FUEDEI | https://en.fuedei.org Fundación para el Estudio de Especies Invasivas Thu, 03 Sep 2020 21:25:11 +0000 es hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.7 https://en.fuedei.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-favicon-32x32.jpg FUEDEI | https://en.fuedei.org 32 32 Plaza Ciencia https://en.fuedei.org/plaza-ciencia/ Fri, 22 May 2020 03:26:44 +0000 https://en.fuedei.org/?p=868

Plaza Ciencia

 

FuEDEI participates in Plaza Ciencia, a science fair that takes place in La Matanza Municipality every year. During the week-long fair, the aim is to illustrate the bond among science, technology, their development and relationship, and the interaction between different members of the community. The fair is for the general public and is enjoyed by teachers, students, public and private institutions.

During the fair, FuEDEI introduces the importance of invasive species and biological control to the community. By means of games and interactive activities with live plants and insects, we try to raise awareness about this discipline. FuEDEI researchers share their everyday activities with the public.

]]> Biological control of aquatic plants in the Laguna del Ojo https://en.fuedei.org/el-control-biologico-de-macrofitas-en-la-laguna-del-ojo/ Fri, 22 May 2020 03:23:11 +0000 https://en.fuedei.org/?p=864 El control biológico de macrófitas en la Laguna del Ojo

 

The Laguna del Ojo is located in the Pampean plain, San Vicente Municipality, Buenos Aires Province. Since 2009, it has been invaded by water hyacinth, endangering the lagoon’s cultural, recreational and tourist value, as well as the ecosystem services it provides as a natural reservoir of the biodiversity of the region’s lagoon system in the Pampas.

The rapid growing and coverage of water hyacinth on the lake increased from 1 to more than 25 ha in two years. This invasion directly affected society and fundamentally the biodiversity of the system. A multi-stakeholder control strategy has been launched, where the main lines of action are to investigate, in order to transfer and apply know-how and raise awareness through community engagement. The use of integrated management (biological and mechanical) consists of establishing the massive breeding of the insects.

Students and teachers of the Agrarian School No. 1 are in charge of the small mass-rearing facility, and are supervised by FuEDEI’s researchers. Insects are released in the lake in periodic activities. Biological Weed Control is now an optional subject at school, through professionalizing practices, where students not only learn concepts about environmental education but are also actors and promoters of a solution for their community and the transference of acquired knowledge. Furthermore, the project was declared of Cultural, Scientific and Legislative Interest by the Municipality of San Vicente and more recently by Buenos Aires Province authorities.

Staff:
Alejandro Sosa, Tomás Righetti, Ana Faltlhauser, Mariel Guala, Guillermo Cabrera Walsh, M. Cristina Hernández, Fernando Mc Kay, Marina Oleiro

Cooperators:
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET)
Municipalidad de San Vicente
Martin P. Hill y J. Coetzee, Rhodes Univ., Sudáfrica.

]]> Development and strengthening of capacities in educational communities regarding the management of invasive species in aquatic systems https://en.fuedei.org/development-and-strengthening-of-capacities-in-educational-communities-regarding-the-management-of-invasive-species-in-aquatic-systems/ Fri, 22 May 2020 03:15:45 +0000 https://en.fuedei.org/?p=860

Development and strengthening of capacities in educational communities regarding the management of invasive species in aquatic systems.

 

Through the Pérez-Guerrero Trust Fund for Technical and Economic Cooperation among Developing Countries, based on the Argentine, South African and Mexican experience in Biological Control and Biodiversity, the aim of this project is to train communities with the help of educational institutions as a link.

The United Nations awarded a grant to the consortium formed by FuEDEI and the Hurlingham National University, based in Hurlingham, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, to support biological control education in secondary schools. The National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM, based in Mexico City) and the Center for Biological Control at the University of Rhodes, Grahamstown, South Africa, are also participating in the initiative. The objective of the project is to organize research-based awareness workshops for participating institutions, and to prepare a manual of good practices on the preservation of aquatic/wetland systems against the threat of invasive exotic macrophytes, and the management of invasions utilizing biological control. This is an integrated proposal for research, science and community participation for the preservation of biodiversity.

 

Staff:
Alejandro Sosa, Adriana Fernández Souto y Josefina Chávez (UNAHUR), Tomás Righetti, Ana Faltlhauser, Nadia Jimenéz, Mariel Guala

Cooperators:
Adriana Fernández Souto, Universidad Nacional de Hurlingham (UNAHUR)
Martin Hill, Centre for Biological Control, Rhodes University, Grahamstwon, Sudáfrica
Kim Weaver, Centre for Biological Control, Rhodes University, Grahamstwon, Sudáfrica

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