Placement of fencing around a stream to prevent livestock damage and water flow restoration via removal of a dam allowed riparian and aquatic vegetation recovery (76%) in less than one month. This subsequently allowed the reintroduction of a Critically Endangered frog as well as protection of an Endangered fish species.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y MuseoConsejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnica

Arellano, María Luz

Kacoliris, Federico Pablo

Kass, Camila Alejandra

Kass, Nicolás Ariel

Quiroga, Sofía

Velasco, Melina Alicia

English

Servicio de Difusión de la Creación Intelectual

  M. L. Arellano et al./ Conservation Evidence (2017) 14, 67    67    ISSN 1758-2067  Livestock management and dam removal allowed the recovery of an aquatic habitat for endangered frog and fish species in Argentinian Patagonia  María L. Arellano11, Melina A. Velasco1, Sofía Quiroga2, Camila A. Kass1,3, Nicolas A. Kass1, Federico P. Kacoliris1  1Sección Herpetología, División Zoología de Vertebrados, CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n. La Plata (1900), Argentina. 2 Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, 122 y 60 s/n. La Plata (1900), Argentina. 3 Universidad Nacional de Chilecito. Calle 9 de Julio 22. Chilecito (5360), La Rioja, Argentina.  SUMMARY: Placement of fencing around a stream to prevent livestock damage and water flow restoration via removal of a dam allowed riparian and aquatic vegetation recovery (76%) in less than one month. This subsequently allowed the reintroduction of a Critically Endangered frog as well as protection of an Endangered fish species.   BACKGROUND: The Valcheta stream is one of the most important watercourses on the Somuncura Plateau in Argentina. It supports several endemics, such as the Critically Endangered Valcheta frog Pleurodema somuncurense, the Endangered naked characin Gymnocharacinus bergii and three species of snail: Heleobia rionegrensis, Potamolithus valchetensis and P. elenae (de Lucia & Gutiérrez, 2017). In 2009, a dam was built downstream from a spring (known locally as El Destacamento (-40° 58′, -66° 39′)). The purpose of the dam was to irrigate the land by accumulating water into the land around the stream. This led to local livestock (cattle, sheep and horses) approaching a section of the stream (around 20 m long) to drink and feed, resulting in trampling and destruction of both riparian and aquatic vegetation. The Valcheta frog was a common species at the site, last recorded five years prior to dam construction (Diminich 2006). It was not found afterwards despite several exhaustive attempts at sampling between 2013 and 2016 (Velasco et al. 2016). Since aquatic and riparian vegetation represents the main feeding and breeding habitat for the Valcheta frog, and considering the species still occurs at similar sites without dams, we assume a direct effect of the dam and livestock on the frogs’ occurrence. Aiming to reintroduce the Valcheta frog to this site and protect the current population of naked characin, we conducted habitat restoration through two actions: the exclusion of livestock, found in studies to be effective in aiding anuran conservation (e.g. Phillips et al. 2002; Knutson et al. 2004) and by restoring the original water flow in the river.  ACTION: In November 2016 we erected an enclosing wire fence of nearly 400 m2, surrounding a specific area of the river to prevent damage from livestock on aquatic and riparian vegetation. We restored the stream’s original water current by                                                           1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: mluzarellano@gmail.com    manually creating a hole the width of the original channel in the dam. To assess the degree of plant recolonisation, we measured the percentage of vegetation cover in a total of 56 sample units of 1 m2 systematically distributed along the stream, within the enclosure area. We applied a paired Student t-test to compare vegetation cover before and after interventions.  CONSEQUENCES & DISCUSSION: Riparian and aquatic vegetation showed an increase in cover (comprising mainly Hydrocotyle bonariensis and Cardamine spp.) of up to 76% in one month (Figure 1). Vegetation cover showed significant differences (p < 0.001) when comparing percentages observed before (average 5%, range 0-50%) and after both interventions (average 81%, range 10-100%). Although we did not measure it, there was also a visible increase of vegetation cover in the surrounding grassland. We visually recorded a great increase in the abundance of the snail H. rionegrensis on the site. The dam rupture restored the original width (from 5 m to 2 m), depth (from 1.5 m to 0.5 m), and water flow of the stream. We consider that the increase in vegetation covering the streams’ perimeter and a large percentage of the water offers key species both suitable breeding habitat and a refuge from predation by birds. This conservation action gives us valuable information about the potential speed of restoring this habitat to be considered in future Action Plans for other endemic species.   Figure 1. El Destacamento, before (left) and after (right) habitat restoration.   REFERENCES Diminich, M. C. (2006) Historia Natural y características de hábitat de Somuncuria somuncurensis (Anura, Leiuperidae), un anfíbio amenazado de extinción. Capital Federal, Buenos Aires (MA). Universidad de Buenos Aires, 46 p. De Lucía, M. & Gutiérrez G.D.E. (2017) The genus Potamolithus Pilsbry, 1896 (Gastropoda, Tateidae) on the Somuncurá Plateau, Patagonia, Argentina. Molluscan Research, DOI: 10.1080/13235818.2017.1279476. Velasco, M.A., Kacoliris F., Berkunsky, I., Quiroga S., & Williams, J.D. (2016) Current distributional status of the Critically Endangered Valcheta Frog: Implications for conservation. Neotropical Biology and Conservation, 1, 110-113. Phillips R.A., Patterson D. & Shimmings P. (2002) Increased use of ponds by breeding natterjack toads, Bufo calamita, following management. Herpetological Journal, 12, 75-78. Knutson M.G., Richardson W.B., Reineke D.M., Gray B.R., Parmelee J.R. & Weick S.E. (2004) Agricultural ponds support amphibian populations. Ecological Applications, 14, 669-684.    Conservation Evidence is an open access online journal devoted to publishing the evidence on the effectiveness of management interventions. The other papers from Conservation Evidence are available from www.ConservationEvidence.com. The pdf is free to circulate or add to other websites and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 

