| Disentangling the effect of future land use strategies and climate change on streamflow in a Mediterranean catchment dominated by tree plantations | Galleguillos, Mauricio; Gimeno, Fernando; Puelma, Cristóbal; Zambrano-Bigiarini, Mauricio; Lara, Antonio; Rojas, Maisa | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos; Gobernanza e Interfaz Ciencia y Política | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126047 | Climate change (CC) along with Land Use and Land Cover Change (LULCC) have a strong influence in water availability in already fragile Mediterranean ecosystems. In this work the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) was implemented for the 2006–2018 period in a rainfed catchment of central Chile (36°) to test the hypothesis that adaptive plantation strategies could mitigate the impacts of climate change and increase streamflow. We also hypothesize that afforestation with exotic tree plantations will reduce water availability in Mediterranean catchments, acting in synergy with climate change. Five LULCC scenarios are analyzed: i) current long-term national Forest Policy (FP), ii) extreme scenario (EX) with large afforestation surfaces, both including the replacement of native shrublands with Pinus radiata; iii) adaptive plantation management scenario (FM), with lower planting density, iv) forced land displacement scenario (FLD), where plantations at the headwaters are moved to lowland areas and replaced with native shrublands, and v) pristine scenario (PR), with only native vegetation. Each LULCC scenario was run with present climate and with projections of different CMIP5 climate models under the RCP 8.5 scenario for the period 2037–2050, and then compared against simulations based on the present land cover and climate. Simulations with the five LULCC scenarios (FP, EX, FM, FLD and PR) with present climate resulted in variations of −2.5, −17.3, 0, 2.3 and 10.9% on mean annual streamflow (Q), while simulations with the current land cover and CC projections produced a 32.1% decrease in mean annual Q. The joint impact of CC and LULCC leads to changes in mean annual Q ranging from −46.2% (EX) to –23.3% (PR). Afforestation with exotic pines will intensify the reduction in water yield, while conservative scenarios focused on native forests protection and restoration could partially mitigate the effect of CC. We make a strong call to rethink current and future land management strategies to cope with lower water availability in a drier future. | Journal of Hydrology | 00221694 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0022169421000949 | 126047 | 595.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | catchments, climate models, conservation, land use, reforestation, runoff, stream flow, land use and land cover change, land-use strategies, mediterranean catchment, mediterranean ecosystem, plantation managements, protection and restoration, soil and water assessment tool, water availability, climate change, afforestation, catchment, climate change, coniferous forest, coniferous tree, land cover, land use, land use change, shrubland, soil and water assessment tool, streamflow, tree planting, mediterranean region, pinus radiata |
| Climate response and drought resilience of Nothofagus obliqua secondary forests across a latitudinal gradient in south-central Chile | Urrutia-Jalabert, R.; Barichivich, J.; Rozas, V.; Lara, A.; Rojas, Y.; Bahamondez, C.; Rojas-Badilla, M.; Gipoulou-Zuñiga, T.; Cuq, E. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.118962 | The climate response and resilience of tree growth to drought events have been widely reported for forests from the Northern Hemisphere. However, studies are much scarcer in the extra-tropical forests of southern South America. Mediterranean and Temperate forests of Chile are suffering from a moderate warming and a sustained precipitation decrease, occurring on top of an unprecedented megadrought since 2010. This study evaluated tree-growth patterns, the climate response and drought resilience of nine secondary Nothofagus obliqua forests across a latitudinal gradient from Mediterranean to Temperate climate in the Andes of Chile (35.7° to 40.3° S). Moreover, to improve the understanding of the spatial variation in productivity patterns, this research assessed trends in the maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (peak in the NDVI) across the gradient for 2001–2018. Tree-growth patterns were highly influenced by stand dynamics, with steep decreasing trends in most of the stands related to a gradual canopy closure. Productivity trends had a flat pattern north of 38oS, but positive trends south of this latitude, which were mostly attributed to stand development. Tree growth was positively related to precipitation in all the sites, with annual and summer rainfall being more important in the north (Mediterranean climate) and south (Temperate climate), respectively. Conversely, maximum temperature had a negative effect on growth in most of the studied forests. This implies that projected warmer and drier conditions may have a detrimental effect on N. obliqua growth during coming decades. The two northern stands, located at the species dry range edge, were among the most resilient to drought and have not been strongly affected by the current megadrought in the area. Overall climate conditions, however, do not define the tolerance of stands to droughts, likely because local environmental and forests conditions play a key role. Although droughts have not strongly impacted the growth of N. obliqua across its distribution so far, future studies should assess the effects of the current long-term megadrought on growth resilience, and physiological studies should address the impacts of droughts and heat waves on forest function beyond what growth can unveil. | Forest Ecology and Management | 0378-1127 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378112721000517 | 118962 | 485.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climatology, drought, productivity, rain, climate condition, latitudinal gradients, maximum temperature, mediterranean climates, normalized difference vegetation index, northern hemispheres, southern south america, spatial variations, forestry, climate effect, drought resistance, heat wave, latitudinal gradient, ndvi, northern hemisphere, rainfall, secondary forest, spatial variation, drought, forestry, forests, growth, meteorology, productivity, rain, trees, andes, chile, nothofagus obliqua |
| Water management or megadrought: what caused the Chilean Aculeo Lake drying? | Barría, Pilar; Chadwick, Cristián; Ocampo-Melgar, Anahí; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Garreaud, Rene; Díaz-Vasconcellos, Raúl; Poblete, David; Rubio-Álvarez, Eduardo; Poblete-Caballero, Dagoberto | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2021.0 | 10.1007/s10113-021-01750-w | The Aculeo Lake is an important natural reservoir of Central Chile, which provides valuable ecosystem services. This lake has suffered a rapid shrinkage of the water levels from year 2010 to 2018, and since October 2018, it is completely dry. This natural disaster is concurrent with a number of severe and uninterrupted drought years, along with sustained increases in water consumption associated to land use/land cover (LULC) changes. Severe water shortages and socio-environmental impacts were triggered by these changes, emphasizing the need to understand the causes of the lake desiccation to contribute in the design of future adaptation strategies. Thereby, the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) hydrological model was used as a tool to quantify the water balance in the catchment. The model was run under a combination of three land use/land cover and two different climate scenarios that sample the cases with and without megadrought and with or without changes in land use. According to the results, the main triggering factor of the lake shrinkage is the severe megadrought, with annual rainfall deficits of about 38%, which resulted in amplified reductions in river flows (44%) and aquifer recharges (24%). The results indicate that the relative impact of the climate factor is more than 10 times larger than the impact of the observed LULC changes in the lake balance, highlighting the urgent need for adaptation strategies to deal with the projected drier futures. | Regional Environmental Change | 1436-3798, 1436-378X | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10113-021-01750-w | 19 | 21.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | anthropogenic, attribution, decision making, drought, land use/land cover, water budget |
| Temperature differently affected methanogenic pathways and microbial communities in sub-Antarctic freshwater ecosystems | Lavergne, Céline; Aguilar-Muñoz, Polette; Calle, Natalia; Thalasso, Frédéric; Astorga-España, Maria Soledad; Sepulveda-Jauregui, Armando; Martinez-Cruz, Karla; Gandois, Laure; Mansilla, Andrés; Chamy, Rolando; Barret, Maialen; Cabrol, Léa | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.envint.2021.106575 | Freshwater ecosystems are responsible for an important part of the methane (CH4) emissions which are likely to change with global warming. This study aims to evaluate temperature-induced (from 5 to 20 °C) changes on microbial community structure and methanogenic pathways in five sub-Antarctic lake sediments from Magallanes strait to Cape Horn, Chile. We combined in situ CH4 flux measurements, CH4 production rates (MPRs), gene abundance quantification and microbial community structure analysis (metabarcoding of the 16S rRNA gene). Under unamended conditions, a temperature increase of 5 °C doubled MPR while microbial community structure was not affected. Stimulation of methanogenesis by methanogenic precursors as acetate and H2/CO2, resulted in an increase of MPRs up to 127-fold and 19-fold, respectively, as well as an enrichment of mcrA-carriers strikingly stronger under acetate amendment. At low temperatures, H2/CO2-derived MPRs were considerably lower (down to 160-fold lower) than the acetate-derived MPRs, but the contribution of hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis increased with temperature. Temperature dependence of MPRs was significantly higher in incubations spiked with H2/CO2 (c. 1.9 eV) compared to incubations spiked with acetate or unamended (c. 0.8 eV). Temperature was not found to shape the total microbial community structure, that rather exhibited a site-specific variability among the studied lakes. However, the methanogenic archaeal community structure was driven by amended methanogenic precursors with a dominance of Methanobacterium in H2/CO2-based incubations and Methanosarcina in acetate-based incubations. We also suggested the importance of acetogenic H2-production outcompeting hydrogenotrohic methanogenesis especially at low temperatures, further supported by homoacetogen proportion in the microcosm communities. The combination of in situ-, and laboratory-based measurements and molecular approaches indicates that the hydrogenotrophic pathway may become more important with increasing temperatures than the acetoclastic pathway. In a continuously warming environment driven by climate change, such issues are crucial and may receive more attention. | Environment International | 01604120 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0160412021002002 | 106575 | 154.