Herons and gulls rest on the rusted ruins of the coastal city of Miramar on the shores of Mar Chiquita, Cordoba, Argentina. In the mid-1980s Mar Chiquita rose 9 m (30') and flooded the city as well as many other resorts and ranches on the shores of this inland lake. The lake has since receded, and Miramar is once again a popular tourist destination. Although high waters could return, a bigger worry for the lake is that agricultural diversions will rob the lake of water and it will dry up. The current salinity of 65 g/L produces large quantities of invertebrate prey for birds, but if salinities rise above 200 g/L abundances and species diversity will decrease greatly.



Photo: 9 April 2011
Limnology: The study of inland waters