Restoration needs in Mesopotamia: Integrating ecosystems and wildlife species as conservation units

ESPINOZA MENDOZA VICTORIA; CIRIGNOLI SEBASTIÁN; GUIDA JOHNSON BÁRBARA; VARELA DIEGO; AGUILAR ZURITA ALEX; LORÁN DAMIÁN; ZULETA GUSTAVO; OLMEDO MATÍAS; DE ANGELO CARLOS

Foz do Iguaçú, Paraná - Brasil

Congreso; 7th World Conference on Ecological Restoration; 2017

Society for Ecological Restoration

The Mesopotamian region is of great economic, ecological and political importance. It is located in the Northeast of Argentina and includes the provinces of Misiones, Corrientes and Entre Ríos (Figure 1). 60% of the territory, which shares borders with Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, is used for livestock and agriculture; being the region with the highest relative biodiversity of Argentina. It contains a variety of ecosystems from temperate grasslands to subtropical forests, including wetlands, open forests and riparian environments. Intense and extensive changes in land use during recent decades are aggravating biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation (Di Bitetti et al., 2003; Montagnini 2006; Guida Johnson & Zuleta 2013; Zuleta et al. 2015a; Aguilar Zurita 2017). The objective of this study was to determine restoration needs, focused on ecosystems and species, to provide scientific and technical results for decision makers.