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | bacteria, ecosystems, genes, hydrogen production, lakes, methane, rna, temperature distribution, water, 16s rrna amplicon, archaeon, ch$-4$, freshwater ecosystem, lows-temperatures, methanogenesis, methanogenic pathways, microbial communities, microbial community structures, production rates, global warming, climate change, climate effect, community structure, environmental disturbance, freshwater ecosystem, global warming, lacustrine deposit, limnology, methanogenesis, methanogenic bacterium, microbial community, rna, subantarctic region, temperature effect, cape horn, chile, horn island [wollaston islands], magallanes, magellan strait, tierra del fuego [(isg) south america], wollaston islands, archaea, methanobacterium, methanosarcina, fresh water, rna 16s, antarctica, chile, genetics, microflora, temperature, antarctic regions, chile, fresh water, microbiota, rna, ribosomal, 16s, temperature |
| Estimating discount rates for environmental goods: Are People’s responses inadequate to frequency of payments? | Vásquez-Lavín, Felipe; Carrasco, Moisés; Barrientos, Manuel; Gelcich, Stefan; Ponce Oliva, Roberto D. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.jeem.2021.102446 | Most stated preference studies estimate discount rates using a split-sample approach. Each sample faces a different payment frequency (for instance, 1, 5, 10) together with a randomly assigned bid vector; both the frequency of payments and the bid are fixed for a specific individual. This paper evaluates whether allowing respondents to choose their preferred payment frequency affects the estimated discount rate. We use data from a contingent valuation survey of a network of marine reserves and estimate discount rates using both an exogenous and endogenous approach. The former calculates the mean of the willingness to pay (WTP) for each sample and then finds the discount rate that makes the present value of each payment frequency equivalent. The latter estimates the WTP and the discount rate jointly. Results show that allowing people to choose the payment schedule significantly reduces the implicit discount rate. We observed the highest reductions in discount rates when we used all the information available from the valuation questions to bound the WTP distribution. Our analysis suggests that the exogenous approach would not be recommended for testing the adequacy of people's responses to the frequency of payments. | Journal of Environmental Economics and Management | 00950696 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0095069621000292 | 102446 | 107.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | economic analysis, contingent valuations, discount rates, endogenous approaches, environmental goods, marine reserve, present value, stated-preference studies, willingness to pay, behavioral research, contingent valuation, discount rate, environmental economics, estimation method, marine park, willingness to pay |
| Climate and Land Cover Trends Affecting Freshwater Inputs to a Fjord in Northwestern Patagonia | León-Muñoz, Jorge; Aguayo, Rodrigo; Marcé, Rafael; Catalán, Núria; Woelfl, Stefan; Nimptsch, Jorge; Arismendi, Ivan; Contreras, Camila; Soto, Doris; Miranda, Alejandro | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.3389/fmars.2021.628454 | Freshwater inputs strongly influence oceanographic conditions in coastal systems of northwestern Patagonia (41–45°S). Nevertheless, the influence of freshwater on these systems has weakened in recent decades due to a marked decrease in precipitation. Here we evaluate potential influences of climate and land cover trends on the Puelo River (640 m 3 s –1 ), the main source of freshwater input of the Reloncaví Fjord (41.5°S). Water quality was analyzed along the Puelo River basin (six sampling points) and at the discharge site in the Reloncaví Fjord (1, 8, and 25 m depth), through six field campaigns carried out under contrasting streamflow scenarios. We also used several indicators of hydrological alteration, and cross-wavelet transform and coherence analyses to evaluate the association between the Puelo River streamflow and precipitation (1950–2019). Lastly, using the WEAP hydrological model, land cover maps (2001–2016) and burned area reconstructions (1985–2019), we simulated future land cover impacts (2030) on the hydrological processes of the Puelo River. Total Nitrogen and total phosphorus, dissolved carbon, and dissolved iron concentrations measured in the river were 3–15 times lower than those in the fjord. Multivariate analyses showed that streamflow drives the carbon composition in the river. High streamflow conditions contribute with humic and colored materials, while low streamflow conditions corresponded to higher arrival of protein-like materials from the basin. The Puelo River streamflow showed significant trends in magnitude (lower streamflow in summer and autumn), duration (minimum annual streamflow), timing (more floods in spring), and frequency (fewer prolonged floods). The land cover change (LCC) analysis indicated that more than 90% of the basin area maintained its land cover, and that the main changes were attributed to recent large wildfires. Considering these land cover trends, the hydrological simulations project a slight increase in the Puelo River streamflow mainly due to a decrease in evapotranspiration. According to previous simulations, these projections present a direction opposite to the trends forced by climate change. The combined effect of reduction in freshwater input to fiords and potential decline in water quality highlights the need for more robust data and robust analysis of the influence of climate and LCC on this river-fjord complex of northwestern Patagonia. | Frontiers in Marine Science | 2296-7745 | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.628454/full | 628454 | 8.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate change, hydrological modeling, land cover change, land-ocean interface, patagonia, water quality |
| Exploring the multidimensional effects of human activity and land cover on fire occurrence for territorial planning | Carrasco, Jaime; Acuna, Mauricio; Miranda, Alejandro; Alfaro, Gabriela; Pais, Cristobal; Weintraub, Andrés | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113428 | The strong link between climate change and increased wildfire risk suggests a paradigm change on how humans must co-exist with fire and the environment. Different studies have demonstrated that human-induced fire ignitions can account for more than 90 % of forest fires, so human co-existence with wildfires requires informed decision making via preventive policies in order to minimize risk and adapt to new conditions. In this paper, we address the multidimensional effects of three groups of drivers (human activity, geographic and topographic, and land cover) that can be managed to assist in territorial planning under fire risk. We found critical factors of strong interactions with the potential to increase the likelihood of starting a fire. Our solution approach included the application of a Machine Learning method called Random Undersampling and Boosting (RUSBoost) to assess risk (fire occurrence probability), which was subsequently accompanied by a sensitivity analysis that revealed interactions of various levels of risk. The prediction performance of the proposed model was assessed using several statistical measures such as the Receiver Operating Characteristic curve (ROC) and the Area Under the Curve (AUC). The results confirmed the high accuracy of our model, with an AUC of 0.967 and an overall accuracy over test data of 93.01 % after applying a Bayesian approach for hyper-parameter optimization. The study area to test our solution approach comprised the entire geographical territory of central Chile. | Journal of Environmental Management | 03014797 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301479721014900 | 113428 | 297.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | accuracy assessment, climate change, decision making, environmental effect, environmental management, exploration, fire, human activity, land cover, optimization, risk assessment, territorial planning, wildfire, area under the curve, article, chile, human, land use, machine learning, prediction, probability, receiver operating characteristic, risk assessment, sensitivity analysis, bayes theorem, climate change, human activities, probability, wildfire, chile, bayes theorem, climate change, human activities, humans, probability, wildfires |
| Fire-induced loss of the world’s most biodiverse forests in Latin America | Armenteras, Dolors; Dávalos, Liliana M.; Barreto, Joan S.; Miranda, Alejandro; Hernández-Moreno, Angela; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; González-Delgado, Tania M.; Meza-Elizalde, María C.; Retana, Javier | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1126/sciadv.abd3357 | Fire plays a dominant role in deforestation, particularly in the tropics, but the relative extent of transformations and influence of fire frequency on eventual forest loss remain unclear. Here, we analyze the frequency of fire and its influence on postfire forest trajectories between 2001 and 2018. We account for ~1.1% of Latin American forests burnt in 2002–2003 (8,465,850 ha). Although 40.1% of forests (3,393,250 ha) burned only once, by 2018, ~48% of the evergreen forests converted to other, primarily grass-dominated uses. While greater fire frequency yielded more transformation, our results reveal the staggering impact of even a single fire. Increasing fire frequency imposes greater risks of irreversible forest loss, transforming forests into ecosystems increasingly vulnerable to degradation. Reversing this trend is indispensable to both mitigate and adapt to climate change globally. As climate change transforms fire regimes across the region, key actions are needed to conserve Latin American forests. | Science Advances | 2375-2548 | https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd3357 | eabd3357 | 7.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | deforestation, fires, evergreen forests, fire frequencies, fire regimes, forest loss, induced loss, key actions, latin america, latin americans, climate change, article, climate change, evergreen, forest, grass, nonhuman, south and central america |