Livestock management and dam removal allowed the recovery of an aquatic habitat for endangered frog and fish species in Argentinian Patagonia

SEDICI - Repositorio de la UNLP

  
M. L. Arellano et al./ Conservation Evidence (2017) 14, 67 
 
  67 
   ISSN 1758-2067 
 
Livestock management and dam removal 
allowed the recovery of an aquatic habitat 
for endangered frog and fish species in 
Argentinian Patagonia 
 
María L. Arellano11, Melina A. Velasco1, Sofía Quiroga2, 
Camila A. Kass1,3, Nicolas A. Kass1, Federico P. Kacoliris1 
 
1Sección Herpetología, División Zoología de Vertebrados, CONICET, 
Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Calle 122 y 60 s/n. La Plata 
(1900), Argentina. 
2 Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, 122 y 60 s/n. La Plata (1900), 
Argentina. 
3 Universidad Nacional de Chilecito. Calle 9 de Julio 22. Chilecito (5360), 
La Rioja, Argentina. 
 
SUMMARY: Placement of fencing around a stream to prevent 
livestock damage and water flow restoration via removal of a 
dam allowed riparian and aquatic vegetation recovery (76%) 
in less than one month. This subsequently allowed the 
reintroduction of a Critically Endangered frog as well as 
protection of an Endangered fish species.  
 
BACKGROUND: The Valcheta stream is one of the most 
important watercourses on the Somuncura Plateau in Argentina. 
It supports several endemics, such as the Critically Endangered 
Valcheta frog Pleurodema somuncurense, the Endangered 
naked characin Gymnocharacinus bergii and three species of 
snail: Heleobia rionegrensis, Potamolithus valchetensis and P. 
elenae (de Lucia & Gutiérrez, 2017). In 2009, a dam was built 
downstream from a spring (known locally as El Destacamento 
(-40° 58′, -66° 39′)). The purpose of the dam was to irrigate the 
land by accumulating water into the land around the stream. This 
led to local livestock (cattle, sheep and horses) approaching a 
section of the stream (around 20 m long) to drink and feed, 
resulting in trampling and destruction of both riparian and 
aquatic vegetation. The Valcheta frog was a common species at 
the site, last recorded five years prior to dam construction 
(Diminich 2006). It was not found afterwards despite several 
exhaustive attempts at sampling between 2013 and 2016 
(Velasco et al. 2016). Since aquatic and riparian vegetation 
represents the main feeding and breeding habitat for the 
Valcheta frog, and considering the species still occurs at similar 
sites without dams, we assume a direct effect of the dam and 
livestock on the frogs’ occurrence. Aiming to reintroduce the 
Valcheta frog to this site and protect the current population of 
naked characin, we conducted habitat restoration through two 
actions: the exclusion of livestock, found in studies to be 
effective in aiding anuran conservation (e.g. Phillips et al. 2002; 
Knutson et al. 2004) and by restoring the original water flow in 
the river. 
 
