What are the Natural Resources of Uruguay?

Main Uruguay's natural resources Are fauna and flora, land use, mining and hydropower.

Uruguay ranks 50th worldwide in natural resource wealth per capita and is the second smallest country in America with an extension of only 176,215 km ² (Lanzilotta and Zunino, 2015).

It is located north of the Rio Plata (Figure 1). This river drains the second largest basin in South America and flows into the Atlantic Ocean, generating an estuarine system of approximately 35 km ² With only 5 to 15 meters of water depth. (Guerrero, 1997).

The main biogeographic regions that influence the flora of the Uruguayan territory are the pampas, the paranaense and the chaqueña (Zuloaga et al., 2008). The marine domain of Uruguay is constituted by Rio de la Plata and the adjacent shelf and shares ecosystems with Brazil and Argentina. (Calliari, 2003).

Figure 1. Location of Uruguay

Plants and animals

In Uruguay, grassland vegetation predominates with an abundance of cacti and bromeliaceae; In the Chaco region of the country we can also find deciduous xerophytic forest vegetation. There are a total of 2,400 species of vascular plants, 140 species of molluscs, 226 freshwater fish, 48 amphibians, 71 reptiles, 453 birds and 114 mammals.

The diversity of Uruguayan molluscs is extensive despite being a small country. To date, 53 native species of freshwater gastropods have been recorded, 46 of terrestrial and 41 of bivalves (Clavijo, 2010).

Native mammals account for approximately 2% of global diversity and less than 8% of the richness of neo-tropical mammals. Of the total mammals 79 species of continental mammals and 31 species of cetaceans (González et al. 2013).

Reptile species are distributed in 22 families and 50 genera, representing 0.74% of the world's known reptile species and 4.5% of those recorded in South America. Some species such as yacaré ( Caiman latirostris ) Is hunted throughout the national territory; In the north of the country the local population consumes their meat (Carreira et al. 2013)

With regard to birds in Uruguay are many of the threatened species that exist in the world, for example: yellow cardinal ( Gubernatrix cristata ), The large white widow ( Heteroxolmis dominicanus ), The white breast cappuccino (Sporophila Palustris ), The gray cappino beret ( S. cinnamomea ), The Pampas loica ( Sturnella defilippii ), the Dragon ( Xanthopsar flavus ), Among others (Aldabe et al., 2013).

Among the species of fish in the country are mojarras, dientudos, tarariras, piranhas, tarpon, dorado, catfish and old water, among others. Some of them, like the tarpon, the vogue, the tararira ( Hopliass pp.) And yellow catfish ( Pimelodus maculatus ) Are a fishing resource (Loureiro et al., 2013).

In Uruguay fishermen employ simple techniques and rely on manual labor to fish. Fish productivity varies as it depends heavily on climate conditions, and the availability of fish, (Szteren, 2002).

Use of soil

In this country the primary activities represent only 8% of the country's GDP, this figure is lower compared to other countries in Latin America.

This makes it much easier for per capita income, since it is common for countries whose economy depends only on the primary sector to be poorer than those where the primary sector is not the main factor in GDP (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Comparison of the percentage of GDP from the primary sector (Y axis) and total GDP (X axis) from Uruguay and other countries. (Lanzilotta and Zunino, 2015).

Uruguay has benefited greatly from the high price of food materials since agriculture and livestock represent the main productive use that is given to the country's soil. The main agricultural products are wheat, maize and soy, in terms of livestock production the main products are beef and sheep meat. (Lanzilotta and Zunino, 2015).

However, habitat alteration and destruction due to urbanization and certain agricultural practices, such as the use of pesticides and deforestation, has been one of the main factors of species decline. (Arrieta et al., 2013).

Fertilized pastures are the main means to increase the production and export of Uruguayan cattle. The introduction of fertilized grass-legume pastures increased livestock yield around 18% between 1961 and 1975. (Lovell S. Jarvis, 1981).

Due to the effect of grazing, the Uruguayan fields tend to be formed by herbaceous vegetation with predominance of pasture and a low proportion of scrub or shrub. The original vegetation in the Uruguayan fields was the prairie grazed by native herbivores.

These were displaced by cattle that currently continue to maintain the diversity of native herbaceous species, it has been shown that if livestock is removed, herbaceous diversity tends to decrease. (Rodríguez, et al., 2003).