| Streamflow response to native forest restoration in former Eucalyptus plantations in south central Chile | Lara, Antonio; Jones, Julia; Little, Christian; Vergara, Nicolás | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1002/hyp.14270 | Global increases in intensive forestry have raised concerns about forest plantation effects on water, but few studies have tested the effects of plantation forest removal and native forest restoration on catchment hydrology. We describe results of a 14-year paired watershed experiment on ecological restoration in south central Chile which documents streamflow response to the early stages of native forest restoration, after clearcutting of plantations of exotic fast-growing Eucalyptus, planting of native trees, and fostering natural regeneration of native temperate rainforest species. Precipitation, streamflow, and vegetation were measured starting in 2006 in four small (3 to 5 ha) catchments with Eucalyptus globulus plantations and native riparian buffers in the Valdivian Coastal Reserve. Mean annual precipitation is 2500 mm, of which 11% occurs in summer. Streamflow increased, and increases persisted, throughout the first 9 years of vigorous native forest regeneration (2011 to 2019). Annual streamflow increased by 40% to >100% in most years and >150% in fall and summer of some years. Streamflow was 50% to 100% lower than before treatment in two dry summers. Base flow increased by 28% to 87% during the restoration period compared to pre-treatment, and remained elevated in later years despite low summer precipitation. Overall, these findings indicate that removal of Eucalyptus plantations immediately increased streamflow, and native forest restoration gradually restored deep soil moisture reservoirs that sustain base flow during dry periods, increasing water ecosystem services. To our knowledge this is the first study to assess catchment streamflow response to native forest restoration in former forest plantations. Therefore, the results of this study are relevant to global efforts to restore native forest ecosystems on land currently intensively managed with fast-growing forest plantations and may inform policy and decision-making in areas experiencing a drying trend associated with climate change. | Hydrological Processes | 0885-6087, 1099-1085 | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hyp.14270 | | 35.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | aerodynamics, climate change, decision making, ecosystems, hydrogeology, reforestation, reservoirs (water), restoration, runoff, soil moisture, stream flow, ecological restoration, eucalyptus globulus, eucalyptus plantations, fast growing forests, mean annual precipitation, natural regeneration, summer precipitation, temperate rainforest, conservation |
| Water Use and Climate Stressors in a Multiuser River Basin Setting: Who Benefits from Adaptation? | Ponce Oliva, Roberto D.; Montevechio, Esteban Arias; Jorquera, Francisco Fernández; Vásquez-Lavin, Felipe; Stehr, Alejandra | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1007/s11269-020-02753-8 | Adapting to new climate conditions will require an intricate mix of knowledge, planning, coordination, and foresight. There is increasing sectoral evidence on the implementation of successful adaptation actions. However, the success of these actions when we consider the interdependencies among sectors remains debatable. This paper aims to assess who benefits from implementing adaptation options in a multiuser river basin to both climate-induced and demographic stress on water use. Our analysis relies on a hydro-economic model that considers two sets of water users: agriculture and urban households. We innovate in our modelling approach by analyzing and explicitly integrating the household-level economic behavior through its water demand. We assess the cross-user consequences of autonomous and planned adaptation actions. We provide insights into the different trade-offs at the basin level, demonstrating the compatibilities and divergences between agriculture and household-level water demand. We found different consequences of implementing either autonomous or planned adaptation measures. For instance, a decentralized scheme would drive negative implications for the entire basin, although the less water-intensive sector will be better off. On the other hand, different policy interventions would drive positive consequences for the entire basin, with the most water-intensive sector benefiting the most. These results highlight the distributional consequences across users of different adaptation measures. | Water Resources Management | 0920-4741, 1573-1650 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-020-02753-8 | 897-915 | 35.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | agricultural robots, agriculture, economic and social effects, watersheds, climate condition, climate stressors, distributional consequences, economic modeling, household level, policy intervention, river basins, urban-household, water resources, adaptive management, climate change, policy implementation, river basin, river management, trade-off, water demand, water management, water planning, water use |
| Diversifying Chile’s climate action away from industrial plantations | Hoyos-Santillan, Jorge; Miranda, Alejandro; Lara, Antonio; Sepulveda-Jauregui, Armando; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; Gómez-González, Susana; Vásquez-Lavín, Felipe; Garreaud, Rene D.; Rojas, Maisa | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos; Gobernanza e Interfaz Ciencia y Política | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.envsci.2021.06.013 | As president of the Climate Change Conference of the Parties, Chile has advocated for developing ambitious commitments to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2050. However, Chile’s motivations and ambitious push to reach carbon-neutrality are complicated by a backdrop of severe drought, climate change impacts (i.e., wildfires, tree mortality), and the use of industrial plantations as a mitigation strategy. This has become more evident as widespread and severe wildfires have impacted large areas of industrial plantations, transforming the land-use, land-use change, and forestry sector from a carbon sink to a net carbon source. Consequently, Chile must diversify its climate actions to achieve carbon-neutrality. Nature-based solutions, including wetlands-peatlands and oceans, represent alternative climate actions that can be implemented to tackle greenhouse gas emissions at a national level. Diversification, however, must guarantee Chile’s long-term carbon sequestration capacity without compromising the ecological functionality of biodiverse treeless habitats and native forest ecosystems. | Environmental Science & Policy | 14629011 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1462901121001738 | 85-89 | 124.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | carbon, biodiversity, building, carbon footprint, carbon sequestration, carbon sink, carbon source, chile, climate, climate change, drought, electric power plant, energy yield, forest, forestry, housing, land use, note, peatland, plantation, sea, tree, wetland, wildfire |
| Sensitivity of Water Price Elasticity Estimates to Different Data Aggregation Levels | Flores Arévalo, Yarela; Ponce Oliva, Roberto D.; Fernández, Francisco J.; Vásquez-Lavin, Felipe | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1007/s11269-021-02833-3 | The empirical literature on residential water demand employs various data aggregation methods, which depend on whether the aggregation is over consumption, sociodemographic variables, or both. In this study, we distinguish three dataset types—aggregated data, disaggregated data, and semi-aggregated data—to compare the consequences of using a large sample of semi-aggregated data vis-à-vis a small sample of fully disaggregated data on the water price elasticity estimates. We also analyze whether different aggregation levels in the sociodemographic variables affect the water price elasticity estimates when the number of observations is fixed. We employ a discrete-continuous choice model that considers that consumers face an increasing block price structure. Our results demonstrate that the water price elasticities depend upon the level of aggregation of the data used and the sample size. We also find that the water price elasticities are statistically different when comparing a large semi-aggregated sample with a small disaggregated sample. | Water Resources Management | 0920-4741, 1573-1650 | https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-021-02833-3 | 2039-2052 | 35.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | elasticity, large dataset, aggregated datum, aggregation level, data aggregation, empirical literature, price structure, residential water demand, small samples, socio-demographic variables, cost estimating, data processing, demand elasticity, discrete choice analysis, estimation method, sensitivity analysis, water demand, water economics |
| Nexus Thinking at River Basin Scale: Food, Water and Welfare | Ponce Oliva, Roberto D.; Fernández, Francisco J.; Vasquez-Lavín, Felipe; Arias Montevechio, Esteban; Julio, Natalia; Stehr, Alejandra | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.3390/w13071000 | Water resources face an unparalleled confluence of pressures, with agriculture and urban growth as the most relevant human-related stressors. In this context, methodologies using a Nexus framework seem to be suitable to address these challenges. However, the urban sector has been commonly ignored in the Nexus literature. We propose a Nexus framework approach, considering the economic dimensions of the interdependencies and interconnections among agriculture (food production) and the urban sector as water users within a common basin. Then, we assess the responses of both sectors to climatic and demographic stressors. In this setting, the urban sector is represented through an economic water demand at the household level, from which economic welfare is derived. Our results show that the Nexus components here considered (food, water, and welfare) will be negatively affected under the simulated scenarios. However, when these components are decomposed to their particular elements, we found that the less water-intensive sector—the urban sector—will be better off since food production will leave significant amounts of water available. Moreover, when addressing uncertainty related to climate-induced shocks, we could identify the basin resilience threshold. Our approach shows the compatibilities and divergences between food production and the urban sector under the Nexus framework. | Water | 2073-4441 | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/7/1000 | 1000 | 13.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | agricultural robots, agriculture, urban growth, economic welfare, food production, household level, river basins, water demand, water users, water resources |
