CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Lake Chascomús is part of the Sistema de las Encadenadas de Chascomús (the Chascomús interlinked lake system) in the Salado River basin. As the flooded area of the Salado depression may comprise up to 10.4% of the basins total area, it was deemed convenient to estimate areas flooded with different water levels and to determine trends in rainfall series by means of a statistical test. Given the fact that Schoenoplectus californicus (giant bulrush) is the main emergent macrophyte in coastal lake areas in the Salado depression, biological tests were conducted to establish the relationship between water level and bulrush growth with a view to evaluating alternative land use scenaries. Positive trends in a rainfall serie were found in November and April as well as in the annual scale serie of the last 30 years. Effective bulrush growth was detected at a 0-40 cm depth; the 20-cm floodwater treatment resulted in the greatest biomass (7458 kg/ha). Different flooded areas with different water levels were estimated according to lake elevation. Yields were calculated with these data and with bulrush biomass values from different treatments. The highest yield (6467 ton) was estimated for the 7.9 m lake elevation. Given the positive rainfall trends in the area, it was deemed important to examine alternative land use scenarios with a natural resource (bulrush) as a means to minimizing the negative economic impact of floods.

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