We examined the impacts of possible future land development patterns on the biodiversity of a landscape. Our landscape data included a remote sensing derived map of the current habitat of the study area and six maps of future habitat distributions resulting from different land development scenarios. Our species data included lists of all bird, mammal, reptile, and amphibian species in the study area, their habitat associations, and area requirements for each. We estimated the area requirements using home ranges, sampled population densities, or genetic area requirements that incorporate dispersal distances. Our measures of biodiversity were species richness and habitat abundance. We calculated habitat abundance in two ways. First, we computed the total habitat area for each species in each landscape. Second, we calculated the number of habitat units for each species in each landscape by dividing the size of each habitat patch in the landscape by the area requirement and summing over all patches. Species richness was based on presence of habitat. Species became extinct in the landscape if they had no habitat area or no habitat units, respectively. We then computed ratios of habitat abundance in each future landscape to habitat abundance in the present for each species. We also computed the ratio of future to present species richness. We then calculated summary statistics across all species. Species richness changed little from present to future. There were distinctly greater risks to habitat abundance in landscapes that extrapolated from present trends or zoning patterns, however, as opposed to landscapes in which land development activities followed more constrained patterns. These results were stable when tested using Monte Carlo simulations and sensitivity tests on the area requirements. We conclude that this methodology can begin to discriminate the effects of potential changes in land development on vertebrate biodiversity.

This study assesses the change in fish exploitation patterns of the sábalo fisheries of the lower Paraná River basin based on hydrological, biological, and fishery indicators. From historical catch records, we recorded a shift from a lightly and moderate exploited status before 2001 to a heavily exploited one, as a result of the development of sábalo exports from 2001 onwards.Channel and floodplain connectivity indices demonstrated that the Paraná exhibited highly favorable hydrological conditions between 1972 and 1999 but more adverse conditions from 1999 to 2009, as a consequence of flood pulses reduction coincident with a fishing mortality increment. A total catch of 15,000 tons, including local consumption, regional market, informal sales, and exportation volumes, was estimated as the maximum sustainable catch. That level was instead exceeded 3 fold in 2004, in parallel with a decrease in the mean fish length from 48 to 42 cm, along with a reduction in both the mesh size from 16 to 12 cm and megaspawner proportion, and an increase of fishing mortality. Although growth overfishing was not noted, an analysis of the spawning potential ratio trend indicated that recruitment overfishing took place during 2005, since the fishing mortality rate was 4 times greater than the natural mortality rate. These observations suggest that less favorable hydrological conditions after 1999 coupled with a coincident high fishing pressure could have impacted the sábalo population biomass. Management of sábalo fisheries requires to set aside a single economic vision of the resource use moving to an ecosystem-oriented approach that incorporate, among others components, the hydrological regime, species life history traits, fishing impacts on other species, and main stakeholders socioeconomic requirements as key elements for the preservation of fishery sustainability.Este estudio evalúa el cambio en los patrones de explotación de las pesquerías de sábalo (Prochilodus lineatus) en la baja cuenca del río Paraná basado en indicadores hidrológicos, biológicos y pesqueros. A partir de registros históricos de capturas se notó un desplazamiento de un estado de explotación ligera o moderada previa a 2001 a otro de explotación intensiva como resultado del desarrollo de una pesquería para exportación a partir de ese año. Los índices de conectividad hidrológica demostraron que el Paraná exhibió condiciones muy favorables para el sábalo entre 1972 y 1999, pero más adversas entre 1999 y 2009 al reducirse el caudal, que coincidió con un aumento en la mortalidad por pesca. Se estimó en 15.000 toneladas la captura máxima sostenible, incluyendo tanto la destinada al consumo local, venta informal y en mercados regionales, como la asignada a exportación. Este nivel, sin embargo, se triplicó en 2004, siendo acompañado por una disminución de la talla media y máxima de captura de 48 a 42 cm y de 64 a 58 cm respectivamente, una reducción de abertura de malla de 16 a 12 cm y un descenso en la proporción de megareproductores. Aun cuando no se detectó sobrepe...

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This study documents the presence of Cyprinus carpio in 119 natural environments and 49 artificial habitats in Argentina, showing an exponential increment of invaded locations over time since it was introduced in the nineteenth century. Geographic expansion patterns revealed that since its initial introduction, species records demonstrate an increment in the central portion of the country only after 1970 and subsequent expansion after 1990 to the north, west and south. Using an environmental similarity index it was determined that more than half the country offers good conditions for C. carpio establishment. Environmental factors and anthropogenic impacts are relevant drivers that can account for the current and future distribution of C. carpio in Argentina.

ABSTRACT. We generated a map of wetlands in Argentina from the digital edition of the National Soil Inventory made by the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, INTA). Potential wetland areas were extracted from the map after an exhaustive analysis of the database and reassignment of the soil classes, by taking into account 1) soil taxonomic classes; 2) constraining factors (waterlogging, flooding, drainage impairment); and 3) cartographic categories, including lakes, lagoons, marshes and salt lakes. Estimated wetland area is about 600,000 km 2 , representing 21.5% of the national territory; it increases to 23% when considering salt lakes and deepwater bodies, but their surface is underestimated in the INTA database. Finally, we analyzed the distribution and abundance of wetland areas from different eco-regions of Argentina, and compared our results with current global wetland databases.