Primer inventario de vertebrados de la reserva natural privada El Morejon, Campana, provincia de Buenos Aires

Abstract

First inventory of vertebrates in the private natural reserve El Morejon, Campana, Buenos Aires province. The knowledge of the species present in a natural protected area provides indispensable information to valorate it correctly and to plan its management. The private natural reserve El Morejon is located in Campana Department, Buenos Aires province, and 340 ha are protected, with natural and semi-natural environments in Pampas ecoregion. The reserve has several artificial lagoons, two water courses that go across it, grasslands, flood plains, sedges and forest relicts. The objective of this work was to compile an inventory of the biodiversity of vertebrates registered in the reserve over eight years of periodic surveys. A total of 243 vertebrate species were recorded: 61 fishes, 150 birds, 11 mammals, 10 reptiles and 11 amphibians. Representative species of the environments protected in the reserve were recorded, as well as threatened species such as the Long-winged Harrier (Circus buffoni), the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and the D'Orbigny's turtle (Trachemys dorbigni). The recorded biodiversity over the years turned out to be much higher than expected and these surveys allowed us to conclude that this anthropic wetlands can host numerous communities, being areas of breeding, refuge and migratory scale of fauna. In spite of the surface, proximity to urbanizations and the industrial activities that take place in the reserve surroundings, the contribution of voluntary conservation is important for their protection, especially in ecoregions scarcely represented in the federal system of protected areas.