ACTION: In November 2016 we erected an enclosing wire fence 
of nearly 400 m2, surrounding a specific area of the river to 
prevent damage from livestock on aquatic and riparian 
vegetation. We restored the stream’s original water current by 
                                                          
1 To whom correspondence should be addressed: mluzarellano@gmail.com  
 
 
manually creating a hole the width of the original channel in the 
dam. To assess the degree of plant recolonisation, we measured 
the percentage of vegetation cover in a total of 56 sample units 
of 1 m2 systematically distributed along the stream, within the 
enclosure area. We applied a paired Student t-test to compare 
vegetation cover before and after interventions. 
 
CONSEQUENCES & DISCUSSION: Riparian and aquatic 
vegetation showed an increase in cover (comprising mainly 
Hydrocotyle bonariensis and Cardamine spp.) of up to 76% in 
one month (Figure 1). Vegetation cover showed significant 
differences (p < 0.001) when comparing percentages observed 
before (average 5%, range 0-50%) and after both interventions 
(average 81%, range 10-100%). Although we did not measure 
it, there was also a visible increase of vegetation cover in the 
surrounding grassland. We visually recorded a great increase in 
the abundance of the snail H. rionegrensis on the site. The dam 
rupture restored the original width (from 5 m to 2 m), depth 
(from 1.5 m to 0.5 m), and water flow of the stream. We consider 
that the increase in vegetation covering the streams’ perimeter 
and a large percentage of the water offers key species both 
suitable breeding habitat and a refuge from predation by birds. 
This conservation action gives us valuable information about the 
potential speed of restoring this habitat to be considered in future 
Action Plans for other endemic species. 
 
 
Figure 1. El Destacamento, before (left) and after (right) habitat 
restoration.  
 
REFERENCES 
Diminich, M. C. (2006) Historia Natural y características de 
hábitat de Somuncuria somuncurensis (Anura, Leiuperidae), 
un anfíbio amenazado de extinción. Capital Federal, Buenos 
Aires (MA). Universidad de Buenos Aires, 46 p. 
De Lucía, M. & Gutiérrez G.D.E. (2017) The genus 
Potamolithus Pilsbry, 1896 (Gastropoda, Tateidae) on the 
Somuncurá Plateau, Patagonia, Argentina. Molluscan 
Research, DOI: 10.1080/13235818.2017.1279476. 
Velasco, M.A., Kacoliris F., Berkunsky, I., Quiroga S., & 
Williams, J.D. (2016) Current distributional status of the 
Critically Endangered Valcheta Frog: Implications for 
conservation. Neotropical Biology and Conservation, 1, 
110-113. 
Phillips R.A., Patterson D. & Shimmings P. (2002) Increased 
use of ponds by breeding natterjack toads, Bufo calamita, 
following management. Herpetological Journal, 12, 75-78. 
Knutson M.G., Richardson W.B., Reineke D.M., Gray B.R., 
Parmelee J.R. & Weick S.E. (2004) Agricultural ponds 
support amphibian populations. Ecological Applications, 14, 
669-684. 
 
 
 Conservation Evidence is an open access online journal devoted to publishing the evidence on the effectiveness of management interventions. The other 
papers from Conservation Evidence are available from www.ConservationEvidence.com. The pdf is free to circulate or add to other websites and is licensed 
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. 


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Livestock management and dam removal allowed the recovery of an aquatic habitat for endangered frog and fish species in Argentinian Patagonia

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