Aquatic Insects of Nahuel Huapi National Park

Inventory of freshwater insects

Sorting specimens, collected during field season 2007/2008, to major groups has been completed by the three Darwin Initiative staff at the Biodiversity Laboratory in Bariloche. All material has been sent to the project partners for specialist identification. Identified material has been incorporated into the reference collections at UNLP where it is stored in cabinets purchased by the project. The third and final fieldwork campaign in the south of NHNP was completed between November 2008 and March 2009. All regions of NHNP have now been sampled using a standard sampling protocol agreed at the beginning of the project. During the field season samples were collected from 125 sites across a range of wetland types in the southern part of NHNP by the Darwin Initiative staff and also by project partners from Argentina and NHM who visited NHNP. Approximately 400 man-days were spent sampling during this field season. In addition to collecting specimens into 80% ethanol for standard taxonomic research, subsamples were also collected into 100% ethanol for DNA analysis. Databasing of localities visited and specimens collected during the 2007/2008 fieldwork season has been completed.

Identification guides

A second non-specialist leaflet on freshwater insects of NHNP has been published and is available at interpretation centres around NHNP and has also been sent to local schools. In addition we have produced a poster and a 2009 calendar on wetlands and freshwater insects which are on display around NHNP and are available for purchase by visitors to NHNP (see Annex 6). Project partners have continued to produce specialist keys, checklists and taxonomic works during the year and a non-specialist field guide to freshwater insects of Patagonia is currently in an advanced stage of development. We expect to complete this before the end of the project

Equip field station

The Puerto Blest field station, which has been equipped and furnished by the project, continues to be in high demand and is regularly visited by student groups, particularly from UNC. A booking system is now in operation. UNC has purchased additional furniture for the field station. This investment by UNC into the field station would never have happened had the Darwin Initiative not first put resources into the field station to make it viable. For the second year, the field station has also been used by an international workshop on tree ring analysis. The international Southern Connections conference in 2010 has booked the field station for a field excursion for delegates.

Training courses

Darwin Initiative staff members have maintained contacts with local Bariloche schools. A workshop for 10-year old children was held in March 2009. Contacts have now been made with three schools in the Bariloche area. Most schools in Bariloche are private but we been focussing our efforts by targeting schools in poor areas of the town. A series of six guided tours, focussing on freshwater insects and wetland habitats, close to Puerto Blest were held by Pessacq for touristic visitors to NHNP. Following these tours a number of volunteers came forward to assist in the Biodiversity Laboratory.

Local people, who had previously met project staff while they were sampling at Lake Mascardi, contacted APN when they saw a large amount of foam accumulating on the lakeside. Darwin assistants met locals, sampled and analysed the foam, and later explained that this was a harmless biofoam generated by strong winds and wave action. However, this illustrates increasing awareness about wetland pollution that the project has generated amongst local people who previously had little consciousness of wetland conservation issues.

As a result of our activities a local commercial rafting company has become enthusiastically involved in biomonitoring and now explain the importance of wetland conservation to tourists

Freshwater insect collections

Curation, storage and databasing of specimens collected during the project continues according to agreed protocols and standards. Specialists are currently working on specimens collected during the first two field seasons. Much of the material collected and processed during 2006/2007 and some from 2007/2008 has been deposited in the reference collections at UNLP. Material collected during 2008/2009 is currently being sorted at the Biodiversity Laboratory in Bariloche and at ILPLA. Material is being prepared for shipping to NHM before September 2009.

GIS

Considerable progress has been made on the GIS aspects of the project during the year. This is despite a set back in May 2008 when Malcolm Penn’s field visit to NHNP had to be cancelled because no flights were available from Buenos Aires to Bariloche due to a volcanic eruption. However, Penn was able to complete a successful visit in February 2009. The GIS Research has continued to improve the accuracy of a newly derived vegetation classification for NHNP. Satellite imagery (Landsat 7 TM – 15m resolution) was used as a basis for the work. The vegetation classification was based on principal components analysis and on both a non-supervised cluster classification and a supervised Maximum Likelihood Classifier. A total of 27 vegetation classes have been defined geographically, structurally and spectrally and, where possible, classes have been compared to earlier classifications and field-based observations. Recent work has helped to assess and refine the classification by systematically collecting and including ground-truthing data. In February 2009, 70 sites throughout NHNP were visited. At each site an accurate GPS location was taken and an assessment of the vegetation was made. This assessment included the altitude of the location, a categorisation of each vegetation assemblage, dominate species cover and forest height (where appropriate). To aid identifications, video footage of each location was taken, as well a photos and the size of the patch was noted.This information has now been downloaded and integrated into a GIS, where the spatial coverage of the sampling can be seen, and an assessment of each recorded class is being conducted.