Uruguay's main natural resources are fauna and flora, land use, mining and hydroelectric energy. Uruguay ranks 50th worldwide in per capita natural resource wealth and is the second smallest country in the Americas, with an area of just 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).
Fishing boats in Uruguay
The main biogeographic regions that influence the flora of the Uruguayan territory are the Pampas, Paraná and Chaqueña (Zuloaga et al., 2008). Uruguay's marine domain is made up of 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 bromeliads; in the Chaco region of the country we can also find xerophytic deciduous forest vegetation. A total of 2,400 species of vascular plants, 140 species of mollusks, 226 freshwater fish, 48 amphibians, 71 reptiles, 453 Birds and 114 mammals are known.
The diversity of mollusks in Uruguay is wide despite being a small country, so far 53 native species of freshwater gastropods, 46 terrestrial and 41 bivalve species have been registered (Clavijo, 2010).
Native mammals represent approximately 2% of the global diversity and less than 8% of the richness of neo-tropical mammals. Of the total of mammals, 79 species of continental mammals and 31 species of cetaceans (González et al. 2013).
The reptile species are distributed in 22 families and 50 genera, representing 0.74% of the reptile species known in the world and 4.5% of those registered in South America. Some species such as the alligator (Caiman latirostris) are 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 there are many of the threatened species that exist in the world, for example: yellow cardinal (G Gobiernotrix cristata), the great white widow (Heteroxolmis dominicanus), the white-breasted capuchin (Sporophila palustris), the capuchin gray beret (S. cinnamomea), loica pampeana (Sturnella defilippii), 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 women of water among others. Some of them, such as tarpon, boga, tararira (Hopliass pp.) And yellow catfish (Pimelodus maculatus) are a fishery resource (Loureiro et al. 2013).
In Uruguay fishermen use simple techniques and depend on manual labor to fish. Fishing productivity varies as it highly depends on weather conditions and fish availability (Szteren, 2002).
Land use
In this country, primary activities represent only 8% of the country's GDP, this figure is lower compared to other Latin American countries.
This makes per capita income slightly higher, 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 the total GDP (X axis) of 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 soils. The main agricultural products are wheat, corn and soybeans, in terms of livestock production the main products are bovine meat and sheep. (Lanzilotta and Zunino, 2015).
However, the alteration and destruction of habitat by 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 by about 18% between 1961 and 1975. (Lovell S. Jarvis. 1981).
Due to the effect of grazing, the fields of Uruguay tend to be formed by herbaceous vegetation with a predominance of grass and a low proportion of bushes or shrubs. The original vegetation in the Uruguayan fields was the grassland grazed by native herbivores.
These were displaced by cattle, which today still largely maintain the diversity of native herbaceous species, it has been shown that if cattle are removed, the diversity of herbaceous tends to decrease. (Rodríguez, et al. 2003).
Forestry 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, populations of vertebrates and terrestrial gastropods that live associated with rocky areas and grasslands 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 thousand tourists a year who visit protected areas.
In addition, since 2013 Uruguay has been a member of the world network of geoparks promoted by UNESCO, 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 in 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 industrial minerals sector. Industrial minerals including: basalt, dolomite, feldspar, gypsum, limestone, marl, quartz, and sand. T
Ornamental rocks are also produced, such as flagstones, granite and marble. It is also an important producer of cement, construction 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 its consumption (Velasco 2001).
References
- 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 mollusks and vascular plants. snap / dinama / mvotma ydicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp
- 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 Mollusks and Vascular Plants. snap / dinama / mvotmay dicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp.
- 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.
- Carreira 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 mollusks and vascular plants. SNAP / DINAMA / MVOTMA and DICYT / MEC, Montevideo. 222 pp.
- Clavijo Cristhian, Alvar Carranza, Fabrizio Scarabino & Alvaro Soutullo. (2010) Conservation Priorities For Uruguayan Land And Freshwater Molluscs. ISSN 0958-5079 Tentacle No. 18
- Lanzilotta B. and G. Zunino. (2015), Uruguay + 25 Natural resources: implications for growth in Uruguay. Astur Foundation. South Network. p.32
- Loureiro M, M Zarucki, I González, N Vidal & G Fabiano. 2013. Continental fish. Pp. 91-112, in: Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental mollusks and vascular plants. snap / dinama / mvotma and dicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp.
- 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
- Soutullo A, C Clavijo & JA Martínez-Lanfranco (eds.). 2013. Priority species for conservation in Uruguay. Vertebrates, continental mollusks and vascular plants. SNAP / DINAMA / MVOTMA and DICYT / MEC, Montevideo. 222 pp.
- Velasco, P. (2001). The Mineral Industries of Paraguay and Uruguay. Minerals Yearbook. Volume III. Area Reports: International.
- 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
- 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.
- 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 mollusks and vascular plants. snap / dinama / mvotma ydicyt / mec, Montevideo. 222 pp.
- Guerrero, RA, Acha, EM, Framin, MB, & Lasta, CA (1997). Physical oceanography of the Río de la Plata Estuary, Argentina. Continental Shelf Research, 17 (7), 727-742.