Project: Monitoring the recovery of the Upper Delta wetland of the Paraná River after the 2020 fires. Diversity and floristic composition.

Introduction

According to the zoning established by Malvárez (1999), the area where this study is located is classified as “forests and grasslands of the river islands and meander strips of the Paraná River,” considered a complex unit from a landscape pattern perspective due to the sequences of high points, or ridges, and depressions. Willow groves are typical communities of the riverbanks and newly formed islands, as they are linked to active sedimentation of the Paraná River, occupying the levees, with the native willow ( Salix humboldtiana ) being the dominant species. Other characteristics of this type of community are that they are predominantly monospecific (Franceschi and Lewis 1979), which may indicate a response to specific environmental conditions, and the individuals are usually contemporaneous. This suggests that they likely originated under disturbed conditions and their regeneration depends on the recurrence of such events (Lewis and Franceschi 1979).

Objectives:

Changes in the diversity and floristic composition of the vegetation after the fire will be analyzed in two willow groves, one affected by the fires and the other unaffected.

very abbreviated methodology

To carry out this part of the study, a sampling of the herbaceous vegetation will be carried out in 2 × 2 m plots located in both willow groves that will be evaluated throughout the duration of the project. In each plot the species present will be recorded and their coverage will be determined. The plots will be located in the same places where the sampling of soil microbial diversity and epigeal arthropods are carried out. Twenty plots will be established in each willow grove, located regularly along a transect positioned longitudinally to the levee.

Related

Director: José Vesprini

Members: Graciela Klekailo; Ignacio Barberis; José Vesprini; Eugenio Álvarez Arnesi; Ángeles Tessore; Fernando Zanczuk; Jorgelina Asmus, Mariano Craviotto and Sofía López.

Spaces/Institutions/Academic Units: Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (UNR)

Contact

jvesprin@unr.edu.ar