Quercus rotundifolia Lam., one of the dominant tree species in the montado ecosystem, plays a fundamental role in sustaining montado systems across the Iberian Peninsula.

As part of the PRR1.3 project within the Transform Agenda, permanent forest plots of this species were established at Herdade da Mitra, University of Évora, with the aim of integrating them into both the national Transform network of permanent forest plots and the ICP Forests monitoring network.

The intensive monitoring plots were established and equipped with IoT technologies to support continuous ecosystem monitoring. The instrumentation also includes sap flow sensors, dendrometers and other environmental monitoring devices, generating important information for improving adaptive management strategies and increasing ecosystem resilience.

The first results reveal how structural and functional variables influence the growth responses of Q. rotundifolia, providing a basis for the development of new modelling strategies.

Acknowledgements:

This work is funded by Agenda Transform, project no. C644865735-00000007, following the Mobilization Agendas for Business Innovation (Notice No. 02/C05-i01/2021), supported by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) and European Funds NextGeneration EU. We also thank to national Funds by FCT –Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the projects UID/04033/2025: Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences and LA/P/0126/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/LA/P/0126/2020), and by national funds through FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, I.P., in the framework of the UID/06107/2025 – Center for sci-tech Research in EArth sysTem and Energy (CREATE), DOI https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/06107/2025.