Sa Bassa de s’Espalmador is an important highly diverse wetland with great potential for the conservation of seabirds. The amount of fresh or salt water in its lagoons depends on the season of the year in which we find ourselves: the cover image was taken on January 6th of 2021 and a large amount of fresh water is observed due to infiltration and a greater amount of rainwater, which causes a lower salinity. The following image was taken on August 7th 2020 and shows an increased evaporation of fresh water and saline intrusion from the sea, which causes higher salinity.
This pronounced halo-hydrobiological imbalance hinders the development of communities of microorganisms and invertebrates that favor the proliferation of seabirds in the area. It has been proven that, if maintenance tasks are applied such as those being carried out in Ses Salines, it could be possible to recover the balance and, with it, favor and enhance the biodiversity of the wetland throughout the year. Recovering the environmental value of s’Espalmador is especially interesting, since this wetland is the ancient example of what it was ancestrally the Ses Salines area of Formentera. Perhaps it would allow us to answer the question: what was the environment of the salt flats like without the salt tillage? The answer is in the pictures!