Data sources from Argentina and Paraguay

PRADO, D.E.

Barranquilla

Workshop; A Latin American Seasonally Dry Forest Floristic Network (DRYFLOR); 2012

The Leverhulme Trust (Gran Bretaña), Fundación Ecosistemas Secos de Colombia

The Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias, Rosario National University (FCA-UNR), is a well-known Argentinean education and research institute with 300 staff (including about 40 members of the national scientific council CONICET), and it is considered to be among the best five agricultural colleges in the country. There are over 90 postgraduate students (at doctorate or MSc level) in course at present. The Botany and Ecology group, Department of Biology has an almost 40 year history of working in the Paraná river gallery forests, Chaco vegetation and SDTF in Argentina, and the group has many links to national conservation bodies. Network Partner Dr Darién Prado has worked on subtropical (Chaco) and tropical dry forests since 1979, with the main focus on understanding the floristic composition, the distribution patterns and vegetation dynamics, and later the historical biogeography of Latin American SDTF (first worker to suggest that they may have been more widespread in cooler, drier climates of the Pleistocene). His over 30 years of field experience and publications have reinforced the awareness of the poorly known nature of the flora of many SDTF areas, and with the motivation to improve the knowledge and conservation of these forests he joined Toby in this network. SDTF IN ARGENTINA General Information: Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests are found in Argentina at both the northwestern (Yungas piedmont forests) and northeastern (Misiones, Corrientes and Formosa seasonal forests) corners of the country, as the southernmost expansions of the SDTF. They are also very variable in appearance, from tall forest to low scrub in places, characterized by a few to several months period of drought, when most of the vegetation lose their leaves. They strongly differ from Chaco vegetation (frequently confused with the SDTF) in that they are less subject to frosts and grow on stony fertile soils. On the contrary, the Chaco forests are always subject to yearly frosts, grow on alkaline clayish soils, are often subject to flooding of variable duration, and their flora is radically different. The piedmont forests of NW Argentina are strongly dominated by the locally known ´cebil´ (Anadenanthera colubrina var cebil); these forests extend into neighboring Bolivia as far north as Santa Cruz de la Sierra. In NE Argentina these forests have most accompanying species of the previous, but usually lack the ´cebil´, except for some areas in Corrientes and Misiones provinces. For Paraguay SDTF, see recent review in Rojasiana journal. CONSERVATION: GENERAL INFORMATION: SDTF are considered the most threatened tropical forest type globally, based on rates of deforestation and other threats, and they are no exception in Argentina and neighboring countries. A urgent need for fieldwork in the remnant Andean Piedmont forests of NW Argentina and SW Bolivia has been identified, which are under extreme pressure of deforestation and clearing for agriculture such as soybean cultivation and cattle ranching. Dry forest in eastern Paraguay is under similar pressure or even stronger, and needs more study with the collaboration of local researchers. But it is paramount to support the establishment of preserved areas in southern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay, together with the strengthening of existing reserves in NW and NE Argentina.