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The Soda Lakes Of Nhecolândia: A Conservation Opportunity For The Pantanal Wetlands, Renato L. Guerreiro, Ivan Bergier, Michael M. Mcglue, Lucas V. Warren, Urbano Gomes Pinto De Abreu, Jônatas Abrahão, Mario L. Assine

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

The Pantanal is the most conserved biome in Brazil and among the last wild refuges in South America, but intensification of agriculture and other land use changes present challenges for protecting this exceptionally biodiverse wetland ecosystem. Recent studies have shed new light on the origins and biogeochemistry of a suite of >600 small saline-alkaline lakes in Nhecolândia, a floodplain setting located south of the Taquari River in south-central Pantanal. These soda lakes form a unique aquatic environment in Pantanal and nascent research on their geomicrobiology suggests that their biota may be analogous to early life, and extreme life in Earth's …