Caracterización y estado de conservación de la vegetación ribereña de la cuenca media del río Cuarto (Córdoba, Argentina)

EVANGELINA NATALE; MARCELO ARANA; GABRIELA VILLALBA; HERMINDA REINOSO; MARINA DE LA RETA; ANTONIA OGGERO

BOLETíN DE LA SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE BOTáNICA

SOCIEDAD ARGENTINA DE BOTÁNICA

Lugar: Córdoba; Año: 2019 vol. 54 p. 105 - 126

0373-580X

Background and aims: The processes of change of land use have had a veryprofound impact on the ecological patterns and processes of landscapes inrecent times, owing to that, this study aims to characterize the vegetation patchesassociated with the middle basin of the río Cuarto and to determine its conservationstatus in order to delineate management strategies that allow planners to choosethe best alternative for urban development.M&M: Vegetation censuses were carried out in the different environments. Theenvironmental units were digitized and an Integral Environmental Evaluation Indexincluded in a Geographic Information System platform was applied to the define theconservation value.Results: Seven vegetation units belonging to the biogeographic district of Espinalwere delimited and 340 remnants of natural vegetation were digitized. According tothe Integral Environmental Evaluation Index, more than 50% of the UA are in badstatus of conservation, where the patches with regular and good status presented ahigh value of ecological functionality within the basin. By other hand, less than 1%of the environmental units are in very good status of conservation.Conclusions: These results allowed us to generate management recommendationsin order to promote its preservation and improvement of its environmental health.These recommendations could be included in the territorial planning of the citiesassociated to the studied basin.