Abstract

GUERRERO, Elián Leandro. Los talares de Zárate (provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina): Una historia de pérdidas y un futuro comprometido. Rev. Mus. Argent. Cienc. Nat. [online]. 2019, vol.21, n.1, pp.29-44. ISSN 1853-0400.

The talares from Buenos Aires province, Argentina, are xerophytic forests that bare a great biodiversity in a small area. Their lineal distribution confined to the ravines, dunes and beach ridges leads to several conservation problems. The loss of forest sectors due to human activities interrupts the forest linearity causing the isolation of talares patches. The ravines near Lima, Zárate district, were studied with the aim of surveying its flora because previous authors stated its good conservation condition. According to a previous classification of the talares based on species composition, the site is placed between the northern and the central talares, so a main objective was to know whether it can be classified as the former or the latter type. A total of 124 plants were counted, of which some relicts in retraction, species in its austral limit of distribution, rare species in the province and regional endemics are remarkable. The species composition relates the site with northern talares, which bares chacoan species. This area, despite being a suitable area for biodiversity conservation, is threatened by diverse factors. Other talares of Zárate have already been destroyed or degraded; if the Lima talares are destroyed, near reserves runs the danger of an increasing isolation. The potential of the area for the protection of threatened species and the importance of carrying out surveys in unprotected natural areas is highlighted.

Keywords : Talares; Espinal; Pampa; Biodiversity conservation; Biodiversity surveys; Relict.