under the Rede Natura 2000 designation (Code PTMIG0020) as a protected habitat, due to its number of shallow bays and coves, endemic vegetation, marine environments and species of flora and fauna. In addition to the Azorean heather (Erica azorica) and carnations (Spergularia azorica), the area is known as a home for pods of Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), Common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus), the Loggerhead sea turtle (Caretta caretta), as well as avian species of shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea boreallis) and Sterna. Climate The climate is, like much of the archipelago, temperate and maritime; the mean annual temperature is about , February being the coldest month ) and August the warmest (). The mean annual humidity is approximately 83%. Human geography The population consists of 7010 men and 7010 women, of whom 43.9% are between 0–25 years of age (the local average is about 38.4%), while 1288 (or 9.1%) are 65 years or greater. This population has seen a constant increase, beginning at the end of the 1920s, until today. This was briefly interrupted at the end of the 1960s, with a wave of emigration (5% decrease in population) to the United States and Canada. Before this period, the 10.2% decrease in the population was attributed to the participation of many youth in the Portuguese contingent in World War I, and the post-war epidemic that developed. In the 1980s, the population has slowly rebounded (0.4%), while growth has marked in the 1990s, with 9.5% increase in population (1226 new residents). Since 1950, Lagoa has been constantly evolving, and in 2001 the residential area encompassed 4385 homes, that included many of the older heritage dwellings that have survived since colonization. Between 1991 and 2001, there was a 36% growth in the number of occupied dwellings in the urbanized core, while the communities of Água de Pau and Santa Cruz have also grown markedly (25.3% and 24.3%, respectively). Administratively, five parishes comprise the municipality of Lagoa, with two specifically part of the urbanized core of the village (Nossa Senhora do Rosário and Santa Cruz); they are: Água de Pau – until 1853, the municipal seat of Lagoa, its 3,122 residents, are scattered in the foothills of the Fogo volcano crater and is primarily an agricultural community that also includes the coastal "resort" of Caloura; Cabouco – named after the existence of many rock quarries in the area, the settlement of Cabouco is a landlocked