Paraje Natural Laguna Grande. 17/09/09; Andalucía; 200 ha; 37°56'N 003°34'W. The Natural Area (paraje natural) was designated in 1989. It includes two seasonally flooded water bodies: Laguna Grande (with a mean inundated area of 21.6 ha) and Laguna Chica (5.2 ha) and the surrounding buffer zone. Historic sources show that a water compound exists at this place since at least the 17th century. Laguna Grande has structures to facilitate the irrigation of the surrounding olive plantations that provide it with an artificial water level regulation. It is a semi-permanent freshwater reservoir with a maximum depth of 4 meters and marked seasonal water level variations. Laguna Chica however kept the original water regime of a surface freshwater wetland (0.5 meter depth) with seasonal inundations depending on rainfall. Both are situated in a part of the Guadalquivir basin that is covered with large-scale, irrigated olive plantations that dominate the landscape and left only little remaining original Mediterranean matorral. The site is a functional part of the network of wetlands in the upper Guadalquivir basin ("Lagunas del Alto Guadalquivir"), connecting the wetland ecosystems of Doñana, the "La Mancha" plain and the Mediterranean coast, providing a large habitat for species as they are moving from one to the other. Ramsar site no. 1912. Most recent RIS information: 2010.