Inês Gomes

Meeting the water requirements for crops such as maize through irrigation can conflict with the increasing demand for efficient water management. This paper aims to contribute to the search for solutions to achieve a more rational water use for this crop in the Iberian Peninsula. It analyses written sources and unpublished oral testimonies to highlight the value of peasant and scientific knowledge in managing water resources through farming techniques other than irrigation used before the Green Revolution. However, the logic of productivity led to the introduction of hybrids and greater water availability through the construction of irrigation infrastructures. As a result, some of these techniques fell into oblivion, thereby losing this administrative aspect of moisture. In the current environmental context, reconsidering them is both logical and necessary.

This paper examines the intersection of environmental history and the history of science, specifically the impact of forestry science and fire management on land use and community dynamics in rural Portuguese mountains. It further traces the evolution of fire management from an ancestral rural practice to a scientific concern and the subsequent integration of vernacular knowledge with scientific methods. In the early twentieth century, fire was a common tool in rural Portugal for land clearance, pasture management, and soil enrichment. Rooted in local knowledge, these practices were increasingly challenged by the rise of scientific forestry, which viewed fire primarily as a threat to be controlled. By the mid-twentieth century, Portuguese forestry policies had undergone a significant shift toward aggressive fire suppression and large-scale afforestation, reflecting a broader trend of prioritizing timber production and forest protection. Notable shifts occurred in the 1970s, marked, among other factors, by the increase in rural fires, a new socioecological vision for the forest and the introduction of prescribed fire techniques influenced by international models. The paper argues that the establishment of scientific fire management practices represents a merging of expert knowledge with local experience. This move represents a shift from exclusionary policies toward a more nuanced understanding of fire’s role in landscape management. An examination of these historical developments demonstrates the intricate interrelationship between science, the environment, policy, and local practices, illustrating the way knowledge systems both shape and are shaped by environmental governance.

Societal Impact Statement: Maize is the world's second most important agricultural crop. The cereal was unknown to Europeans before the end of the 15th century, but since its arrival in Europe, it has changed agriculture, food and landscapes. Terraces where maize was cultivated in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula contributed to the formation of local cultures and identities. The history of maize and maize landscape are mementos that help to recover traditional practices, fostering identities, and are crucial for the successful implementation of sustainable policies to provide prosperous futures.Summary: Maize (Zea mays L.) in the Iberian Peninsula embodies a history of landscape changes where the concepts of ‘exotic’, ‘traditional’ and ‘hybrid’ help to understand the engagements between landscape, farmers, agronomists (since the 19th and 20th centuries) and seeds. Today, landscapes reveal biophysical and ecological changes that reflect a panoply of intentions. A multitude of agents, and their interactions, acted upon those territories over time. Using historical sources from the leading institutions dedicated to agricultural research in the Iberian Peninsula, this paper aims to (1) contribute to a better understanding of the maize landscape and culture in the Iberian Peninsula and (2) interrogate how landscape changes (and the landscape history of maize) can frame local or regional heritage and identities reflecting customs or ways of life. The analysis unveils networks of knowledge, agricultural technologies and seed exchange. Politicians, economists, engineers, agronomists, farmers, governmental officials and agricultural industries planned and transformed traditional rural practices into modern and industrialised ones. Experts and politicians, willing to improve agricultural practices and seeds, using hybrid seeds or building new irrigation systems, led to deep social and landscape changes, allowing maize to cover territories far away from its traditional domains. Moreover, despite farmers' resistance, hybrid maize substituted landraces, eroding agrobiodiversity. Nowadays, the south and east regions of the Iberian Peninsula are the main producers of maize (hybrid), whereas in the Northwest maize is an occasional crop, being replaced by vineyards for economic reasons.

