Abstract
This paper investigates the cyclical behaviour of the wine production in Douro region during the period 1932-2008. In general, wine production is characterised by large fluctuations which are composed of short-term and/or long-term cycles. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, we decompose the wine production's variance in order to find the dominating production cycles, i.e we try to explain whether wine production follows more long-term or short-term cycles. In the next step, we try to explain those cycles using a dependent variable, namely the medium spring temperature (Tm_Sp) for the period 1967-2008. We estimated a Time-Varying Autoregressive Model, which could explain 75% of the production that is characterised by 4.8- and 2.5-year cycles. We use the Short Time Fourier Transform to decompose the link between wine production and temperature. When the temperature was incorporated, the R (2) increased and the Akaike criterion value was lower. Hence, Tm_Sp causes a large amount of these cycles and the wine production variation reflects this relationship. In addition to an upward trend, there is a clearly identifiable cycle around the long-term trend in production. We also show how much of the production cycle and what cycle in particular is explained by the Tm_Sp. There is a stable but not constant link between production and the Tm_Sp. In particular, the temperature is responsible for 5.2- and 2.4-year cycles which has been happening since the 1980s. The Tm_Sp can also be used as an indicator for the 4.8- and 2.5-year cycles of production. The developed model suggests that stationarity is a questionable assumption, and this means that historical distributions of wine production are going to need dynamic updating.

Abstract
Permanent semi-natural grassland meadows (lameiros) are characteristic of the mountain rural landscapes in northeast Portugal and represent the main fodder resource for livestock production. Furthermore, these meadows are recognized for their environmental, historical, cultural and visual landscape value. A monitoring study based on remote-sensing data was implemented to understand the impacts of management practices on the lameiros vegetation dynamics and to analyse changes in vegetation dynamics over the period 1998-2008 in response to inter-annual climatic variability. Ten-day SPOT-VEGETATION (VGT) image composites from this period were used to examine the annual temporal profile using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and their relationship with ground-based observation of vegetation growth and reflectance inferred with a spectroradiometer. Results show that the NDVI profile fits well the characteristic vegetation growth dynamics and associated management practices in the region. For the period from July 2007 to December 2008, the variation in vegetation height explains 46 to 52% of the variation in NDVI derived respectively from spectroradiometer and VGT data. NDVI referring to dates of specific stages of the vegetation dynamics and management practices in lameiros was tested against climatic variables, for the period 1998-2008. More than 57% of the inter-annual variability of the average NDVI during the lameiros development period can be explained by the mean temperature, and 53% of the variability on the date of occurrence of maximum vegetation development (MVD) can be explained by the mean temperature during the spring period. These results support the analysis of lameiros responses to different scenarios of climate and water management and may support the implementation of more efficient farm activities.

Abstract

Abstract
The application of organic wastes to agricultural soils may have adverse effects on soil quality. Different end-points are proposed to be analysed and included in organic waste management programmes. The aim of this laboratory study was to determine how the application of increasing concentrations of broiler chicken litter, dairy sludge and cattle slurry can affect survival, body mass change and metal accumulation in Eisenia fetida (Savigny, 1826). Generally, no mortality occurred for the different organic wastes concentrations at the end of the study. In addition, significant increases of body mass were observed on earthworms exposed to the highest concentrations of the organic wastes. Organic wastes increased concentration of some metals in soil (mainly, Cu and Zn in broiler litter and dairy sludge mixtures) and in E. fetida tissue (mainly, Cu in earthworms from broiler litter containers), although metal contents in soil-waste mixtures were always below legal limits. The negligible toxic effect of organic wastes on earthworms was due to the low heavy metal levels of those organic wastes and due to some nutritional or habitat advantages promoted by them. Results obtained demonstrated that body mass change was the most sensitive end-point and, therefore, should be integrated on a battery of ecotoxicological assays to evaluate the ecotoxicity of this type of organic wastes.

Abstract
A forecast model for estimating the annual variation in regional olive crop yield has been developed during the years 1998 to 2006 for the Alentejo region (south Portugal). This model was estimated hierarchically along three different in-season stages: i) flowering, considering only the regional airborne pollen index; ii) fruit growth with the addition of a plant water-stress index; iii) fruit maturing with the addition of a phytopathological index. Appropriated statistical tests indicated that the regional airborne pollen index accounted for 64% of the inter-annual olive yield variability with an average deviation between observed and predicted production of 16%. The addition of the variable plant water-stress index to the forecasting model allowed an increase in its accuracy of 27% while the phytopathological index allowed an increase of 6%. The final bioclimatic model, with all the three variables tested, explained 97% of the regional olive fruit yield being the average deviation between observed and predicted production of 4% for the internal validation of the model and of 9% for the external validation. The hierarchical structure of this bioclimatic model, along three different development stages, enabled an update along the growing season.

Abstract
Pollen morphology and quality of 20 olive cultivars grown in Portugal were analysed and multivariate statistical analysis was performed in order to group the cultivars with similar characteristics. The morphology was analysed by scanning electron microscopy and the quality was evaluated through pollen viability and in vitro germination. Pollen grains from the studied cultivars were elliptical, subprolate or prolate spheroidal with an average size (22x20 mu m), 3- zonocolpate for the majority of cultivars but 3-zonocolporate for three of the cultivars studied. Pollen viability varied between 76% ('Verdeal de Tras-os- Montes') to 6% ('Madural') and the germination varied between 65% ('Verdeal de Tras-os-Montes') and 2% ('Conserva de Elvas'). Hierarchical cluster analysis based on all characteristics analysed, showed an organization into three groups composed by cultivars with similar pollen morphometry characteristics and percentages of pollen viability and in vitro germination. Our results indicate that the highest values of olive pollen viability and germination are associated with highest average values of pollen exine reticulum thickness and diameter.