Search

Background and aims: Mountains hold a large portion of global biodiversity and provide important benefits to humans. With the aim of providing a key tool for the sustainable management of Córdoba mountain ecosystems, we present an exhaustive list of vascular plants and their altitudinal ranges. M&M: We compiled 669 complete floristic surveys and 1178 partial surveys performed from 2005 to 2020. Results: We record 1069 plant species: 147 non-native, 143 endemic to Argentina, 25 endemic to Córdoba and San Luis and 19 endemic to Córdoba. Most species had their median elevation below 1000 masl. Species turnover up to 1250 masl is slow, but from this elevation onwards it begins to accelerate, and continues in a similar way up to the highest end of the gradient. Out of all recorded species, 46 % are recognized as medicinal, of which, 79 are non-natives, 36 are endemic to Argentina, two are endemic to Córdoba and San Luis and two are exclusive of Córdoba. Conclusions: The list includes 60% of the species cited for Córdoba province and 65.5% of the medicinal flora recorded for this province. The upper end of the mountains, which represents less than 10% of the area, concentrates the highest proportion and diversity of endemic species in central Argentina. Our results show the importance of these mountains for the conservation and sustainable management of Córdoba biodiversity, and represent a baseline for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Biodiversity information of protected areas is essential to develop management and conservation strategies. Here we 1) evaluate the number of records of plant and vertebrate species of National Parks (NP) from Argentina based on the species richness of the province where each NP is located, 2) analyze possible explanatory variables of the number of records in each NP, and 3) describe the vegetation registered in three iconic NPs of the country. M&M: The records of vascular plants and vertebrates, the characteristics of each NP and the species richness of the province where each NP is located were obtained from open access databases. For Calilegua, Iguazú and Nahuel Huapi NPs we describe the number of plants according to family, origin, endemism, life form, IUCN categorization and invasiveness of non-native species. Results: All NPs showed great variability in their records. There were few records of non-native species. Older NPs had more non-native plants records. The list of plants of Nahuel Huapi NP showed more records than Calilegua and Iguazú. The number of plants categorized by IUCN was very low. Almost all recorded non-native plants were invasive elsewhere in the world. Conclusions: We emphasize the importance of increasing the survey of species in all NP, particularly vascular plants and in recently created NPs. Special attention must be given to non-native species in order to avoid socio-ecological problems associated with biological invasions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]