| Tree-Holes as Alternative Reproductive Sites of Batrachyla antartandica Barrio, 1967 (Anura: Batrachylidae) | Rabanal, Felipe E.; Úbeda, Carmen; Tejo, Camila F.; Lavilla, Esteban O. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.2994/SAJH-D-18-00064.1 | Although the original description of Batrachyla antartandica categorically states that the species should not be considered as arboreal, our field observations show that it has excellent climbing abilities. Associated with this fact, B. antartandica shows an alternative mode of reproduction that involves the use of tree-trunk cavities filled with water as a site for calling, reproduction, development, and metamorphosis. As far as we know, B. antartandica is the only anuran species in the Valdivian temperate rainforests of Chile and Argentina with a completely arboreal life cycle. | South American Journal of Herpetology | 1808-9798 | https://bioone.org/journals/south-american-journal-of-herpetology/volume-20/issue-1/SAJH-D-18-00064.1/Tree-Holes-as-Alternative-Reproductive-Sites-of-Batrachyla-antartandica-Barrio/10.2994/SAJH-D-18-00064.1.full | | 20.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | amphibia, arboreality, microhabitats, phytotelmata, reproductive modes, temperate rainforests |
| Water dynamics over a Western Patagonian watershed: Land surface changes and human factors | Olivera-Guerra, L.; Quintanilla, M.; Moletto-Lobos, I.; Pichuante, E.; Zamorano-Elgueta, C.; Mattar, C. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2022.0 | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150221 | Warming trends in Patagonia and severe droughts in recent decades are still poorly understood in terms of their hydrological effects. The effects of climate change on water dynamics in addition to human water management could generate a future water scarcity scenario in one of the regions with the most abundant water resources of Chile. The aim of this work is to focus on assessing the impacts of warming trends on water dynamics in the Patagonian Simpson River watershed during the last two decades. We estimated anomalies in the main components of water balance such as precipitation (P), snow cover (SC), evapotranspiration (ET) and streamflows (Q) as well as surface variables and meteorological forcing (i.e. air temperature - Ta, solar radiation - RS, land surface temperature - LST). The processed data were obtained from remote sensing, reanalysis and in-situ data. We implemented a trend analysis for each variable in the period 2000-2019 at monthly, seasonal and annual scale. Results showed a warming trend in Ta and LST of about 1.2 °C and 2.1 °C, respectively, concentrated mainly in the autumn and winter seasons. Although P showed non-significant trends, Q diminished significantly at rates of more than 9.1 m3/s/decade, representing 36% of its historical mean. However, the decreases in Q are seen only in the maximum (spring) and minimum (summer) seasonal flows. These decreases are explained by significant increases in ET, led by a positive feedback of its drivers (LST, Ta and RS), which is directly linked to the impact of warming and an associated vegetation greenness in the watershed, as well as a decrease in SC during winter that feeds the Simpson River during spring and summer. The decrease in Q is reinforced by the intensification of water withdrawals in recent decades, as shown by an accelerated increase in water rights for agricultural and drinking uses. In a context of water scarcity and increasing and extreme droughts, this work contributes to further understanding water dynamics in western Patagonia, providing support for policy and decision-making when defining sustainable productive practices at watershed scale. | Science of The Total Environment | 00489697 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0048969721052980 | 150221 | 804.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | atmospheric temperature, climate change, drought, dynamics, potable water, remote sensing, snow, surface measurement, vegetation, water management, water supply, watersheds, patagonia, reanalysis, reanalysis data, remote-sensing, simpson, trend analysis, vegetation greenness, warming effect, water dynamics, water scarcity, decision making |
| Precipitation declines influence the understory patterns in Nothofagus pumilio old-growth forests in northwestern Patagonia | Soto, Daniel P.; Donoso, Pablo J.; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; Ríos, Andrea I.; Promis, Álvaro | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119169 | Forest understories are essential to plant diversity and ecosystem functioning. However, studies about changes in understory patterns as affected by varying precipitation are scarce. Pure Nothofagus pumilio (common name: lenga) forests dominate the eastern side of the Andes mountains in Patagonia across an ample range of precipitation (~1500–500 mm). By studying the same forest type, in the same developmental stage (old-growth), we aimed to isolate the effects of precipitation upon these N. pumilio ecosystems, particularly for the understory. Three sites were selected with annual average precipitations of ~1000 mm (humid), ~800 mm (mesic), and 600 mm (dry), with a distance of 30 km between the humid and the dry sites, and only 18 km between the mesic and the dry sites. In each site, we established three 40 × 40 m plots in 4 blocks, and 30 1 m2 regeneration subplots within each plot. In each subplot we measured vascular plant cover, richness and diversity (alpha and beta), litter cover and coarse woody debris, plus several abiotic variables. We analyzed the data with mixed analysis of variance, differences of understory plant communities through blocked distance-based multivariate analysis of variance, and visualized the groups (sites) with non-metric multidimensional scaling. Indicator species at each site were identified through blocked species indicator analysis. The dry site differed significantly compared to the humid and mesic sites, with the lowest understory cover (4 vs. 82–78%), plant richness (15 vs. 25–26 species), and Simpson diversity index (0.05 vs. 0.66–0.64). Beta turnover diversity was higher between the dry site with either the humid and the mesic sites (βt = 0.613 and 0.561, respectively), which in turn had more species in common (βt = 0.115). An increase in exposed mineral soil, soil water content, and leaf area index occurred from dry to humid sites, and vice versa for transmitted radiation and litter cover. All sites had different indicator species, but with indicator values increasing from dry to humid sites. The dramatic impoverishment of the plant community once precipitation drops within the range of 800 and 600 mm per year in Northern Patagonia sets a warning to the potential effects of climate change upon N. pumilio-dominated forest ecosystems and their plant diversity. Some forest management and potential adaptation strategies are proposed. | Forest Ecology and Management | 03781127 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378112721002577 | 119169 | 491.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | ecosystems, multivariant analysis, reforestation, soil moisture, 'dry' [, biotic/abiotic interactions, indicator species, litter cover, nothofagus, patagonia, plant communities, plant diversity, site quality, transitional forest, climate change, adaptation, climate change, developmental stage, diversity index, forest management, leaf area index, litter, multivariate analysis, coverings, ecosystems, nothofagus, patagonia, plants, reforestation, site index, sites, andes, patagonia, indicator indicator, nothofagus pumilio, tracheophyta |
| How Much Can We See from a UAV-Mounted Regular Camera? Remote Sensing-Based Estimation of Forest Attributes in South American Native Forests | Miranda, Alejandro; Catalán, Germán; Altamirano, Adison; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; Cavieres, Manuel; Guerra, Javier; Mola-Yudego, Blas | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.3390/rs13112151 | Data collection from large areas of native forests poses a challenge. The present study aims at assessing the use of UAV for forest inventory on native forests in Southern Chile, and seeks to retrieve both stand and tree level attributes from forest canopy data. Data were collected from 14 plots (45 × 45 m) established at four locations representing unmanaged Chilean temperate forests: seven plots on secondary forests and seven plots on old-growth forests, including a total of 17 different native species. The imagery was captured using a fixed-wing airframe equipped with a regular RGB camera. We used the structure from motion and digital aerial photogrammetry techniques for data processing and combined machine learning methods based on boosted regression trees and mixed models. In total, 2136 trees were measured on the ground, from which 858 trees were visualized from the UAV imagery of the canopy, ranging from 26% to 88% of the measured trees in the field (mean = 45.7%, SD = 17.3), which represented between 70.6% and 96% of the total basal area of the plots (mean = 80.28%, SD = 7.7). Individual-tree diameter models based on remote sensing data were constructed with R2 = 0.85 and R2 = 0.66 based on BRT and mixed models, respectively. We found a strong relationship between canopy and ground data; however, we suggest that the best alternative was combining the use of both field-based and remotely sensed methods to achieve high accuracy estimations, particularly in complex structure forests (e.g., old-growth forests). Field inventories and UAV surveys provide accurate information at local scales and allow validation of large-scale applications of satellite imagery. Finally, in the future, increasing the accuracy of aerial surveys and monitoring is necessary to advance the development of local and regional allometric crown and DBH equations at the species level. | Remote Sensing | 2072-4292 | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/11/2151 | 2151 | 13.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | antennas, cameras, data handling, fixed wings, learning systems, photogrammetry, remote sensing, satellite imagery, surveys, unmanned aerial vehicles (uav), aerial photogrammetry, boosted regression trees, field inventories, large-scale applications, machine learning methods, remote sensing data, secondary forests, structure from motion, forestry |
