REN participates in Citizen Science initiative

REN will participate, on 2 June, in a citizen science initiative consisting on counting young white storks and collecting important scientific data to build a model of the evolution of the species in the country. The action will take place in Companhia das Lezírias and will include the participation of the researchers from REN's and EDP's Biodiversity Chairs and of technicians from both companies.

What are the advantages and disadvantages for the storks of increasing compatibility of the electricity transmission and distribution infrastructure? These and other questions are what REN's and EDP's Biodiversity Chairs (CIBIO, University of Porto) propose to answer, with the help of technicians and workers from both companies. This initiative can be followed at http://www.ren.pt/en-gb/sustainability/biodiversity-and-forest/ as well as counting and registering storks at any time

The white stork is a widely known species, which usually uses man-made structures, including the roofs of houses, chimneys, telephone poles and power line supports, among others, as breeding grounds.

After reaching the lowest level of its population in the 80s, the species managed an impressive recovery, reaching approximately 12,000 couples in 2014 (date of the last census). At the same time, since then the population of storks began to trade the roofs of houses and churches for power line supports as locations for building their nests. In 2014, about 25% of the stork population bred in REN's and EDP's power line supports, a significant change when comparing with less than 5% of the population in the 80s.

REN Chair was founded in 2015 and is the result of a partnership between REN, FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and CIBIO-InBIO from University of Porto. Its goal is to create an innovative and integrated network of research, knowledge transfer, and scientific research and dissemination in the different fields of biodiversity, contributing to its preservation.