Cork Oak Forest: Hotspot of Nature

Hotspot of nature

The montado habitat, where the cork oak grows, is home to a wealth of natural biodiversity, including wildlife, grasslands and diverse flora. It has wide variety of species of animals and plants that form part of the food chain centred around the cork oak. The Natura 2000 Network considers the cork oak montados and woods to be important for the preservation of the biodiversity. The montado is still one of the 36 hotspots of the biodiversity, on a par with Amazon, or Borneo.

Balance and Conservation

The cork oak landscapes are among the best examples in the Mediterranean of the balance between conservation and development for the benefit of people and nature. They support a rich biodiversity and traditional means of livelihood, provide opportunities for development in socially and economically disadvantaged areas, and play a fundamental role in ecological processes such as water retention, soil conservation and carbon sequestration.

Fauna

Natural Biodiversity

Cork oak forests ensure a great natural biodiversity in wildlife, which includes 24 species of reptiles and amphibians (53% of the Portuguese population), more than 160 species of birds and 37 species of mammals (60% of Portuguese mammals). The cerrados generate escape and nesting blankets and feeding areas for various fauna species. Mammals found in cork oak forests include hares, weasels, wolves, genets, wild boars, deer and some Iberian lynxes – one of the rarest and most vulnerable felines in the world which can be found in cork oak forests and forests. as it is its preferred habitat..

The cork oak forests of the Iberian Peninsula are the ideal habitat for millions of birds, such as kestrels, little owls, black storks, eagles, Spanish imperial eagles, kites, black vultures, robins, thrushes, chaffinches and woodpeckers, as well as 60,000 grey herons that migrate here each year from northern Europe. They are also home to hoopoes and bee-eaters, skylarks, starlings, jays, magpies, nightingales, blackcaps and robins, chiffchaffs, nuthatches, sparrows and yellowhammers.

Studies conducted in March 2005 estimated that the number of surviving Iberian lynxes was just 100, down from 400 in 2000. However, following the revision of the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of threatened species in June 2015, the Iberian lynx was no longer considered internationally as a critically endangered animal, although it remained a species at risk of disappearing.

In 2002, the situation was complex, the Iberian lynx was critically endangered and in Portugal a specimen had not been seen in the wild since the beginning of the 1990s. Portugal and Spain came together for its conservation and the number of lynxes tripled from 52 to 156 in 10 years, that is, between 2002 and 2012. Since then, in the Iberian Peninsula, the lynx reintroduction program has intensified with five captive breeding centers, one in Portugal and four in Spain.

In 2004, the League for the Protection of Nature, in partnership with the international organization Fauna & Flora, launched the Lynx Program to ensure the long-term conservation and management of areas with Mediterranean habitat, such as cork oak forests. One of the program's objectives focused on demonstrating that local economic activities, such as cork exploration, can be compatible with the conservation of threatened habitats and species.

In June 2024, the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), one of the rarest felines in the world, improved its conservation status on the IUCN Red List, from the "endangered" category to "vulnerable". From 62 adults in 2001, there was a jump to 648 in 2024.

At the moment, there are around 300 lynxes in Portugal and the Iberian Lynx, as well as the Imperial Eagle (Aquila adalberti), another species present in the cork oak forest, are part of the top 5 most threatened species in Portugal.

Flora

135 Species per Square Kilometer

The layers of underbrush and shrubs are characterized by heather, gorse, broom, lavender, and myrtle , as well as rock-rose and myrtus.
In a study carried out at the Field Station of the Centre for Environmental Biology, in the Serra de Grândola, 264 species of fungi (including 83 edible), 20 liverwort species and 50 mosses were identified.
Many of the species found in the montado are used for aromatic, culinary or medicinal purposes, including various types of lavender, oregano, rosemary, peppermint and foxglove. The harvesting of these plants and subsequent treatment (by drying and distillation) is an important economic resource for the local inhabitants.

Mushrooms are well adapted to the montado habitat. These species play an important role in the decomposition of organic matter in the soil, although some species may be pathogenic. Many species of mushrooms are associated symbiotically with the roots of the cork oak, thus sharing organic food with the tree, which helps absorb nutrients from the soil. The harvesting of mushrooms is a major activity in many montados of the Iberian Peninsula.

The areas of natural pasture of the montados are very rich in different plant species. A total of 135 species have been recorded per square kilometer. The majority of these plants are annual, i.e. they grow, live, produce seed and die within a period of one year.

The Mediterranean has 13,000 species of endemic plants, the second highest number after the tropical Andes, and 150 endemic forest species (native exclusively to a place or region). The cork oak is one of them.

Heterogeneous Habitats

The ecosystems of the regions with Mediterranean climate are particularly rich in fauna and flora, constituting biodiversity hotspots. The montados form heterogeneous habitats, with a “mosaic” of uses that vary from one area of forest to another, usually with varying ages and heights, zones of pasture lands or agriculture, with varied tree density (from 30 or 40 trees to over 100 trees per hectare). The cork oak, the key species of the montado, is at the base of the food chain, which includes insects that feed on its leaves, to the birds that prey on these insects.

The heterogeneity caused by the cork oak canopy gives the system vertical diversity, but also horizontal density, which favours various species of wild fauna and flora due to the niches it creates: differentiated characteristics of microclimate and soil fertility between the areas under the influence of the canopy and the open spaces. Although managed as agricultural/forestry/pastoral systems, with a conditioned multifunctionality, they are comprised of native vegetation.