Selvagens 50 Expedition: Early Findings Unveiled

The opinion of the experts is unanimous – the Selvagens Island Nature Reserve has a “good state of conservation of its marine and terrestrial territory”.

The results were announced at the presentation session for the 'Selvagens 50' report and monitoring program, a project of the Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas (Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests), as part of the Reserve's 50th-anniversary celebration and the extension of its total protection regime, the aim of which to assess the biodiversity of the islands and measure how their renaturation has evolved following the removal of invasive species 20 years ago.

Through the involvement of our Global Biosciences Center team and the Madeiran delegation of SGS in Portugal, we actively participated in this initiative, which already had an expedition carried out between the end of April and the beginning of May, 2023.

Using environmental DNA, a non-invasive method that allows the characterization of biodiversity on a large scale and the identification of rare or less abundant species, our team was able to gather valuable information on the biodiversity of these islands, both on land and at sea, and bring innovative sampling approaches to the field.

With this data, and after decades of nature conservation work, we are complementing the collection of information from the survey carried out by the other teams of researchers, whose main objective is to serve as a scientific basis for the creation of a future monitoring program for the largest marine protected area in the North Atlantic.

We are proud to be taking part in this initiative, as the protection and conservation of the Selvagens Islands, a unique natural heritage of great ecological importance, representing our organization's commitment to promoting sustainability and preserving the environment.

For further information, please contact:

Sara Pardal
Global Biosciences Center
Environmental Biologist – E-DNA specialist
t: +351 21 710 42 00