CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

The urban wetlands are sites of high biodiversity that are under a great anthropogenicpressure. In the city of Buenos Aires, one of the more important areas of recreation is constituted byParque Tres de Febrero, that conforms a green zone of 25 ha. Inthis area there are artificial wetlands of diverse physical characteristics. In the present work, the goal isto determine vertebrate diversity in these urban aquatic enviroments in order to evaluate the degree ofimpact of the recreational activity on the conservation of the vertebrates associated to the water bodies.The study was carried out in three artificial lagoons included in the park: Regatas, Rosedal and Planetario.Altogether, seventeen species of fish (Prochilodus lineatus, Oligosarcus jenynsii, Cheirodon interruptus, Bryconamericusiheringii, Hoplias malabaricus, Hypostomus commersoni, Rhamdia quelen, Pimelodus albicans, Pimelodusmaculatus, Cyprinus carpio carpio, Cnesterodon decemmaculatus, Gambusia affinis, Jenynsia multidentata, Synbranchusmarmoratus, Australoheros facetus, Gymnogeophagus meridionalis and Crenicichla scottii), eighteen species ofbirds (Podiceps rolland, Podilymbus podiceps, Podiceps major, Phalacrocorax olivaceus, Ardea alba, Egretta thula,Butorides striatus, Nycticorax nycticorax, Anas georgica, Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anseranser, Cairina moschata, Netta peposaca, Aramus guarauna, Fulica armillata, Fulica leucoptera and Chloroceyleamazona), three species of turtles (Phrynops hilarii, Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) and onespecies of mammal were registered (Myocastor coipo). Among these species, eight are introduced: two fishes(Cyprinus carpio carpio and Gambusia affinis), two turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans and Trachemys venusta) andfour birds (Anas platyrhynchos, Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, Anser anser and Cairina moschata). Regatas wasthe site with greater diversity of fishes (n=17) that represents a 10.43% of Río de la Plata?s ichthyofauna(n=163). This site lodges a 13% of the bird species associated to registered water bodies in the City ofBuenos Aires (n=107). When comparing the specific richness among lagoons, we found high similaritybetween Regatas and Planetarium. Also, both sites presented the greatest specific richness of fish duringthe months of January and February. From this preliminary study it was possible to describe and to differentiateeach lagoon by its fauna and physical characteristics, and also it constitutes the base to continuewith further studies of communities which allow the development of the necessary guidelines of handlingfor the protection of Lagos Tres de Febrero.