[4] The grebe requires aquatic vegetation in its breeding lakes (primarily Myriophyllum elatinoides) which it uses to build its nest.

When the mink first arrived in 2010–2011 on the Buenos Aires plateau, it killed more than half the adults in a breeding colony of two dozen nests.

[8] Other threats to the grebe population are: excessive grazing by sheep (this leads to erosion at land shores and limits the growth of vegetation), attacks by flying steamer ducks (Tachyeres patachonicus)[8] and predation by kelp gulls.

Volcanic eruptions in the area may have a negative short-term effect on population size due to heavy ash fall.

In 2013 a simultaneous count across all plateaus known to have ever held grebes and virtually every lake which has historic records of the species was made.

In the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 breeding seasons the species was the most abundant on the plateaus Buenos Aires, Strobel and Siberia - where five lakes contained almost 85% of the population.

However, it is speculated that the annual fluctuating numbers at breeding sites are driven by movements rather than an increase or decrease in population size.

The hooded grebe is threatened by climate change and the introduction of trout and salmon to the Strobel plateau.

[12][13][14][15] Laguna Los Escarchados (the site where the species was discovered in 1974) was declared a reserve in 1979, but hold only a marginal population.

[16] The recommendations below all come from the final report of the Hooded Grebe Project[8] Continue to survey the breeding colonies and winter censuses of estuaries and unfrozen lakes.

Remove the American Mink from the high plateau habitats and control the size of Kelp Gull populations on breeding sites.

There is planned research into the grebe's migration which is supported by the Zoological Society of London's EDGE of Existence programme and Cornell University.