Landscape ecology as a framework for land planning in fluvial wetland systems. The Paraná River Delta as reference.

QUINTANA, RUBEN DARIO; KANDUS, PATRICIA; MINOTTI, PRISCILLA G.

Campos do Jordao, Brasil

Conferencia; 2009 Latin American IALE Conference; 2009

International Association of Landscape Ecology

The largest wetlands in South America are associated with the floodplains of the large rivers. The area and permanence of these wetlands depends mainly on superficial water input by rainfall and rivers water discharge, as well as the timing of the flooding-non flooding cycle. These wetlands can be conceptualized as macrosystems of sub-regional or transregional extension. Compared with other continents, they have not been subjected to extreme and massive hydrologic alterations, and thus retain the capacity to support much of the original biodiversity. In Argentina, the Paraná Delta, located at the end of the Paraguay-Paraná basin, presents an interesting study case. The Delta macrosytem is a mosaic of wetlands extending 17.000 km2, with complex geomorphologic and coastal-fluvial patterns of holocen age (c 4500 years BP). In the last decade, flow patterns have changed due to the combined effect of dam regulation in the upper basin, waterway construction, new road infrastructure, and climate changes. Such changes triggered new strategies for cattle, fisheries, wildlife and forestry uses with associated landscape modifications and are directed to transform the Delta into a productive dryland area. Such vision fails to envision the value of wetland benefits and environmental services and how traditional resource management can be more sustainable in the long term. A landscape ecology approach is needed to guide future development, where economic, social and environmental factors should be harmonized. Conducting landscape analyses in complex wetlands involves taking into account a dynamic hydrogeomorphic template which facilitates the inclusion of temporal and spatial dimensions. We present an ecohydrogeomorphic classification of the Parana Delta region which we are using to identify ecological wetland functions and map ecological services.