MOUNTAIN
RESEARCH
CENTER

Polytechnic Institute
of Bragança

image01

CIMO

CIMO - Mountain Research Center. See video HERE

FROM NATURE TO PRODUCTS, TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY.

Marina Castro

Group: Socio-Ecological Systems
E-mail: marina.castro@ipb.pt
ORCID: 0000-0002-6368-8098
Scopus Author ID: 56612728000

Career

  • Since 1999: Auxiliary Professor at the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (ESA-IPB), Portugal
  • 1990 - 1999: Assistant Professor at the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (ESA-IPB), Portugal

Roles

  • 2007 - 2009: Head of Department Environmental and Natural Resources at the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (ESA-IPB), Portugal
  • 2005 - 2010: Vice-head of the Pedagogical Council of the School of Agriculture of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (ESA-IPB), Portugal

Qualifications

  • 2005 - PhD. in Ecology, University of Alcala de Henares (UAH), Spain
  • 1999 - MSc. in Tropical and Subtropical Agronomy, National Agronomic Superior School of Montpellier, France
  • 1990 - Graduation in Agronomic Engineer, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), Portugal

Awards and Honors

  • 2009 - Award for grassland progress- best poster, Portuguese forage and pasture society, Portugal

Interests

  • Agroforestry and silvopastoral systems
  • Effects of grazing in combustibles management
  • Comparation of food selection by sheep and goats under silvopastoral systems

Projects:

ASINIFIRE - Asininos na Prevenção de Incêndios para a Resiliência Ecológica
Funding body: Promove LA CAIXA
Reference: PD24-00017
Principal Investigator:Ana Maria Villa Serrano
Start: 2024-10-01
End: 2027-09-30
LIFE SILFORE - Towards the conservation and management of resilient agroforestry system through silvopastoralism
Funding body: LIFE
Reference: LIFE21-CCA-ES-LIFE SILFORE
Principal Investigator:Marina Maria Pedrosa Meca Ferreira de Castro
Start: 2022-09-01
End: 2027-08-31
AF4EU - Agroforestry Business Model Innovation Network
Funding body: HORIZON EUROPE
Reference: AF4EU 101086563
Principal Investigator:Marina Maria Pedrosa Meca Ferreira de Castro
Start: 2023-01-01
End: 2026-12-31
LIFE MARONESA - Market Awareness and Opportunity Raising for Needed Extensification and Soil-friendly Agriculture
Funding body: LIFE
Reference: LIFE19 GIC/PT/001285
Principal Investigator:Carlos Francisco Gonçalves Aguiar
Start: 2020-10-01
End: 2025-09-30
InnoMeatEdu - Innovative digital tools applied to sustainable Meat Science and Technology higher education: a link between industry and academia
Funding body: Erasmus +
Reference: 2022-1-ES01-KA220-HED-000087202
Principal Investigator:Alfredo Jorge Costa Teixeira
Start: 2022-09-01
End: 2025-08-31
PASTOPRAXIS - Local adaptative responses of pastoralism to climate change in the Natural Park of Montesinho (Portugal)
Funding body: FCT - MONTESINHO
Reference: MTS/CAC/0028/2020
Principal Investigator:Marina Maria Pedrosa Meca Ferreira de Castro
Start: 2021-07-01
End: 2024-06-30
FTA+siv - Florestação de Terras Agrícolas com Mais Silvicultura, Inovação e Valor (FTA+siv)
Funding body: PDR 2020 - Programa de desenvolvimento Rural 2014-2020 - 1.0.1 - Grupos operacionais
Reference: PDR2020-1.0.1-FEADER-031671
Principal Investigator:Maria do Sameiro Ferreira Patrício
Start: 2018-07-01
End: 2022-12-31
OPEN2PRESERVE - Sustainable management model for the preservation of open mountain spaces with high environmental value
Funding body: Interreg Sudoe
Reference: SOE1/PS/E0804
Principal Investigator:Marina Maria Pedrosa Meca Ferreira de Castro
Start: 2018-03-01
End: 2021-12-30
BioPast - Uma Abordagem Integrada às Pastagens Permanentes Biodiversas Ricas em Leguminosas
Funding body: FCT - PTDC - Projectos em todos os domínios científicos
Reference:
Principal Investigator:Carlos Francisco Gonçalves Aguiar
Start: 2007-08-01
End: 2011-01-31

Total results: 26
1
Oliveira de Aquino Monteiro G.,dos Santos Difante G.,Baptaglin Montagner D.,Pacheco Batista Euclides V.,Castro M.,Gomes Rodrigues J.,de Gusmão Pereira M.,Santana J.C.S.,Vinhas Itavo L.C.,Nantes R.T.,Campos J.A.,Bessa da Costa A.,Takashi Matsubara E.
Machine learning models for crude protein prediction in Tamani grass pastures
Scientific Reports, 16, , 2026

2
Farias de Oliveira A.C.,Castro J.,Aleixo-Pais I.,Mistro Seripieri V.H.,Castro M.
Drought, grazing routes and resource use by small-ruminant pastoralists in Montesinho, northeastern Portugal
Pastoralism, 16, , 2026

3
Britto R.D.,Mendes J.,Grilo V.,Castro J.P.,dos Santos M.F.,Castro M.,Pereira A.I.,Lima J.
A Deep Learning Approach for Average Height Estimation in Oak Colony Using RGB Images
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 2617 CCIS, 272-285, 2026