| Deep fire topology: Understanding the role of landscape spatial patterns in wildfire occurrence using artificial intelligence | Pais, Cristobal; Miranda, Alejandro; Carrasco, Jaime; Shen, Zuo-Jun Max | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Transversal | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.envsoft.2021.105122 | Increasing wildfire activity globally has become an urgent issue with enormous ecological and social impacts. In this work, we focus on analyzing and quantifying the influence of landscape topology, understood as the spatial structure and interaction of multiple land-covers in an area, on fire ignition. We propose a deep learning framework, Deep Fire Topology, to estimate and predict wildfire ignition risk. We focus on understanding the impact of these topological attributes and the rationale behind the results to provide interpretable knowledge for territorial planning considering wildfire ignition uncertainty. We demonstrate the high performance and interpretability of the framework in a case study, accurately detecting risky areas by exploiting spatial patterns. This work reveals the strong potential of landscape topology in wildfire occurrence prediction and its implications to develop robust landscape management plans. We discuss potential extensions and applications of the proposed method, available as an open-source software. | Environmental Modelling & Software | 13648152 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1364815221001651 | 105122 | 143.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | application programs, deep learning, open source software, open systems, risk perception, deep learning, ecological impacts, landscape topology, machine-learning, social impact, spatial patterns, territorial planning, wildfire ignition, wildfire ignition risk, wildfire management, topology, artificial intelligence, estimation method, land cover, performance assessment, risk assessment, territorial planning, topology, uncertainty analysis, wildfire |
| Chemical Signals in Tree Rings from Northern Patagonia as Indicators of Calbuco Volcano Eruptions since the 16th Century | Bertin, Lizette J.; Christie, Duncan A.; Sheppard, Paul R.; Muñoz, Ariel A.; Lara, Antonio; Alvarez, Claudio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2021.0 | 10.3390/f12101305 | The Calbuco volcano ranks third in the specific risk classification of volcanoes in Chile and has a detailed eruption record since 1853. During 2015, Calbuco had a sub-Plinian eruption with negative impacts in Chile and Argentina, highlighting the need to determine the long-term history of its activity at a high-resolution time scale to obtain a better understanding of its eruptive frequency. We developed a continuous eruptive record of Calbuco for the 1514–2016 period by dendrochemical analysis of Fitzroya cupressoides tree rings at a biennium resolution using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. After comparing the chemical record of 20 elements contained in tree rings with historical eruptions, one group exhibited positive anomalies during (Pb/Sn) and immediately after (Mo/P/Zn/Cu) eruptions, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) ≥ 3, and so were classified as chemical tracers of past eruptions (TPE). The tree-ring width chronology also exhibited significant decreases in tree growth associated with eruptions of VEI ≥ 3. According to these records, we identified 11 new eruptive events of Calbuco, extending its eruptive chronology back to the 16th century and determining a mean eruptive frequency of ~23 years. Our results show the potential to use dendrochemical analysis to infer past volcanic eruptions in Northern Patagonia. This information provides a long-term perspective for assessing eruptive history in Northern Patagonia, with implications for territorial planning. | Forests | 1999-4907 | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1305 | 1305 | 12.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | forestry, indicators (chemical), inductively coupled plasma, mass spectrometry, chemical signals, fitzroya cupressoides, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, northern patagonia, risk classification, sub-plinian eruption, tree rings, volcanic eruptions, volcanic explosivity indices, volcano eruptions, volcanoes |
| High competitive ability of Centaurea melitensis L. (Asteraceae) does not increase in the invaded range | Sotes, Gastón J.; Cavieres, Lohengrin A.; Gómez-González, Susana | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1007/s10530-020-02396-1 | Understanding why alien species become dominant in recipient communities requires a biogeographical perspective comparing the ecology of native and introduced populations. The genus Centaurea (Asteraceae) is well-known in invasion ecology because several aggressive invaders, including Centaurea melitensis L., belong to this genus. We compared the competitive ability of C. melitensis individuals from Spain (native range) and Chile (invaded range) when competing against Helenium aromaticum (Hook.) L.H. Bailey, a native relative from Chile. We performed germination bioassays and common garden competition experiments to compare: (1) the germination capacities of C. melitensis (Spain and Chile) and H. aromaticum (2) the potential allelopathic effect of leaf lixiviates of C. melitensis (Spain and Chile) on the seed germination of H. aromaticum, (3) the ability of C. melitensis from both origins to reduce the growth of H. aromaticum. No significant differences in the capacity of seed germination were found among C. melitensis from Chile and Spain and the native H. aromaticum. However, the seed germination of H. aromaticum was inhibited by the presence of C. melitensis leaves from Chile and Spain. Also, the biomass of H. aromaticum was reduced in the presence of C. melitensis, regardless of their origin. Our results demonstrate the competitive superiority of the invasive C. melitensis over H. aromaticum, but we found no evidence of an evolutionary increase in the competitive ability of the invader populations. Therefore, at least part of the invasive potential of C. melitensis seems to be acquired by selective processes in their original range. | Biological Invasions | 1387-3547, 1573-1464 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10530-020-02396-1 | 693-703 | 23.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | angiosperm, bioassay, biogeography, biological invasion, biomass, community dynamics, competitive ability, garden, germination, introduced species, native species, range expansion, chile, spain, asteraceae, centaurea, centaurea melitensis, helenium aromaticum |
| Fire-induced loss of the world’s most biodiverse forests in Latin America | Armenteras, Dolors; Dávalos, Liliana M.; Barreto, Joan S.; Miranda, Alejandro; Hernández-Moreno, Angela; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; González-Delgado, Tania M.; Meza-Elizalde, María C.; Retana, Javier | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1126/sciadv.abd3357 | Fire plays a dominant role in deforestation, particularly in the tropics, but the relative extent of transformations and influence of fire frequency on eventual forest loss remain unclear. Here, we analyze the frequency of fire and its influence on postfire forest trajectories between 2001 and 2018. We account for ~1.1% of Latin American forests burnt in 2002–2003 (8,465,850 ha). Although 40.1% of forests (3,393,250 ha) burned only once, by 2018, ~48% of the evergreen forests converted to other, primarily grass-dominated uses. While greater fire frequency yielded more transformation, our results reveal the staggering impact of even a single fire. Increasing fire frequency imposes greater risks of irreversible forest loss, transforming forests into ecosystems increasingly vulnerable to degradation. Reversing this trend is indispensable to both mitigate and adapt to climate change globally. As climate change transforms fire regimes across the region, key actions are needed to conserve Latin American forests. | Science Advances | 2375-2548 | https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abd3357 | eabd3357 | 7.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | deforestation, fires, evergreen forests, fire frequencies, fire regimes, forest loss, induced loss, key actions, latin america, latin americans, climate change, article, climate change, evergreen, forest, grass, nonhuman, south and central america |
| Biotic and abiotic drivers of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus stocks in a temperate rainforest | Perez-Quezada, Jorge F.; Pérez, Cecilia A.; Brito, Carla E.; Fuentes, Juan P.; Gaxiola, Aurora; Aguilera-Riquelme, David; Lopatin, Javier | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.foreco.2021.119341 | | Forest Ecology and Management | 03781127 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378112721004291 | 119341 | 494.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | biomass, carbon, ecosystems, forestry, lakes, magnesium, nitrogen, nutrients, phosphorus, biotics, deadwood, evergreen broadleaf forest, n:p ratio, nitrogen and phosphorus, patagonia, property, southern south america, temperate rainforest, vine, soils, abiotic factor, belowground biomass, environmental factor, forest ecosystem, geodiversity, land use, land use change, old-growth forest, rainforest, soil nutrient, species diversity, biomass, carbon, ecosystems, forestry, lakes, magnesium, south america, matthiola |
