USGS scientists Adrian Farmer, Gary Landis, and Robert
Rye visited Argentina during January 2001 to work with Argentine scientists
in developing a research project evaluating the use of stable isotopes
for shorebirds that spend the non-breeding season in Argentina. The first
week of this visit was spent in the province of La Pampa working with
Mariano Fernández, a student at Universidad Nacional de La Pampa,
and Gustavo Siegenthaler, Director of the Museo de Historia Nacional de
La Pampa. The group visited a range of wetland types, from small freshwater
wetlands to larger saline lakes, in order to better assess hydrologic
components of the study.
During the second week, the USGS team visited the province of Córdoba, including Laguna Mar Chiquita, a large saline lake that has been designated a shorebird reserve of “hemispheric importance" by the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network. Pablo Michelutti, the guardafauna or manager of the Reserve, spent three days with the group visiting heavily used shorebird sites around the Laguna. On the last day of the field visit, several White-rumped Sandpipers (Calidris fuscicollis) were captured in mist nets, banded and released. Flight feathers obtained from these birds, compared to those from La Pampa (provided by the Museo de Historia Nacional) and from Tierra del Fuego (provided by Patricia González of Fundación Inalafquen), show distinct isotopic signatures between the sites—a promising preliminary result.
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(Left to right) Bob Rye, Gary Landis, and Pablo Michelutti at Laguna Mar Chiquita. |
Bob Rye (left) and UNLP student MarioFernandez look for shorebirds in La Pampa. |
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.fort.usgs.gov/resources/spotlight/shorebird_isotopes/isotopes_fieldwork.asp
Page Contact Information: AskFORT@usgs.gov
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