Dendroecology in the Argentinean pampas: past and present research and future challenges

Abstract

Dussart, E., Medina, A., Bogino, S. 2015. Dendroecology in the Argentinean pampas: past and present research and future challenges. Ecosistemas 24(2): 51-59. Doi.: 10.7818/ECOS.2015.24-2.08.

The pampa is considered as the most characteristic Argentinean landscape and the cradle of its agricultural and cattle breeding potential. This area is commonly described as a huge plain without trees, although its semiarid southwestern borders are covered over 25 000 km² by xerophytes woodlands dominated by caldén (Prosopis caldenia Burkart, Fabaceae). Indeed, the first dendrochronological study in South America was made on this specie in 1931, in the attempt to characterize the climate in this by then recent agricultural frontier. The hazards of the Argentine forest science history made it impossible to continue with these investigations until to the 1990s, with much more appropriate scientific and methodological tools. Besides climate reconstruction, the modern insights focused on the dynamics of these forests and the impact of the main disturbances as fire, logging, cattle breeding, water table increase and flooding on their growth and development. Future challenges for this useful technique are linked to the elaboration of proper forest management practices in this area of the Argentinean pampas.