| Initial response of understorey vegetation and tree regeneration to a mixed‐severity fire in old‐growth Araucaria–Nothofagus forests | Fuentes‐Ramirez, Andres; Salas‐Eljatib, Christian; González, Mauro E; Urrutia‐Estrada, Jonathan; Arroyo‐Vargas, Paola; Santibañez, Pablo | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1111/avsc.12479 | Questions: Fire is a key factor influencing Araucaria araucana forests, but the impact of fire severity on the understorey vegetation is not well understood. In this study we seek to answer the following questions: (a) how do initial plant diversity, composition and spatial distribution of the understorey vegetation change in response to different levels of fire severity; and (b) does the abundance of dominant tree species exhibit different patterns across a fire severity gradient shortly after fire?. Location: Old-growth Araucaria araucana–Nothofagus pumilio forests in the Andes of south-central Chile (38° S, 71° W) burned in 2015. Methods: We evaluated the post-fire plant regeneration across a fire severity gradient ranging from unburned forests to areas of high fire severity. One year after fire (in February 2016), we measured woody and herbaceous species richness, abundance, height, origin (native vs exotic species), life forms and the spatial pattern of plant recovery. Results: Plant species richness and abundance were significantly higher within the unburned forest and low fire severity areas one year after fire, compared to areas of high and moderate fire severity. Overall, nearly 50% of the species present in the unburned forest were not found in areas of high severity, including the tree Nothofagus pumilio. Rapid vegetative resprouting of pioneer species such as Chusquea culeou resulted in an aggregated spatial distribution of plants after fire. Conclusions: Plant diversity and the abundance of Araucaria araucana and Nothofagus pumilio were reduced in areas of high fire severity one year after fire. Exotic species were more abundant within areas of low severity, being likely mediated by cattle browsing. Our research makes clear the potential changes in forest composition and structure if dominant tree species are not capable of recovering after fire. We recommend the exclusion of cattle within fire-affected areas and planting Nothofagus pumilio in areas of high fire severity. © 2020 International Association for Vegetation Science | Applied Vegetation Science | 1402-2001, 1654-109X | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/avsc.12479 | 210-222 | 23.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | abundance, araucaria araucana, nothofagus pumilio, plant diversity, post-fire vegetation recovery, severity gradient, spatial distribution, species richness |
| Water demand in the Chilean manufacturing industry: Analysis of the economic value of water and demand elasticities | Vásquez-Lavín, Felipe; Vargas O, Leonardo; Hernández, José I.; Ponce Oliva, Roberto D. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.1016/j.wre.2020.100159 | In this article, we estimate both the economic value of water and own-price and cross-price elasticities of water for the Chilean manufacturing industry using the production function approach. Estimating the production function allows us to estimate the marginal productivity of water which corresponds to its economic value. Our estimations are based on panel data obtained from the National Industrial Survey for the period 1995–2014, accounting for more than 10,000 industrial plants. We use a translog specification for the production function, considering water, capital, labor, energy, and intermediate material as explanatory variables. We find substitution patterns among most inputs, except for energy and water, which are found to be complements. Our results suggest that the manufacturing sector is characterized by an elastic water demand, with an average economic value of water of 8.071 [USD/m3]. Based on our findings, there is room to increase water prices in most sectors without affecting the competitiveness of firms. Knowing the economic value of water and its price elasticity could help policymakers to design water policies that promote more efficient use of this scarce resource. | Water Resources and Economics | 22124284 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2212428420300049 | 100159 | 32.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | capital, competitiveness, economic analysis, manufacturing, panel data, substitution, water demand, water industry, water resource |
| Physiological and morphological responses to permanent and intermittent waterlogging in seedlings of four evergreen trees of temperate swamp forests | Zúñiga-Feest, Alejandra; Bustos-Salazar, Angela; Alves, Fernanda; Martinez, Vanessa; Smith-Ramírez, Cecilia | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.1093/treephys/tpx023 | | Tree Physiology | 0829-318X, 1758-4469 | https://academic.oup.com/treephys/article/37/6/779/3069384 | 779-789 | 37.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | acclimation, adventitious root, carbon cycle, evergreen tree, gas exchange, growth, leaf area, metabolism, microhabitat, morphology, photosynthesis, physiological response, seedling, stomatal conductance, swamp forest, temperate environment, tolerance, transpiration, waterlogging, south america, blepharocalyx, drimys winteri, luma apiculata, myrceugenia exsucca, water, drimys, ecosystem, forest, growth, development and aging, myrtaceae, physiology, plant leaf, plant root, seedling, tree, wetland, drimys, ecosystem, forests, myrtaceae, plant leaves, plant roots, seedlings, trees, water, wetlands |
| The southern South American Proteaceae, Embothrium coccineum exhibits intraspecific variation in growth and cluster-root formation depending on climatic and edaphic origins | Zúñiga-Feest, Alejandra; Delgado, Mabel; Bustos-Salazar, Angela; Ochoa, Valeria | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2015.0 | 10.1007/s11104-015-2574-6 | Background and aims Cluster root (CR) functioning has been studied mainly in Proteaceae species from (P)-deficient old soils. However, in southern South America, six species occur in young P rich soils. The aims were: i) to study the growth and CR formation of Embothrium coccineum seedlings from populations contrasting in edaphic and climatic conditions and, ii) to study the effect of P availability on CR formation. Methods Seedlings were grown from seeds collected from nine Chilean populations of E. coccineum (36° to 45° S). After 9 months in a nursery, CR formation and growth were determined. Additionally, seedlings from the two populations at the extreme ends of the distribution were maintained on sand and watered with nutrient solutions including or excluding P. Results All seedlings showed CR formation at 4 months old; however, CR allocation differed in that it was lower in plants from the north versus from the south. CR in seedlings from Curacautín (38°) were suppressed when P supply increased, though this was not seen in seedlings from Coyhaique (45°). Conclusions Results suggest local root adaptation related to both climatic and edaphic conditions. We hypothesize that these features could favor Proteaceae persistence in southern South American ecosystems. | Plant and Soil | 0032-079X, 1573-5036 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11104-015-2574-6 | 201-213 | 396.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate conditions, cluster analysis, evergreen tree, growth rate, hypothesis testing, intraspecific variation, persistence, phosphorus, seedling, volcanic soil, aisen, chile, coihaique, embothrium coccineum, proteaceae |
| Carbon allocation to growth and storage in two evergreen species of contrasting successional status | Piper, Frida I.; Sepúlveda, Paulina; Bustos-Salazar, Angela; Zúñiga-Feest, Alejandra | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.3732/ajb.1700057 | Premise of the study: A prevailing hypothesis in forest succession is that shade-tolerant species grow more slowly than shade-intolerant species, across light conditions, because they prioritize carbon (C) allocation to storage. We examined this hypothesis in a confamilial pair of species, including one of the fastest-growing tree species in the world (Eucalyptus globulus) and a shade-tolerant, slow-growing species (Luma apiculata). Methods: Seedlings were subjected to one out of four combinations of light (high vs. low) and initial defoliation (90% defoliated vs. nondefoliated) for four months. Growth, C storage concentration in different organs, leaf shedding, and lateral shoot formation were measured at the end of the experiment. Key results: Eucalyptus globulus grew faster than L. apiculata in high light, but not in low light. Both species had lower C storage concentration in low than in high light, but similar C storage concentrations in each light condition. Defoliation had no effect on C storage, except in the case of the old leaves of both species, which showed lower C storage levels in response to defoliation. Across treatments, leaf shedding was 96% higher in E. globulus than in L. apiculata while, in contrast, lateral shoot formation was 87% higher in L. apiculata. Conclusions: In low light, E. globulus prioritized C storage instead of growth, whereas L. apiculata prioritized growth and lateral branching. Our results suggest that shade tolerance depends on efficient light capture rather than C conservation traits. Keywords: C starvation; Eucalyptus globulus; Luma apiculata; Myrtaceae; defoliation; growth–survival tradeoff; leaf shedding; starch; succession; understory. | American Journal of Botany | 0002-9122, 1537-2197 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.3732/ajb.1700057 | 654-662 | 104.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | biomass allocation, carbon sequestration, defoliation, evergreen tree, growth, light availability, seedling, shade tolerance, shading, starch, succession, survival, trade-off, understory, eucalyptus globulus, luma apiculata, myrtaceae, carbon, carbon cycle, eucalyptus, forest, growth, development and aging, light, metabolism, myrtaceae, plant leaf, seedling, tree, carbon, carbon cycle, eucalyptus, forests, light, myrtaceae, plant leaves, seedlings, trees |
| Anaerobic oxidation of methane and associated microbiome in anoxic water of Northwestern Siberian lakes | Cabrol, Léa; Thalasso, Frédéric; Gandois, Laure; Sepulveda-Jauregui, Armando; Martinez-Cruz, Karla; Teisserenc, Roman; Tananaev, Nikita; Tveit, Alexander; Svenning, Mette M.; Barret, Maialen | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139588 | | Science of The Total Environment | 00489697 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0048969720331053 | 139588 | 736.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | genes, lakes, methane, oxidation, permafrost, polymerase chain reaction, rna, anaerobic oxidation of methanes, anoxic layers, ch4 oxidation, discontinuous permafrost, methane oxidation, methane oxidizing bacteria (mob), permafrost thaws, stratified lakes, anoxic water, lake water, methane, methane, rna 16s, water, anoxic conditions, arctic environment, lake water, methane, microbial activity, oxic conditions, oxidation, permafrost, water quality, 16s rrna gene, anaerobic metabolism, article, bacterial gene, bacterial microbiome, bacterial strain, chemical composition, concentration (parameter), dna barcoding, geobacter, geothrix, iron metabolism, lake ecosystem, mcra gene, methane oxidizing bacterium, methanotrophic bacterium, methylococcaceae, methylotenera, microbial interaction, nonhuman, permafrost, pmoa gene, priority journal, real time polymerase chain reaction, russian federation, taxonomy, anaerobic growth, arctic, lake, microflora, oxidation reduction reaction, igarka, krasnoyarsk [russian federation], russian federation, siberia, geobacter, geothrix, methylobacter, methylotenera, otus, anaerobiosis, arctic regions, lakes, methane, microbiota, oxidation-reduction, rna, ribosomal, 16s, russia, water |
