Abstract

GUERRERO, Elián L; AGNOLIN, Federico L  and  APODACA, Maria J. Extinción a nivel local y regional en los pastizales del noreste de la provincia de Buenos Aires (Argentina). Rev. Mus. Argent. Cienc. Nat. [online]. 2018, vol.20, n.2, pp.359-369. ISSN 1853-0400.

Habitat loss is one of the most serious processes that affect biological diversity. The grasslands of southeastern South America are one of the most affected biomes by this process due to various factors related to human activities. The objective of this work is to evaluate the loss of biodiversity in the Reserva Natural Santa Catalina as a model to visualize this process in the Pampas of southeastern South America. For this, the lists of species that currently inhabit the reserve were compared with collections and works published before 1970 to detect which ecosystem components were lost. 27 species of plants and 12 species of birds that became extinct from the locality were counted. 100% of the plants and 83% of the birds are species that grow or inhabit native grasslands. On the other hand, among these, five species of plants and two of birds have become extinct at the regional level. The vulnerability of grasslands in the region is evidenced by these values, and some factors that may have caused this loss are discussed.

Keywords : Birds; Habitat loss; Insularization; Pampas; Plants; Reserva Natural Santa Catalina.