The Reserva Provincial La Payunia () also known as Payún or Payén is a

natural reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologi ...

located in the

Malargüe Department Malargüe is a Departments of Argentina, department located in the south west of Mendoza Province in Argentina. Its borders are San Rafael Department, San Rafael in the north, La Pampa Province in the east, Neuquén Province in the south and Chil ...

in the southern part of

Mendoza Province Mendoza (), officially the Province of Mendoza, is a province of Argentina, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region. It borders San Juan to the north, La Pampa and Neuquén to the south, San Luis to the east, and the r ...

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, about 160 km away from Malargüe city. It was declared as nature preserve in 1988 and has an area of 4,500 km². La Payunia is home to the many

volcanic cones Volcanic cones are among the simplest volcanic landforms. They are built by ejecta from a volcanic vent, piling up around the vent in the shape of a cone with a central crater. Volcanic cones are of different types, depending upon the nature and s ...

, being noteworthy the Payún Matrú volcano.

Biodiversity

*Flora: The flora is represented by

matorral 300px, Springtime in Santiago.html" ;"title="Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago">Chilean matorral a few kilometers north of Santiago along the Pan-American Highway Matorral is a Spanish language, Spanish word, along with ''tomil ...

es,

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

s, native mountain species and other typical

patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

plants Plants are the eukaryotes that form the kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria to produce sugars f ...

such as '' Adesmia pinifolia'', '' Festuca pallescens'', '' Grindelia chiloensis'', '' Ephedra ochreata miers'', '' Neosparton ephedroides grisebach'', '' Psila spartioides'', '' Prosopis denudans'' (between 500 and 1,300 m

AMSL Height above mean sea level is a measure of a location's vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) in reference to a vertical datum based on a historic mean sea level. In geodesy, it is formalized as orthometric height. The zero level v ...

) and '' Schinus poligamun'' and '' Larrea nítida cavanilles'' (between 1,800 and 2,850 m AMSL). *Fauna: Over 70 animal

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

have been documented on the reserve. Common bird species include the Andean condor ''

Vultur gryphus The Andean condor (''Vultur gryphus'') is a South American New World vulture and is the only member of the genus ''Vultur''. It is found in the Andes mountains and adjacent Pacific coasts of western South America. With a maximum wingspan of and ...

'', Darwin's rhea '' Rhea pennata'', and flamingo. Reptiles include venomous snakes such as the Patagonian pit viper '' Bothrops ammodytoides'' and crossed pit viper ''

Bothrops alternatus ''Bothrops alternatus'', known by the common names crossed pit viper''U.S. Navy. 1991. ''Poisonous Snakes of the World''. US Govt. New York: Dover Publications Inc. 203 pp. .'', yarará grande, and urutu,Campbell JA, Lamar WW. 2004. ''The Venomo ...

''. Predators include the mountain lion ''

Puma concolor The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, '' KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North, Central and South America, making it the most widely distributed wil ...

'', South American gray fox '' Pseudalopex griseus'', culpeo fox ''

Lycalopex culpaeus The culpeo (''Lycalopex culpaeus''), also known as Culpeo zorro, Andean zorro, Andean fox, Paramo wolf, Andean wolf,Comparative ecology of two South American foxes, 'Dusicvon ariseus' and 'Culpaeus' by Warren E. Johnson. Doctoral dissertation. Io ...

'' and pampas cat Leopardus pajeros. Other mammals include a large rodent, the plains viscacha Lagostomus maximus, and the largest native animal on the reserve, the guanaco ''

Lama guanicoe The guanaco ( ; ''Lama guanicoe'') is a camelid native to South America, closely related to the llama. Guanacos are one of two wild South American camelids; the other species is the vicuña, which lives at higher elevations. Etymology The gua ...

''. A cooperative of around 20 families, Cooperativa Payun Matru, live on the reserve. They round up the wild guanaco every year and shear the animals for their fur.Cooperativa Payun Matru, http://www.payunmatru.com/project.html The annual round up is monitored by the

Wildlife Conservation Society The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) is a global 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization, headquartered at the Bronx Zoo in New York City, with a mission to save "wildlife and wild places across the globe". Founded in ...

, and wool and yarn are exported abroad.

Geography

The area is covered by many small

volcanoes A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

, and the biggest are Payún Matrú,

Payún Liso The Reserva Provincial La Payunia () also known as Payún or Payén is a natural reserve located in the Malargüe Department in the southern part of Mendoza Province, Argentina, about 160 km away from Malargüe, Malargüe city. It was declare ...

and Santa María.

Volcanic ash Volcanic ash consists of fragments of rock, mineral crystals, and volcanic glass, produced during volcanic eruptions and measuring less than 2 mm (0.079 inches) in diameter. The term volcanic ash is also often loosely used to r ...

forms a black terrain known as ''Pampas Negras'' (Spanish: ''Black

Pampas The Pampas (; from Quechua 'plain'), also known as the Pampas Plain, are fertile South American low grasslands that cover more than and include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, Entre Ríos, and Córdoba; all o ...

''). The Grande River flows in the zone across

volcanic rocks Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and met ...

cracks.

References

External links

Volcanes de Reserva
at Página/12
La Payunia description and video

Accesses

{{DEFAULTSORT:Payunia Protected areas of Mendoza Province Nature reserves in Argentina