| Predicting spatial variability of selected soil properties using digital soil mapping in a rainfed vineyard of central Chile | Mashalaba, Lwando; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Seguel, Oscar; Poblete-Olivares, Javiera | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1016/j.geodrs.2020.e00289 | Soil physical properties influence vineyard behavior, therefore the knowledge of their spatial variability is essential for making vineyard management decisions. This study aimed to model and map selected soil properties by means of knowledge-based digital soil mapping approach. We used a Random Forest (RF) algorithm to link environmental covariates derived from a LiDAR flight and satellite spectral information, describing soil forming factors and ten selected soil properties (particle size distribution, bulk density, dispersion ratio, Ksat, field capacity, permanent wilting point, fast drainage pores and slow drainage pores) at three depth intervals, namely 0–20, 20–40, and 40–60 cm at a systematic grid (60 × 60 m2). The descriptive statistics showed low to very high variability within the field. RF model of particle size distribution, and bulk density performed well, although the models could not reliably predict saturated hydraulic conductivity. There was a better prediction performance (based on 34% model validation) in the upper depth intervals than the lower depth intervals (e.g., R2 of 0.66; nRMSE of 27.5% for clay content at 0–20 cm and R2 of 0.51; nRMSE of 16% at 40–60 cm). There was a better prediction performance in the lower depth intervals than the upper depth intervals (e.g., R2 of 0.49; nRMSE of 23% for dispersion ratio at 0–20 cm and R2 of 0.81; nRMSE of 30% at 40–60 cm). RF model overestimated areas with low values and underestimated areas with high values. Further analysis suggested that Topographic position Index, Topographic Wetness Index, aspect, slope length factor, modified catchment area, catchment slope, and longitudinal curvature were the dominant environmental covariates influencing prediction of soil properties. | Geoderma Regional | 23520094 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352009420300389 | e00289 | 22.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | alfisols, digital soil mapping, environmental covariates, random forest model, remote sensing, soil properties, vineyard |
| Diversity loss and changes in saproxylic beetle assemblages following a high-severity fire in Araucaria–Nothofagus forests | Tello, Francisco; González, Mauro E.; Valdivia, Nelson; Torres, Fernanda; Lara, Antonio; García-López, Alejandra | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1007/s10841-020-00223-5 | | Journal of Insect Conservation | 1366-638X, 1572-9753 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10841-020-00223-5 | 585-601 | 24.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | abundance, beetle, biodiversity, coniferous forest, dead wood, deciduous forest, saproxylic organism, specialist, species richness, wildfire, chile, coleoptera, hexapoda, nothofagus |
| Landscape Disturbance Gradients: The Importance of the Type of Scene When Evaluating Landscape Preferences and Perceptions | Altamirano, Adison; Gonzalez-Suhr, Carolina; Marien, Caroline; Catalán, Germán; Miranda, Alejandro; Prado, Marco; Tits, Laurent; Vieli, Lorena; Meli, Paula | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.3390/land9090306 | Understanding of people’s landscape preferences is important for decision-making about land planning, particularly in the disturbance patterns that usually occur in rural-urban gradients. However, the use of different types of images concerning the same landscape may influence social preferences and thus perceptions of landscape management and planning decisions. We evaluated landscape preferences and perceptions in four landscapes of southern Chile. We specifically: (1) compared people’s perceptions related to living in, visiting, the scenic beauty, well-being, risks, and level of landscape disturbance; and (2) evaluated the influence of the type of scene (i.e., eye-level or aerial images) in these preferences and perceptions. Preferences and perceptions resulted to be better when using eye-level (4.0 ± 1.1) than aerial (3.7 ± 0.6) images. In general, we observed a negative association between preferences and perceptions and the landscape disturbance; however, it was consistent when using aerial images but was masked when valuing landscape through eye-level images. Implications of these results are relevant because by far, most landscape preference studies use traditional eye-level images. Different types of scenes should be considered in order to embrace the landscape preferences and perceptions of all those involved and help decision-making in landscape planning. | Land | 2073-445X | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/9/9/306 | 306 | 9.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | A |
| Natural forests loss and tree plantations: large-scale tree cover loss differentiation in a threatened biodiversity hotspot | Altamirano, Adison; Miranda, Alejandro; Aplin, Paul; Carrasco, Jaime; Catalán, Germán; Cayuela, Luis; Fuentes-Castillo, Taryn; Hernández, Angela; Martínez-Harms, María J; Peluso, Franco; Prado, Marco; Reyes-Riveros, Rosa; Van Holt, Tracy; Vergara, Cristian; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; Di Bella, Carlos | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.1088/1748-9326/abca64 | Distinguishing between natural forests from exotic tree plantations is essential to get an accurate picture of the world’s state of forests. Most exotic tree plantations support lower levels of biodiversity and have less potential for ecosystem services supply than natural forests, and differencing them is still a challenge using standard tools. We use a novel approach in south-central of Chile to differentiate tree cover dynamics among natural forests and exotic tree plantations. Chile has one of the world’s most competitive forestry industry and the region is a global biodiversity hotspot. Our collaborative visual interpretation method combined a global database of tree cover change, remote sensing from high-resolution satellite images and expert knowledge. By distinguishing exotic tree plantation and natural forest loss, we fit spatially explicit models to estimate tree-cover loss across 40 millions of ha between 2000 and 2016. We were able to distinguish natural forests from exotic tree plantations with an overall accuracy of 99% and predicted forest loss. Total tree cover loss was continuous over time, and the disaggregation revealed that 1 549 909 ha of tree plantations were lost (mean = 96 869 ha year−1 ), while 206 142 ha corresponded to natural forest loss (mean = 12 884 ha year−1 ). Mostly of tree plantations lost returned to be plantation (51%). Natural forests were converted mainly (75%) to transitional land covers (e.g. shrubland, bare land, grassland), and an important proportion of these may finish as tree plantation. This replacement may undermine objectives of increased carbon storage and biodiversity. Tree planting as a solution has gained increased attention in recen years with ambitious commitments to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, negative outcomes for the environment could result if strategies incentivize the replacement of natural forests into other land covers. Initiatives to reduce carbon emissions should encourage differentiating natural forests from exotic tree plantations and pay more attention on protecting and managing sustainably the former. | Environmental Research Letters | 1748-9326 | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/abca64 | 124055 | 15.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate change, ecosystems, reforestation, remote sensing, ecosystem services, expert knowledge, forestry industry, high resolution satellite images, loss differentiation, overall accuracies, spatially explicit models, visual interpretation, biodiversity, biodiversity, climate change, ecosystem service, forest cover, forest ecosystem, plantation forestry, remote sensing, satellite imagery, strategic approach, tree, chile |
| Firewood certification programs: Key attributes and policy implications | Vásquez-Lavin, Felipe; Barrientos, Manuel; Castillo, Álvaro; Herrera, Iván; Ponce Oliva, Roberto D. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.1016/j.enpol.2019.111160 | Evidence from south-central Chile shows that the concentration limits for PM10 and PM2.5, defined by both the World Health Organization and national standards, are systematically exceeded, affecting approximately 10 million people. Among the sources of this pollution, firewood use accounts for the largest share. This study assesses whether consumers value environmental, social, and legal attributes associated with the firewood certification programs. We used a discrete choice model based on a sample of 500 households. According to our results, the price premium for certified firewood is about 10% in the most likely scenario, with those attributes closely related to private benefits having a higher value, compared to those of social benefits. We identify significant heterogeneity among respondents belonging to two different consumer classes: 1) those who are less price sensitive and are willing to pay for attributes related to certification; 2) those who are sensitive to prices and are not willing to pay for attributes related to certification. Since the second class includes about 46% of the sample, the implementation of certification programs could be jeopardized. Therefore, knowing this information helps us determine whether a certification system can foster the firewood industry transition to a more sustainable model. | Energy Policy | 0301-4215 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301421519307463 | 111160 | 137.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | behavioral research, energy utilization, environmental regulations, public policy, certification, certification programs, certification systems, consumers' preferences, discrete choice models, firewood use, household energy consumption, world health organization, air quality, air quality, certification, consumption behavior, discrete choice analysis, environmental policy, fuelwood, household energy, willingness to pay, chile |
