Navigating the Freshwaters of Patagonia... and this book

MATALONI, G.; QUINTANA, R.D.

Freshwaters and Wetlands of Patagonia

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2022;

A number of distinctive features characterise the Patagonian region, from geological history to present geography and climate, signed by the presence of the Andes ridge. Patagonia can be thus best analysed from an eco-regional viewpoint, which has been applied to terrestrial ecosystems as well as to freshwaters and, in Argentina, specifically to wetlands. If landscapes can be read as palimpsests on which successive modifications have been produced by both natural and human forces, inland water ecosystems carry strong signals of such changes, which account for the characteristics of those in a more pristine status but also for those of heavily intervened and submitted to fast changes in land use in their catchments. Thus, in addition to the order in which the chapters of this book are presented, the manifold interactions between the biotic, abiotic and anthropic spheres of the environment in Patagonia invite a number of different possible organisations of the reading, one of which we offer in this chapter, with the final objective of discussing the regional prospects of achieving the water-related goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.