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Pampa de las Lagunas
About the Project
The Pampa de las Lagunas is the most important endorheic wetland system in the Province of Santa Fe, Argentina. The region encompasses approximately 750,000 hectares and includes around 40 major lakes and numerous temporary wetlands embedded within an intensely modified agricultural landscape.
These wetlands function as biodiversity hotspots at multiple scales:
Local and regional scale: high-diversity ecological patches within a productive agricultural matrix, sustaining ecological processes that would otherwise be lost in heavily transformed landscapes.
Continental scale: key habitats for resident and migratory waterbirds, including vulnerable High Andean flamingos such as Phoenicoparrus andinus and Phoenicoparrus jamesi.
Beyond their biodiversity value, the Pampa de las Lagunas wetlands provide essential ecosystem services, including water regulation, nutrient cycling, soil salinity buffering, carbon storage, and support for regional livestock production systems. As endorheic basins, they are highly sensitive to hydrological shifts, land-use change, and climatic variability, making them natural sentinels of environmental change in the southern Pampas.
The project is conceived as a long-term, interdisciplinary research and conservation programme, supported by multiple funding initiatives and institutional collaborations across the Province of Santa Fe. It integrates ecological research, environmental monitoring, spatial analysis, and conservation planning to generate robust scientific evidence for sustainable territorial management.
Objetive
To generate an integrated and interdisciplinary assessment of the conservation status, biodiversity patterns, ecological processes, and environmental drivers shaping the Pampa de las Lagunas wetland system, providing a scientific foundation for Conservation Actions, Sustainable Management Plans, and evidence-based decision-making.
Working Groups
1.- Integrated Field Monitoring
1.- Integrated Field Monitoring
Seasonal field campaigns across ~30 wetlands assess water quality and ecosystem condition. Measurements include salinity, nutrients, turbidity, and ionic composition, alongside hydrological connectivity. This integrated approach provides a standardized ecological snapshot of lagoon dynamics under contrasting seasonal conditions.
2.- Flamingo & Waterbird Monitoring
2.- Flamingo & Waterbird Monitoring
We monitor abundance, distribution, and seasonal dynamics of flamingos and aquatic birds, with emphasis on vulnerable High Andean species such as Phoenicoparrus andinus and Phoenicoparrus jamesi.
4.- Microbial Monitoring
4.- Microbial Monitoring
This group characterizes microbial communities driving biogeochemical processes using integrated approaches, including microscopy, flow cytometry, and molecular analyses. We assess plankton composition, cyanobacterial presence, and microbial diversity, linking cellular structure and genetic data to ecosystem functioning.
5.- Land Use Change Analysis
5.- Land Use Change Analysis
Satellite imagery and field validation quantify land-use change, hydrological alteration, and wetland surface dynamics over time. Updated cartography identifies environmental pressures and supports evidence-based territorial planning, providing spatial tools for conservation strategies and sustainable management.
Supported by: IICAR–CONICET–UNR, INALI–CONICET–UNL, and the Ministry of Envi. & Climate Change of Santa Fe Province (Argentina)
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