breeds. The balance of the traditional system is thus threatened, and a precise assessment of the balance between the different components of the system, therefore is highly needed. The goal of this study was to gain a better understanding of a Montado farm system with cattle rearing as the major economic activity by applying the emergy evaluation method to calculate indices of yield, investment, environmental loading and sustainability. By integrating different ecosystem components, the emergy evaluation method allows a comprehensive evaluation of this complex and multifunctional system at the scale of an individual farm. This method provides a set of indices that can help us understand the system and design management strategies that maximize emergy flow in the farm. In this paper, we apply the emergy evaluation method to a Montado farm with cattle rearing, as a way to gain a better understanding of this system at the farm scale. The value for the transformity of veal (2.66E+06 sej J−1) is slightly higher, when compared to other systems producing protein. That means that the investment of nature and man in this product was higher and it requires a premium price on the market. The renewability for Holm Oaks Farm (49 %), lower than for other similar systems, supports the assumption that this is a farm in which, comparing with others, the number of purchased inputs in relation to renewable inputs provided by nature, is higher. The Emergy Investment Ratio is 0.91 for cattle rearing compared to a value of 0.49 for cork and 0.43 for firewood harvesting, making it clear that cattle rearing is a more labor demanding activity comparing with extractive activities as cork and firewood harvesting. |
publishDate |
2015 |
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv |
2015-12-30T00:00:00Z 2016-02-15T12:10:41Z 2016-02-15 |
dc.type.status.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion |
dc.type.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
format |
article |
status_str |
publishedVersion |
dc.identifier.uri.fl_str_mv |
http://hdl.handle.net/10174/17319 http://hdl.handle.net/10174/17319 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-015-9888-5 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10174/17319 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10457-015-9888-5 |
dc.language.iso.fl_str_mv |
eng |
language |
eng |
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv |
Fonseca A.M., Marques C., Pinto-Correia T. and Campbell D., 2015. Emergy analysis of a silvo-pastoral system, a case study in southern Portugal. Agroforestry Systems. DOI:10.1007/s10457-015-9888-5 PAO - Publicações - Artigos em Revistas Internacionais Com Arbitragem Científica anafonseca@uevora.pt nd mtpc@uevora.pt nd 212 |
dc.rights.driver.fl_str_mv |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
eu_rights_str_mv |
openAccess |
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Agroforestry Systems |
publisher.none.fl_str_mv |
Agroforestry Systems |
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv |
reponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação instacron:RCAAP |
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Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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RCAAP |
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RCAAP |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) |
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Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informação |
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