[From left to right: VR Cueto, GI Pirk, B Nobúa Behrmann, RG Pol (w/ R González del Solar),
FA Milesi, GL Paoletti, MC Sagario, AM Mangione, S Camin, J Lopez de Casenave, JM Ríos,
L Marone, A Astié, C Guerra Navarro, MdM Beaumont Fantozzi and F di Pasquo.]

Characteristics of the group

ECODES was created and has its historical headquarters at the Plant Ecophysiology Department of the Argentine Institute for Arid Zones Research (IADIZA), in the city of Mendoza. However, it currently works as a group with two headquarters: IADIZA and the Department of Ecology, Genetics & Evolution of Faculty of Exact and Natural Sciences, University of Buenos Aires, in the city of Buenos Aires. Research projects and undergraduate and graduate theses are carried out in both academic units, which provide with the necessary structure to perform office tasks as well as laboratory work.

ECODES is a group with independent research lines, yet highly interactive. Individual projects, such as undergraduate and graduate theses, are integrated so as to answer questions at different scales (e.g., biology and behaviour of granivorous birds and ants, feeding ecology of granivorous animals, animal-plant relationships in a community context, epistemology and methodology of ecology). The epistemological basis of the projects promotes the development of plausible explanations (with rational and empirical support) to achieve reliable predictions about desert ecosystems dynamics.

Research interests

The community ecology theory, the philosophical reflection and epistemology propel the development of ECODES' research projects. To achieve our objectives we have a high appreciation of the knowledge of the natural history and the structure of desert systems.

History of the group

The starting point of ECODES' investigations was promoted by a fund awarded by UNESCO in 1993 (MAB Young Scientists Research Grant Scheme). The aim of that project was to begin with the studies on granivory by birds in the central Monte desert. The fieldwork in Ñacuñán began in May 1993, together with the creation of ECODES.

Contact

Luis Marone
Ecodes. Argentine Institute for Arid Zones Research (IADIZA)
Casilla de Correo 507
5500 Mendoza, Argentina
E-mail: lmarone@lanet.com.ar

Javier Lopez de Casenave
Ecodes. Department of Ecology, Genetics & Evolution,
FCEyN, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Piso 4, Pab. 2, Ciudad Universitaria,
C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina
E-mail: casenave@bg.fcen.uba.ar