4
Monteiro G.O.d.A.,Difante G.d.S.,Montagner D.B.,Euclides V.P.B.,Castro M.,Rodrigues J.G.,Pereira M.d.G.,Ítavo L.C.V.,Campos J.A.,da Costa A.B.,Matsubara E.T.
Interpreting Machine Learning Models with SHAP Values: Application to Crude Protein Prediction in Tamani Grass Pastures
Agronomy, 15, , 2025

5
6
de Souza J.H.G.,Mosquera-Losada M.R.,Castro M.
The impact of goats grazing on understory vegetation of cork oak woodlands
Agroforestry Systems, 99, , 2025

7
Santiago-Freijanes J.J.,Rodríguez-Rigueiro F.J.,Ferreiro-Domínguez N.,López-Díaz M.L.,Rigueiro-Rodríguez A.,Castro M.,González-Hernández M.P.,Fernández-Lorenzo J.L.,Romero-Franco R.,García-Berrios J.J.,Hallez T.,Anzilotti S.,Giannetti F.,Pantera A.,Aldrey-Vázquez J.A.,Couso-Viana A.,Hosseini-Yekani S.A.,Porto-Serantes N.,Mosquera-Losada M.R.
Common agricultural policy support to silvopasture in the European Atlantic region
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 8, , 2025

8
Araujo M.,Leitão P.,Castro M.,Castro J.,Bernuy M.
Development of an IoT-Based Device for Data Collection on Sheep and Goat Herding in Silvopastoral Systems
Sensors, 24, , 2024

9
10
Pinto R.,Castro M.,Torres-Manso F.,Rainha M.
Pastoralism in the Development of Mountain Territories in Por-tugal: A Multidimensional Analysis of Challenges and Oppor-tunities
Revista Portuguesa De Estudos Regionais, 65-74, 2023

11
Fonseca F.,Castro M.,Alves L.,Castro J.,de Figueiredo T.
Impacts of Extensive Sheep Grazing on Soil Physical and Chemical Quality in Open Mountain Forests, NE Portugal
Spanish Journal of Soil Science, 13, , 2023

12
Mosquera-Losada M.R.,Santos M.G.S.,Gonçalves B.,Ferreiro-Domínguez N.,Castro M.,Rigueiro-Rodríguez A.,González-Hernández M.P.,Fernández-Lorenzo J.L.,Romero-Franco R.,Aldrey-Vázquez J.A.,Sobrino C.C.,García-Berrios J.J.,Santiago-Freijanes J.J.
Policy challenges for agroforestry implementation in Europe
Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 6, , 2023

13
14
Castro M.,Castro J.P.,Castro J.
Understory Clearing in Open Grazed Mediterranean Oak Forests: Assessing the Impact on Vegetation
Sustainability Switzerland, 14, , 2022

15
16
Canals R.M.,Múgica L.,Sáez J.L.,Robles A.B.,Yebra R.T.,Castro M.,Manso F.,Plaixats J.,Canaleta G.,Aguerre C.,Mosquera-Losada M.R.,Duperron C.,Métailié J.P.
CURRENT REGIONAL SCENARIOS IN SOUTHWEST EUROPEAN UPLANDS AND HABITAT RESTORATION THROUGH PYRIC HERBIVORY PRACTICES: THE OPEN2PRESERVE PROJECT
Sud Ouest Europeen, 7-26, 2022

17
Castro J.,Castro M.,Gómez-Sal A.
Changes on the Climatic Edge: Adaptation of and Challenges to Pastoralism in Montesinho (Northern Portugal)
Mountain Research and Development, 41, R29-R37, 2021

18
19
Zorawski M.,Brito T.,Castro J.,Castro J.P.,Castro M.,Lima J.
An IoT Approach for Animals Tracking
Communications in Computer and Information Science, 1488 CCIS, 269-280, 2021

20
Rodriguez-Rigueiro F.J.,Santiago-Freijanes J.J.,Mosquera-Losada M.R.,Castro M.,Silva-Losada P.,Pisanelli A.,Pantera A.,Rigueiro-Rodriguez A.,Ferreiro-Dominguez N.
Silvopasture policy promotion in European Mediterranean areas
Plos One, 16, , 2021

21
Castro M.,Ameray A.,Castro J.P.
A new approach to quantify grazing pressure under mediterranean pastoral systems using GIS and remote sensing
International Journal of Remote Sensing, 41, 5371-5387, 2020

22
Afonso M.J.,Magalhães M.,Fernandes L.,Castro M.,Ramalhosa E.C.D.
Temperature Effect on Rheological Behavior of Portuguese Honeys
Polish Journal of Food and Nutrition Sciences, 68, 217-222, 2018

23
Torres-Manso F.,Marta-Costa A.A.,Castro M.,Tibério L.
Silvopastoral systems as a tool for territorial sustainability and biodiversity
Agroforestry Anecdotal to Modern Science, 317-333, 2018

24
Ramalhosa E.C.D.,Magalhães M.,Martins A.M.,Afonso M.J.,Plasencia P.,Fernández-Núnez E.,Castro M.
Plant and soil metal concentrations in serpentine soils and their influence on the diet of extensive livestock animals
Open Agriculture Journal, 12, 95-106, 2018

25
Castro M.,Fernández Núñez E.
Seasonal grazing of goats and sheep on Mediterranean mountain rangelands of northeast Portugal
Livestock Research for Rural Development, 28, , 2016

26