INVESTIGADORES
LANCELOTTI julio Lucio
artículos
Título:
Fishless shallow lakes of Southern Patagonia as habitat for waterbirds at the onset of trout aquaculture
Autor/es:
LANCELOTTI JULIO LUCIO; LUCIANA MELINA POZZI; PABLO, M. YORIO; MARÍA DEL CARMEN DIÉGUEZ; MIGUEL ALBERTO PASCUAL
Revista:
AQUATIC CONSERVATION-MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS
Editorial:
JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD
Referencias:
Año: 2009 p. 497 - 505
ISSN:
1052-7613
Resumen:
1. The Strobel area, a basaltic plateau (meseta) of Patagonia (Santa Cruz Province, Argentina), holds thousands of wetlands that are prime habitat for many species of waterbirds including some considered “Near threatened”. Recently, several shallow fishless lakes of this meseta have been stocked with trout which has created uncertainty about the potential effects of this growing activity on the native assemblages. 2. The analyses were performed in order to: i- characterize and classify individual lakes of the meseta based on limnological and topographic variables, ii- analyze the association between lake type and use by aquatic birds in general and the endemic hooded grebe (Podiceps gallardoi) in particular, and iii-evaluate the potential overlap between trout aquaculture and critical habitat for waterbirds. 3. Thirty two lakes were classified by multivariate analyses in four characteristic types: turbid, high conductivity lakes (T), small vegetated lakes (SV), and larger lakes which were discriminated in either vegetated (LV) or unvegetated (LU). In general, macrophyte cover was the main classificatory variable, whereas conductivity, pH, surface, and depth had a moderate contribution. In particular, large vegetated lakes showed up to be important for waterbird species in general and as critical habitat for hooded grebe. Meanwhile, trout aquaculturist largely favored large unvegetated lakes, but some large vegetated lakes have been stocked as well, indicating a level of geographical overlap between waterbird habitat and trout farming. 4. The existence of some level of spatial segregation between production and critical waterbird habitat affords opportunities for designing a spatially-based management for trout aquaculture.