Santa Fe, Argentina

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Symbiotic Relationships 

1.  Anisakides larvae and the pejerrey Odontesthes bonariensis fish. This is a parasite/host relationship.

 

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0100-36X2006000400004&script=sci_arttext

 

2. Mycorrhizal fungi and wheat plants. This a mutalistic relationship.

www.columbia.edu

In Argentina 77 percent of the population lives beside rivers in the River Plate basin formed by the Paraná, Paraguay and Uruguay rivers.
 

Just northeast of Santa Fé is the wet Chaco habitat. The wet Chaco consists of small patches of gallery forest growing by rivers and lakes; savannah grasslands, caranday palms, scrub woodland and wetland environments. The key tree species is the quebracho colorado chaqueño. Guebracho means axe-breaker in Spanish. This tree can reach heights of 24m and live as longs as 300 to 500 years.  On the savannahs, the caranday palms grow alone or in small groups. These palms are up to 15m in height. They are extremely resilient, surviving both periodic flooding and the regular burning of the grasslands in order to stimulate the growth of new shoots for cattle pasture.

 

 

In this area, you will also found a type of wetland swamps. These swampy areas are often full of the camalote. The camalote is a water lily with a lilac flower scent. Another type of water lily you’ll is the flor de Irupé, whose name comes from the Guaraní word for "plate on the water".  

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Near Santa Fe is the Humid Pampas region. It is probably the most famous territory of Argentina The word Pampas is from the Quechua language. It means "a plain without trees". This certainly describes the Humid Pampas region, where the land is flat and covered in grass.  

The Humid Pampas regions covers Buenos Aires, La Pampa and parts of Santa Fe and Cordoba, its varied environments include forested hills, extensive grasslands and salt lakes. 

 

Long the Pampas region, you will find the Parque National Lihué Calel. Here you may see the puma and many guanaco, rhea, native hares and a variety of wild chinchilla called a vizcacha. 

 

Man has also found lots of crops can grow in this area. You will see large fields of alfalfa, sorghum, wheat, maize and sunflowers.
 

ECO ADVENTURE TRIP - Here is a cool link for adventure!!!!www.earthfoot.org/places/ar002.htm
 
A Cayman-Protection Ecotour
in The Santa Fe Wetlands

Caymans galoreHost: Alejandro Larriera

When: Anytime, though specific activities may depend on time of year

Length of stay: 5 to 15 days according preferences and possibilities

Preferred number of guests: two to four

Fee:

  • One person: $ 110 US a day.
  • Two persons: $ 100 US a day.
  • Three persons: $ 95 US a day.
  • Four persons: $ 90 a day.
These prices are "all inclusive" with: Air conditioned accommodation, food prepared according to preferences, drinks, fieldtrips, horserides, boatrides, airboat rides and walks into the forest, airport transfer in Santa Fe, T-shirts, photos, video and books for memories.

ECOTOURISM WITH PROYECTO YACARE:
captured cayman Our project is known as "Proyecto Yacare." We offer to small groups interested in knowing the wild wetlands of Santa Fe province in Argentina the possibility of actively participating with our team in our fieldwork.

How we work:
According the season you decide to come, you'll be able to assist hatchlings to hatch; safely capture, handle and release wild caymans for our scientist program, or just experience our wetlands. The accommodation place it is located in a ZOO which is actually a breeding station and the most complete collection of wild fauna from South America (pampas deer, pumas, jaguar, flamingos, capybaras, and much more). The fieldtrips vary from 100 to 250 kilometer of Santa Fe City. For overnight fieldtrips comfortableaccommodation is also provided at the cattle ranch "Estancias". There is no extra charge for any item.

SEASONAL ACTIVITIES:
Harvest of eggs: (Between January 10th to February 25th)
The trip usually depart from Santa Fe in the morning and takes between 3 to 5 hours to get to the cattle ranches in the north of the province (we do work in about 20 different places). Once the team arrives to the field, the cattle ranch employers ("gauchos"), prepare the horses and guide us into the forest, looking for marked nests. Every nest is collected bt the people of the team, and the eggs in the plastic containers are carried on horses.

readying the horses Horseback trips take between 2 to 7 hours depending the place and the condition of the participants. Anyway, it is possible to handle intermediate duration of the trip, leaving some people in resting areas, meantime the others can keep working.

This work usually involves the capture of a few adult females when they are found close to the nest. The animals are measured, marked and released.

Regularly, the team overnights at the big, old, clean and comfortable country houses of the cattle ranches. The day after, in the morning the team harvests more nests and after noon departs to Santa Fe in order to put the eggs in the artificial incubator. This is the heaviest work of the project and requires a good physical fitness because the temperatures in the field could rise to 42°C (108° F) during the day, and the humidity is about 80%.

night-capture

Night Counts: From October till April
airboat Night count trips depart afternoon from Santa Fe to the same cattle ranches of the harvesting work. The counts start after 9.00 PM and take between 2 to 4 hours (depending the place). Counts are carried out with high power lights from airboats, canoes or horses. This work usually involves the capture of a few animals in order to identify if they are wild or released, and to mark and measure them. Sometimes, blood samples are taken.

This trip usually require overnight at the cattle ranches. Even though the temperatures during the day could be high, all the work is carried out at night time which is OK. The only problem could be the mosquitoes but the team uses good repellents and besides, the region is free from malaria and dengue diseases.

Hatching moment: (Middle of February to middle of March)
All this work is carried out at the Santa Fe station. Every day the incubator (with about 8,000 eggs) is checked and when a nest is about to hatch (we know because of the sound that the hatchlings produce), all the eggs of that nest are moved to the hatch room. After one day there, all the hatchlings that did not break the egg by themselves are helped by the people of the team, as the female actually does in the wild. Regularly, once that the hatching season starts, every day we have between 100 to 300 new caymans in the station. Before location at the rearing pools, the hatchlings are measured, weighted and marked. This is an easy work and actually the incubator is quite close (50 meters) to the accommodation place where the visitors stay.

Routine measurements: (All the year)
Every month, the animals at the rearing pools are captured for measuring, and blood sampling.

Routine trips to the field: (From April to October)
This trips involves a visit to cattle ranch owners and interviews with the employers, looking for new working places in the next season. The exploration of the new places, usually requires horseback rides. This trips regularly takes two days, but the weather conditions are very good, with temperatures of between 10°C. to 22°C. This is also a very good moment for viewing many different species of wild animals.

Biology Period 6