In 2023, technicians from the Câmara Municipal do Porto have been supported by the Royal Botanical Garden (RJB-CSIC) to carry out several biodiversity sampling events in the facilities of the Falcão school, an educational centre in the city of Porto that hosts part of the Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) designed and implemented by the LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN project.

The aim of these sampling events is to see how the implementation of the NBS affects local biodiversity and its abundance. The number of native species colonising the implemented NBS is also studied, as well as the abundance and development of bioindicator species such as lichens, mosses and aquatic macroinvertebrates, in the case of the pond built by the project. The emergence and development of these bioindicator species is associated with an improvement in the air quality around the school.

Although in late 2022 and early 2023, experts from RJB-CSIC visited the Falcão facilities to carry out the baseline sampling of the aforementioned indicators, it was necessary to carry out a new reinforcement sampling in July 2023 to provide certain necessary data that were missing to develop the baseline with which to compare the results of the project. Since then, in the same sampling in July 2023 and in another one at the end of November of the same year, new samples have been taken to determine the variation of the indicators measured.

Orthotrichum sp. observed in March 2023 © LIFE-mBiG

The identification of the samples has been carried out by RJB-CSIC staff in collaboration with students of the Master’s Degree in Tropical Biodiversity and its Conservation of the Menéndez Pelayo International University, which is taught at the RJB-CSIC facilities.

It is still too early to share conclusive results, however, in the biodiversity sampling to elaborate the baseline, 69 species were counted, which increased to 96 just after the installation of the NBS. The greatest animal diversity is among flying insects, mainly flies, mosquitoes and hymenopterans, but there are few detritivorous arthropods, such as some springtails (Armadillidium), which will start to become more abundant when habitat quality improves.

Technician of the Câmara Municipal do Porto setting up insect traps in Jul 2023 © LIFE-mBiG

In order to obtain more conclusive results, further sampling will be necessary in subsequent years, especially the next sampling scheduled for spring 2024. In the After-LIFE Plan, which will be available soon in the results section of the project website, the following surveys have been planned to obtain conclusive results (2024 and 2025), as well as further surveys to see how NBS affect local biodiversity in the long term (2026-2028).

For all news and events related to the LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN project, we recommend following the project’s Twitter and LinkedIn channels.