Estados y transiciones en ambientes cultivados sujetos a anegamiento del centro de la Argentina

Mailén Lallement; Yésica Diaz; Esteban Jobbágy; Victoria Marchesini

doi:10.25260/EA.25.35.3.0.2526

Autores/as

Mailén Lallement Instituto de Tierras, Agua y Medio Ambiente-Facultad de Cs. Agrarias, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, CONICET. Neuquén, Argentina
Yésica Diaz Grupo de Estudios Ambientales-IMASL, Universidad Nacional de San Luis y CONICET. San Luis, Argentina https://orcid.org/0009-0008-3933-432X
Esteban Jobbágy Grupo de Estudios Ambientales-IMASL, Universidad Nacional de San Luis y CONICET. San Luis, Argentina https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4214-6011
Victoria Marchesini Swift Current Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Swift Current Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan, Canada

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25260/EA.25.35.3.0.2526

Palabras clave:

humedales, ecohidrología, cambios de estado, uso del suelo, reversibilidad

Resumen

1. En áreas anteriormente agrícolas del centro de la Argentina, los cambios en el uso del suelo han generado napas freáticas someras y exceso de agua superficial. Esto favoreció la formación de neo-ecosistemas caracterizados por anegamiento y salinización.
2. Se aplicó un modelo de estados y transiciones (MEyT) sobre imágenes LANDSAT y Sentinel-2 (2000-2023) para evaluar trayectorias, frecuencia y reversibilidad de cambios de cobertura en 293 sitios de la cuenca de El Morro (San Luis).
3. Se identificaron 9 tipos de cobertura: 6 permanentes (bosque, cultivo, humedal vegetado, humedal no vegetado, cauce vegetado y cauce no vegetado) y 3 transitorias (bosque desmontado o quemado, humedal incipiente y depósitos de sedimento).
4. El 66% de las transiciones se produjo entre 2003 y 2016, predominando aquellas hacia áreas salino-anegadas, vegetadas o no vegetadas.
5. La reversibilidad fue mínima: solo 1.4% de los cultivos y 0.7% de los bosques retornaron a su cobertura original. Prácticas como la quema o la remoción mecánica aceleraron las conversiones de cultivo hacia humedal, sin evidencia de recuperación posterior.
6. Implicancias. Se identificaron señales tempranas de degradación con baja reversibilidad (humedales no vegetados, napas <1.5 m, NDVI <0.40) que pueden orientar estrategias de manejo preventivo. Se recomienda conservar humedales incipientes, promover cultivos perennes tolerantes a la salinidad y evaluar selectivamente intervenciones de drenaje según el contexto hidrológico y el potencial de reversión observado.

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