Humedales de la Argentina: sinópsis, problemas y perspectivas futuras

NEIFF, J.J.

El agua en Iberoamérica. Funciones de los humedales. Calidad de vida y agua segura

CYTED - Programa Iberoamericano de Ciencia y Tecnología para el Desarrollo

Lugar: Buenos Aires; Año: 2001; p. 83 - 112

The large wetlands of Argentina are systems of sub-regional extent in which the spatial and temporal presence of a variable coverage of water causes characteristic biogeochemical fluxes, soils of accentuated hydromorphism, and a biota whose structure and dynamics are well adapted to a wide range of water availability. They can be considered macrosystems whose complexity grows with hydrosedimentological variability and geographic extent. The area and persistence of the wetlands depend on the availability of superficial water covering the soils. Wetlands are controlled by the pulse regime. The ecological processes in wetlands (variability of the water sheet, nutrient fluxes) follow a sinusoidal pattern caused by temporal differences in the water availability and transported materials (organisms, dissolved and suspended solids). The variability pattern of these waves in a temporal sequence in some point of the waterlogged plain or river section constitutes the pulse regime. At a landscape analysis scale, all wetlands are influenced by droughts (dry phase of pulses). Fire has a greater effect on some wetlands than on others. Both factors could occur in wetlands by natural causes or provoked by man to obtain different effects (to favour crops, cattle breeding, hunting of wild animals, etc.). The effects of fire on the biota of the wetlands is related to a great extent to the frequency, intensity and season in which occurs (seasonality). That is to say, they are phenomena with a pulse dynamics. The elasticity coefficient is discussed for to understand of the biotic complexity, spetially in relation to species diversity. Large wetlands in Argentine generally include several ecosystems with waterlogged or periodically flooded areas. For this reason, it is necessary to consider them as macrosystems. The extention of large wetlands in Argentine is aproximately 172,000 km2 and include at least nine class of freshwater and saline types. The objetive of this contitution is to present the continental wetlands of argentina and to discuss an approach to knowledge of wetlands with enphasis on it sustainable use.