Respomuso Reservoir Formerly A Natural Mountain Lake, Or Ibón, Aragón, Pyrenees Range Stock Photography

The Respomuso lake is one of many natural mountain lakes or ibones, as they are called in the local Aragonese language which were dammed for hydroelectric power production between the 1950s and 1980s in the Spanish Pyrenees. It is located nearby the village of Sallent de Gállego, the Piedrafita cirque and on the skirts of the Balaitus, the westernmost three-thousand in the Pyrenees. The Pyrenees are a mountain system that bridges Central and Mediterranean Europe and contains high levels of biodiversity and many endemic species. Of the 3,500 species of plants found in this ecoregion, about 200 are endemic. Endangered fauna includes the brown bear Ursus arctos and the lammergeier Gypaetus barbatus. Although there are still pristine areas of habitat, logging operations, winter resorts, and dams pose a major threat to this unique ecoregion. The Pyrenees are also the source of numerous rivers which are a crucial source of clean drinkable freshwater to the regions further down the range, especially in drought-ridden Spain.