CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The Paraná River is the second largest river basin in South America and comprises the region most influenced by the activities of man in the continent because of the different land uses (e.g. agricultural crops, urbanization, industrial development, hydroelectric dams). Moreover, the basin covers an area of great ecosystems diversity, with different levels of interventions by man. In this chapter, we provide a description of the aquatic ecosystems in the basin, including ecologically important wetlands, and describe the impacts of development on these ecosystems and the barriers to the movement of aquatic species. Also included is a description of the impacts of La Niña-El Niño climate oscillations on natural ecosystems. Moreover, we include a discussion of the values of biodiversity within the basin. There is a need for more research in the region to fully document the risks within the basin has in relation to the loss of species diversity, or more alarmingly the risk of species extinctions.