The forestry activity in Uruguay consists of the monoculture of exotic species ( Pinus spp. And Eucalyptus spp .). This activity affects native plants by substituting natural vegetation for forest cultivation, and vertebrate and terrestrial gastropod populations living with stony stands and prairies are also affected (Soutullo et al., 2013).

Ecotourism

Ecotourism in the country is an important activity related to the use of the natural environment, reaching a maximum of 90,000 annual tourists visiting protected areas.

In addition, since 2013, Uruguay has been part of the UNESCO-sponsored global network of geoparks, which includes two areas of the National System of Protected Areas. Although ecotourism does not represent an extractive activity of natural resources, it should be noted that the increase of these tourist areas and urbanization in general produce great environmental changes, sometimes negative, such as habitat fragmentation and disturbances in the ecosystem.

Mining and energy

Although the country is small, it has an important sector of industrial minerals. Industrial minerals include: basalt, dolomite, feldspar, gypsum, limestone, marl, quartz and sand. T

Ornamental rocks are produced, such as slabs, granite and marble. It is also a major producer of cement, building materials and semi-precious stones, such as agate and amethyst, for jewelry. (Velasco 2001)

Uruguay has no fossil fuel resources and only a small amount of hydroelectric energy so it relies on imports to meet its energy needs. Uruguay imports about 42 thousand barrels per day for consumption (Velasco 2001).

References

1. Aldabe J, E Arballo, D Caballero-Sadi, S Claramunt, J Cravino & P Rocca. (2013). Birds. Pp. 149-173, in: Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental molluscs and vascular plants. Snap / dinama / mvotma ydicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp
2. Arrieta A, C Borteiro, F Kolenc & JA Langone. (2013). Amphibians. Pp. 113-127, in: Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). Priority Species For Conservation In Uruguay. Vertebrates, Continental Molluscs And Vascular Plants. Snap / dinama / mvotmay dicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp.
3. Calliari, Danilo, Defeo, Omar, Cervetto, Guillermo, Gómez, Mónica, Giménez, Luis, Scarabino, Fabrizio, Brazeiro, Alejandro, & Norbis, Walter. (2003). Marine Life Of Uruguay: Critical Update And Priorities For Future Research. Gayana (Concepción), 67 (2), 341-370.
4. Career S, C Borteiro & A Estrades. (2013). Reptiles. Pp. 129-147, in: Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental molluscs and vascular plants. SNAP / DINAMA / MVOTMA and DICYT / MEC, Montevideo. 222 pp.
5. Clavijo Cristhian, Alvar Carranza, Fabrizio Scarabino & Alvaro Soutullo. (2010) Conservation Priorities For Uruguayan Land And Freshwater Molluscs. ISSN 0958-5079 Tentacle No. 18
6. Lanzilotta B. and G. Zunino. (2015), Uruguay + 25 Natural resources: implications for growth in Uruguay. Astur Foundation. Red Sur. P.32
7. Loureiro M, M Zarucki, I González, N Vidal & G Fabiano. 2013. Inland fish. Pp. 91-112, in: Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental molluscs and vascular plants. Snap / dinama / mvotma and dicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp.
8. Lovell S. Jarvis. (1981) Predicting the Diffusion of Improved Pastures in Uruguay. American Journal of Agricultural Economics Vol. 63, No. 3 (Aug., 1981), pp. 495-502
9. Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). 2013. Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental molluscs and vascular plants. SNAP / DINAMA / MVOTMA and DICYT / MEC, Montevideo. 222 pp.
10. Velasco, P. (2001). The Mineral Industries of Paraguay and Uruguay. Minerals Yearbook. Volume III. Area Reports: International.
11. Rodríguez, C., Leoni, E., Lezama, F. and Altesor, A. (2003), Temporal trends in species composition and plant traits in natural grasslands of Uruguay. Journal of Vegetation Science, 14: 433-440. Doi: 10.1111 / j.1654-1103.2003.tb02169.x
12. Szteren Diana Páez Enrique (2002) Predation by southern sea lions ( Otaria flavescens ) On artisanal fishing catches in Uruguay. Marine and Freshwater Research 53, 1161-1167.
13. González EM, JA Martínez-Lanfranco, E Juri, AL Rodales, G Botto & A Soutullo. 2013. Mammals. Pp. 175-207, in: Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental molluscs and vascular plants. Snap / dinama / mvotma ydicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp.
14. Guerrero, R.A., Acha, E. M., Framin, M.B., & Lasta, C. A. (1997). Physical oceanography of the Río de la Plata Estuary, Argentina. Continental Shelf Research, 17 (7), 727-742.