The field trip will take place on 10th October 2019. This will be an opportunity to spend time with other delegates away from the scientific sessions and visit the montado ecosystem, home to several mustelid species, outside of Lisbon.
We will visit Companhia das Lezírias, a state-owned farmstead located 40km northeast of Lisbon. Companhia das Lezírias is the largest agro-sylvo-pastoral farmstead in Portugal occupying about 18,000 ha of heathlands and marshlands. The forested area occupies 11,500 ha with cork oak (Quercus suber) montado covering 6,700 ha in pure or mixed woodlands. 
This savannah-like landscape, with understory vegetation ranging from shrubs to grasslands, was shaped over millennia of traditional land use practices that combine forest harvesting, livestock husbandry, pastures and/or crops, and other uses (e.g. hunting). Montado is both a unique agro-sylvo-pastoral ecosystem with high socio-economic and a high conservation value habitat, protected under the Habitats Directive. All five mustelid species with resident populations in southern Portugal occur in the montado ecosystem. 
Companhia das Lezírias has a long history of innovation and pioneering and has established a protocol with Centre of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes for the development of studies concerning the impacts of its agro-sylvo-pastoral activities in terrestrial mammal populations. This protocol has been the frame of many research projects in the past 10 years and during our trip we will show you the intricacies that characterise the last major wood-pasture system in Europe. We will tell you about our efforts to better understand the challenges that local mustelids (and other species) face in the montado, before wrapping-up with a delightful buffet of Portuguese traditional food in “A Coudelaria” restaurant. 
Price: €45 per person. This includes transport to and from Lisbon and a traditional Portuguese buffet lunch. The trip can be booked and paid for when registering for the Colloquium (see Registration page).