Argentina lies within the southernmost distributional range of five neotropical primates, the brown howler monkey Alouatta guariba, the black-and-gold howler monkey Alouatta caraya, the black-horned capuchin Sapajus nigritus, the Azara’s capuchin Sapajus cay, and the Azara’s owl monkey Aotus azarae; the first three of which are globally threatened. These species occupy different ecoregions: the Alto Paraná Atlantic forest, the Araucaria moist forest, the humid Chaco, the Southern Cone Mesopotamian savanna, the Paraná Ffooded savanna, and the Southern Andean Yungas. The recently approved National Primate Conservation Plan of Argentina calls for identifying priority areas to focus conservation actions for these species. We used species distribution models to estimate species ranges and then used the Zonation software to perform a spatial conservation prioritization analysis based on primate habitat quality and connectivity to identify potential areas of importance at national and ecoregional levels. Only 7.2% (19,500 km2) of the area inhabited by primates in Argentina is under protection. Outside the current protected areas, the top-ranked 1% and 5% priority areas identified in our analysis covered 1894 and 7574 km2, respectively. The top 1% areas were in the Atlantic forest of Misiones province, where S. nigritus, A. guariba, and A. caraya are distributed, and in the humid portion of eastern Chaco and Formosa provinces, where A. azarae and A. caraya are present. The top 5% areas included portions of the Yungas, where S. cay is the only primate present. Priority areas in Chaco and Formosa provinces are particularly relevant because of the paucity of protected areas and the high deforestation rate. The endangered A. guariba population will benefit from the better protection of the priority areas of Misiones. The potential priority areas proposed herein, considered within a context of a broad participatory process involving relevant stakeholders and local people, will help guide new and innovative conservation policies and practices while supporting management objectives.

<p>Los Sensores Remotos se han convertido en los últimos tiempos en una herramienta importante para la planificación territorial, debido a la originalidad metodológica con la cual operan y el amplio espectro de observación de la superficie terrestre. El número de algoritmos disponibles en la literatura científica, permiten tratar individualmente muchas de las coberturas terrestres y caracterizarlas en base a su comportamiento espectral.<br />En el presente trabajo se han aplicado dos métodos de clasificación de imágenes: árboles de decisión o reglas y clasificación no supervisada. También se han calculado índices de vegetación y de agua (NDVI y MNDWI), para identificar las coberturas y generar cartografía temática que sirva como base para posteriores estudios. Además, se ha elaborado la matriz de confusión con el fin de determinar la validez de la clasificación obtenida.<br />Como resultado, se han obtenidos coberturas de vegetación, urbano, cursos y cuerpos de agua, clasificados a partir de técnicas oportunamente mencionadas, que brindan una fiabilidad global del orden del 61%, y si se consideran de manera individual (urbano y cuerpos y cursos de agua), las mismas alcanzan una precisión superior al 70%.</p>

In ecosystems with grassland‐forest boundaries, tree plantations could be used to promote forest restoration. In the Humid Chaco region of central South America, fire is one of the main disturbances that shapes the landscape. As eucalypt plantations are flammable, the contribution they can make to forest restoration is questionable. We planted saplings of five native tree species in three different environments (forests, grasslands, and eucalypt plantations) and assessed microclimatic conditions likely to influence sapling survival and growth. After 1 year, accidental fires that affected much of the study area allowed us to investigate the susceptibility of different environments to fire occurrence and post‐fire sapling survival. We planted 600 saplings in four plots per environment. We evaluated fire occurrence in the study area for 2 years and ask whether this factor affects sapling survival. In grasslands, microclimatic conditions were more extreme than in plantations. Plantations and forests showed high pre‐fire sapling survival but growth was almost double in plantations, similar to grasslands for most species. In the study area, fire frequency was similar in plantations and grasslands, whereas forests plots never burnt during the 2‐year study period. Fire reduced sapling survival in plantations, but not in grasslands where survival was low and similar in burned and unburned plots. For top‐killed plants, post‐fire resprouting ability was species‐specific. While more firm conclusions await future studies with even larger sample sizes, our results indicate that fire management may be necessary in order to use eucalypt plantations as nurses in this fire‐prone ecosystem.