The environmental non-governmental organisation Palombar - Conservação da Natureza e do Património Rural (Nature and Rural Heritage Conservation) has actively contributed to 16 scientific articles published in peer-reviewed specialist journals, some of which are highly influential and prestigious, such as BioScience, Journal of Applied Ecology, Biological Conservation, Ecology and Evolutionary Applications. 

Palombar increases the R&D potential of NGOs

Palombar's work in this area has contributed to increasing scientific potential, particularly in research and development (R&D), of Private Non-Profit Institutions (IPSFL), which include NGOs, as assessed by the National Scientific and Technological Potential Survey (IPCTN), conducted by the Directorate-General for Education and Science Statistics (DGEEC). Between 2019 and early 2026, Palombar contributed, through authorship and co-authorship, to the publication of an average of two scientific articles per year. Palombar began responding to the IPCTN in 2021, with data for 2020, following a request from the DGEEC.

The 2024 IPCTN, published in 2025 and including an assessment of national scientific and technological potential between 2015 and 2024, reveals that there has been a continuous increase in investment in the area by IPSFLs, including NGOs, and a growth, although with some nuances, in the number of people dedicated to research in these entities.



Palombar has a group dedicated to research

Palombar has a group dedicated to research, composed of two PhD researchers, João Santos, who has been conducting scientific work at Palombar since 2018, and Pedro Horta, as well as researcher Helena Raposeira, who is currently completing her PhD, both of whom recently joined the NGO team and the research group. Alongside this group, a large part of the Palombar team also collaborates by providing data and information relevant to the scientific field, as well as co-authoring several articles.

Published articles address various topics and lines of research

The articles to which Palombar has contributed address various topics and lines of research, such as evolutionary, genetic and trophic ecology; applied conservation with a strong environmental policy and governance component; the use of technologies such as GPS and NIRS in wildlife management and conservation; conservation genomics; wildlife poaching and environmental crime; OneHealth and epidemiology; and the social dimension of conservation, including human perceptions and conflicts with wildlife.

Articles to which Palombar has contributed cover various topics and lines of research.

Palombar wants to consolidate its commitment to science and R&D

Palombar wants to consolidate the commitment and investment it has made over recent years in the area of science and R&D, both through its own projects and initiatives and through collaboration with other entities in the sector, such as universities, research centres and other organisations.

Ongoing or recently approved projects led by Palombar, such as ‘SerE+ Network of Ecosystem Service Acceleration Areas in Serra da Estrela’, or carried out in partnership, such as "ENETWILD - Collecting and sharing data on wildlife populations transmitting animal disease agents‘, ’INTWILDAM - Interdisciplinary approaches to improve the detection and mitigation of damage caused by wildlife to livestock‘ and ’Líquenes à Moda do Norte‘ have a strong scientific component and will make significant contributions in this area.

Palombar currently collaborates with several universities, research centres and national and international institutes, namely UTAD - University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (Portugal); IMIB - Joint Institute for Biodiversity Research (Spain); IREC - Institute for Research in Hunting Resources (Spain); BIOPOLIS/CIBIO - Centre for Research in Genetic Resources (Portugal); IPB - Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal); EUVG - Vasco da Gama University School (Portugal); University of Aveiro (Portugal); CE3C - Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Change (Portugal); INIAV - National Institute for Agricultural and Veterinary Research (Portugal); Estación Biológica de Doñana (Spain); University of Murcia (Spain); University of Salamanca (Spain); Autonomous Metropolitan University (Mexico); and University of Exeter (United Kingdom). It also collaborates with the Vulture Conservation Foundation, an international organisation that also conducts scientific research.

We consider it essential to promote applied science so that scientific knowledge can be used in direct and practical actions in the field that benefit nature conservation and society as a whole, and by policy makers to make informed decisions supported by scientific evidence.

List of scientific articles with Palombar's participation

◾ Trichomonas Infection in a Community of Free-Ranging Domestic and Wild Columbiformes and Bonelli’s Eagle (Aquila fasciata)
Frontiers in Veterinary Science

◾ Spatial and Temporal Variability in Migration of a Soaring Raptor Across Three Continents
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution

◾ Farmers’ perceptions towards scavengers are influenced by implementation deficits of EU sanitary policies
Biological Conservation

◾ MAMMALS IN PORTUGAL: A data set of terrestrial, volant, and marine mammal occurrences in Portugal
Ecology

◾ The continued deficiency in environmental law enforcement illustrated by EU sanitary regulations for scavenger conservation
Biological Conservation

◾ Unraveling the real magnitude of illegal wildlife poisoning to halt cryptic biodiversity loss
Biological Conservation

◾ Wildlife as sentinels of compliance with law: an example with GPS-tagged scavengers and sanitary regulations
Journal of Applied Ecology

◾ Perceptions and attitudes of stakeholders on the return of brown bears (Ursus arctos): contributions from a workshop held in northern Portugal
Conservation Science and Practice

◾ Surveying Bat-Hosted Adenoviruses and Herpesviruses: A Comprehensive Analysis
Diversity

◾ Evidence of a twofold ecological trap driven by agricultural change causing a priority farmland bird population crash
Conservation Science and Practice

◾ Performance of post-mortem diagnostic tests for animal tuberculosis in wild ungulates at high and low prevalence assessed by Bayesian latent class models
Frontiers in Veterinary Science

◾ Fiber content prediction of wild and domestic herbivore fecal samples using a NIRS multispecies model
PLoS ONE

◾ Adaptive introgression as an evolutionary force: A meta-analysis of knowledge trends
Evolutionary Applications

◾ Leveraging animal tracking to combat wildlife crime: GPS-tagged vultures and wolves as sentinels of other species’ poaching
BioScience

◾ GPS-tracked vultures indicate a relaxation of conservation commitments in renewable energy development
Journal of Applied Ecology

◾ Mapping wild boar density across Europe: combining spatial models and density estimates
European Journal of Wildlife Research