Avifauna da Represa "La Florida" (San Luis, Argentina)

CID F.D., E. CAVIEDES-VIDAL

ATUALIDADES ORNITOLOGICAS

Año: 2005 vol. 125 p. 1 - 9

0104-2386

The Embalse La Florida is a 55-years-old dam located on the sierras at the geographical center of the San Luis province (Argentina) that provides water to the 70% of the human population of the entire province. The region is a sub humid ecotone with an increasing tourism interest. Therefore, the anthropic interactions rose up in the last years. Recently, there have been reported moderate levels of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) and organochlorine compounds in the water and sediment. Surprisingly, no studies on the fauna have been performed. Thus, we studied the composition and structure of the avian community of this water body. A temporal analysis of the local distribution of the 71 species observed was performed. Eleven species were recorded for the first time in La Florida and, one of them, Satrapa icterophrys for the first time in San Luis. Other 65 species previously listed by previous screenings were not observed in this study. Changes in the avian community may be attributed to the continuous modifications since the construction of the water reservoir by human interactions, which may have added new (and/or modified) habitats, suitable for exploitation by different new bird species. Abundance results show that only 3 species (Phalacrocorax brasilianus, Columba maculosa y Zenaida auriculata) are dominant in this community and represent the 60% of the total abundance of the community. These results make apparent the paramount importance of monitoring the dynamics of the avifauna of the Embalse La Florida and beg for further studies