As fontes históricas escritas contêm dados que podem contribuir para a tomada de decisões sobre gestão e conservação da biodiversidade. Ao descreverem com crescente detalhe espécies variadas, manuscritos e livros permitem conhecer a composição e as dinâmicas de um determinado ecossistema. Apresentam-se algumas reflexões decorrentes da pesquisa que se tem vindo a desenvolver no projeto, em curso, “ReSEED – Rescuing seed’s heritage: engaging in a new framework of agriculture and innovation since the 18th century”. Discute-se como fontes históricas escritas podem contribuir para conhecer a biodiversidade do passado e para aprofundar a investigação na área das Ciências da Conservação. Em particular, foca-se na agrobiodiversidade, crucial no contexto da atual crise global de alimentos, sendo central nas discussões sobre soberania alimentar e conservação de recursos genéticos vegetais. A análise de obras publicadas sobre a Península Ibérica entre os séculos XV e XIX, visando diferentes fins e públicos, mas que têm como foco as plantas, permite identificar um conjunto amplo de espécies e variedades cultivadas, podendo ser utilizadas para construir modelos preditivos mais robustos sobre as circunstâncias associadas à perda de biodiversidade e agrobiodiversidade.

Recognition of the importance of protecting agrobiodiversity is not a new phenomenon. Crossing different sciences is often pinpointed as a relevant contributor to its successful protection. This paper proposes an integrated research approach in history and conservation science by opening new paths for using written historical sources in biodiversity inventories. It discusses some conceptual and methodological challenges raised by historical research regarding the diversity and distribution of wild and cultivated edible plants. The possibilities of using historical sources for compiling plant lists that can be integrated into biodiversity databases are also explored. Arguing that interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity are crucial, enabling a wide range of vernacular sources from several centuries to be cross-referenced, the paper aims to draw attention to written historical sources and their importance in deepening knowledge about past biodiversity patterns.

Calamities in agricultural production have emerged as a relevant research topic for global food security in the current context of adaptation to climate change. Historians have been participating in this research by examining crop losses in the past. However, they face challenging questions and methodological issues when evaluating the magnitude, intensity and social relevance of damages caused by adverse climate events and plant pests and diseases. This paper presents a review of some aspects that lead to harvest failures, along with three case studies involving Portuguese territories in modern times, based on the scientific interest and research of the authors. A few methodological considerations are also provided concerning decryption and the use of available data, to help avoid misinterpretations in future research on the topic.

Resumo Um elevado número de escolas secundárias portuguesas possui coleções científicas, elementos centrais para a memória e identidade das instituições que as preservam, concorrendo para a compreensão das características que foram definindo a instrução pública de nível secundário em Portugal ao longo do tempo. Porém, esse património é ainda largamente desconhecido. O artigo chama a atenção para o debate historiográfico que envolve o uso de fontes materiais na história do ensino das ciências, dando a conhecer a relevância das coleções de história natural dos liceus de Portugal, bem como sua vulnerabilidade, dada a ausência de uma política geral ou diretrizes orientando sua conservação.

Insects that are potentially harmful to agriculture have shaped agricultural practices and policy-making worldwide. For some species and geographies, historical research still needs to be done. This is not only crucial to understanding the past, but also the present and future of pest surges. An overview of Iberian history in relation to the Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus) between 1898 and 1947 reveals a) the historical distribution of locust invasions, showing that they were much larger than previously suggested; b) how outbreaks triggered local, regional and national responses, including mandatory regulations, in the last two centuries at least; c) differences and similarities, between countries, and over time, in the control measures applied, which reflect perceptions about the role of authorities and the efficacy of those measures. This paper also adds clarity to the discussion about the factors involved in the decline of outbreaks in recent years and provides a crucial context for future Orthoptera management programmes.

The idea that a public and secular institution was needed to prepare citizens for higher education proliferated throughout Europe during the nineteenth century. However, because of local political, economic and social contexts the underlying model of what is now meant by secondary education has developed differently in each country. This essay provides a historical account of the development of secondary education in Portugal, in what concerns the study of nature (zoology, botany, geology and mineralogy) inliceus, during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, the importance given to specimens and collections will be emphasized. The emergence of laboratory-based teaching never replaced traditional approaches centred on observation of specimens. By focusing on the Portuguese case, this article aims ultimately to contribute to a broader understanding of the secondary-educational model implemented throughout Europe in the nineteenth century.