| Embedding effect and the consequences of advanced disclosure: evidence from the valuation of cultural goods | Carrasco, Moisés; Vasquez-Lavin, Felipe; Ponce Oliva, Roberto D.; Bustamante Oporto, José Luis; Barrientos, Manuel; Cerda, Arcadio A. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1007/s00181-020-01897-1 | This study revisits the embedding effect, a long-standing problem in the nonmarket valuation literature. The embedding effect was a popular research topic during the 1990s, especially following the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. It has resurfaced after a special issue of The Journal of Economic Perspectives in 2012 in which Jerry Hausmann asserts that among the three long-standing problems with contingent valuation, the embedding effect is the most challenging. In this study, we focus on how information disclosure regarding the nested structure of goods affects both the willingness to pay and the presence of the embedding effect. Our results suggest that the level of embedding can be reduced with a more complete description of the nested structure of the goods under valuation. Therefore, it is highly important for each valuation study to test whether sufficient information is provided on the goods’ nested structure to ensure that the relationships among the goods’ subsets are correctly understood by respondents. We show that by providing respondents with more high-quality information, it is possible to mitigate the embedding effect. | Empirical Economics | 0377-7332, 1435-8921 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00181-020-01897-1 | | | Thomson Reuters ISI | contingent valuation, information, willingness to pay |
| Mediterranean Heathland as a Key Habitat for Fire Adaptations: Evidence from an Experimental Approach | Gómez-González, Susana; Paniw, Maria; Durán, Mario; Picó, Sergio; Martín-Rodríguez, Irene; Ojeda, Fernando | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.3390/f11070748 | Some fire ecology studies that have focused on garrigue-like vegetation suggest a weak selective pressure of fire in the Mediterranean Basin compared to other Mediterranean-type regions. However, fire-prone Mediterranean heathland from the western end of the Mediterranean Basin has been frequently ignored in the fire ecology literature despite its high proportion of pyrogenic species. Here, we explore the evolutionary ecology of seed traits in the generalist rockrose Cistus salviifolius L. (Cistaceae) aiming to ascertain the role of the Mediterranean heathland for fire adaptations in the Mediterranean Region. We performed a germination experiment to compare the relationship of seed size to (i) heat-stimulated germination, (ii) dormancy strength, and (iii) heat survival in plants from ‘high-fire’ heathland vs. ‘low-fire’ coastal shrubland. Germination after heat-shock treatment was higher in large seeds of both ‘high-fire’ and ‘low-fire’ habitats. However, dormancy was weaker in small seeds from ‘low-fire’ habitats. Finally, seed survival to heat shock was positively related to seed size. Our results support that seed size is an adaptive trait to fire in C. salviifolius, since larger seeds had stronger dormancy, higher heat-stimulated germination and were more resistant to heat shock. This seed size–fire relationship was tighter in ‘high-fire’ Mediterranean heathland than ‘low-fire’ coastal shrubland, indicating the existence of differential fire pressures and evolutionary trends at the landscape scale. These findings highlight the Mediterranean heathland as a relevant habitat for fire-driven evolution, thus contributing to better understand the role of fire in plant evolution within the Mediterranean region. | Forests | 1999-4907 | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/11/7/748 | 748 | 11.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | after-heat treatment, cultivation, ecosystems, plants (botany), seed, evolutionary ecology, evolutionary trend, experimental approaches, heat shock treatment, landscape scale, mediterranean basin, mediterranean region, selective pressure, fires, adaptation, angiosperm, dormancy, evolution, evolutionary biology, experimental study, fire management, generalist, germination, habitat structure, heathland, mediterranean environment, temperature effect, wildfire, cultivation, dormancy, ecosystems, fires, germination, heat, mediterranean, mediterranean region, cistaceae, cistus, cistus salviifolius |
| Afforestation falls short as a biodiversity strategy | Gómez-González, Susana; Ochoa-Hueso, Raúl; Pausas, Juli G. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.1126/science.abd3064 | | Science | 0036-8075, 1095-9203 | https://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.abd3064 | 1439-1439 | 368.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | afforestation, biodiversity, carbon footprint, climate change, environmental economics, environmental policy, european union, human, landscape, letter, planting time, priority journal, wellbeing, environmental protection, tree, biodiversity, conservation of natural resources, european union, trees |
| High competitive ability of Centaurea melitensis L. (Asteraceae) does not increase in the invaded range | Sotes, Gastón J.; Cavieres, Lohengrin A.; Gómez-González, Susana | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1007/s10530-020-02396-1 | Understanding why alien species become dominant in recipient communities requires a biogeographical perspective comparing the ecology of native and introduced populations. The genus Centaurea (Asteraceae) is well-known in invasion ecology because several aggressive invaders, including Centaurea melitensis L., belong to this genus. We compared the competitive ability of C. melitensis individuals from Spain (native range) and Chile (invaded range) when competing against Helenium aromaticum (Hook.) L.H. Bailey, a native relative from Chile. We performed germination bioassays and common garden competition experiments to compare: (1) the germination capacities of C. melitensis (Spain and Chile) and H. aromaticum (2) the potential allelopathic effect of leaf lixiviates of C. melitensis (Spain and Chile) on the seed germination of H. aromaticum, (3) the ability of C. melitensis from both origins to reduce the growth of H. aromaticum. No significant differences in the capacity of seed germination were found among C. melitensis from Chile and Spain and the native H. aromaticum. However, the seed germination of H. aromaticum was inhibited by the presence of C. melitensis leaves from Chile and Spain. Also, the biomass of H. aromaticum was reduced in the presence of C. melitensis, regardless of their origin. Our results demonstrate the competitive superiority of the invasive C. melitensis over H. aromaticum, but we found no evidence of an evolutionary increase in the competitive ability of the invader populations. Therefore, at least part of the invasive potential of C. melitensis seems to be acquired by selective processes in their original range. | Biological Invasions | 1387-3547, 1573-1464 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10530-020-02396-1 | 387-390 | 56.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | angiosperm, bioassay, biogeography, biological invasion, biomass, community dynamics, competitive ability, garden, germination, introduced species, native species, range expansion, chile, spain, asteraceae, centaurea, centaurea melitensis, helenium aromaticum |
| Using Sentinel-2 and canopy height models to derive a landscape-level biomass map covering multiple vegetation types | Fassnacht, Fabian Ewald; Poblete-Olivares, Javiera; Rivero, Lucas; Lopatin, Javier; Ceballos-Comisso, Andrés; Galleguillos, Mauricio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.jag.2020.102236 | Vegetation biomass is a globally important climate-relevant terrestrial carbon pool and also drives local hydrological systems via evapotranspiration. Vegetation biomass of individual vegetation types has been successfully estimated from active and passive remote sensing data. However, for many tasks, landscape-level biomass maps across several vegetation types are more suitable than biomass maps of individual vegetation types. For example, the validation of ecohydrological models and carbon budgeting typically requires spatially continuous biomass estimates, independent from vegetation type. Studies that derive biomass estimates across multiple vegetation or land-cover types to merge them into a single landscape-level biomass map are still scarce, and corresponding workflows must be developed. Here, we present a workflow to derive biomass estimates on landscape-level for a large watershed in central Chile. Our workflow has three steps: First, we combine field plot based biomass estimates with spectral and structural information collected from Sentinel-2, TanDEM-X and airborne LiDAR data to map grassland, shrubland, native forests and pine plantation biomass using random forest regressions with an automatic feature selection. Second, we predict all models to the entire landscape. Third, we derive a land-cover map including the four considered vegetation types. We then use this land-cover map to assign the correct vegetation type-specific biomass estimate to each pixel according to one of the four considered vegetation types. Using a single repeatable workflow, we obtained biomass predictions comparable to earlier studies focusing on only one of the four vegetation types (Spearman correlation between 0.80 and 0.84; normalized-RMSE below 16 % for all vegetation types). For all woody vegetation types, height metrics were amongst the selected predictors, while for grasslands, only Sentinel-2 bands were selected. The land-cover was also mapped with high accuracy (OA = 83.1 %). The final landscape-level biomass map spatially agrees well with the known biomass distribution patterns in the watershed. Progressing from vegetation-type specific maps towards landscape-level biomass maps is an essential step towards integrating remote-sensing based biomass estimates into models for water and carbon management. | International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation | 03032434 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0303243420308795 | 102236 | 94.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | A |
| Fire history in Andean Araucaria–Nothofagus forests: coupled influences of past human land-use and climate on fire regimes in north-west Patagonia | González, M. E.; Muñoz, A. A.; González-Reyes, A.; Christie, D. A.; Sibold, J. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2020.0 | 10.1071/WF19174 | | International Journal of Wildland Fire | 1049-8001 | http://www.publish.csiro.au/?paper=WF19174 | | | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate variability, dendroecology, el niño southern oscillation, native americans, southern annular mode, tree-rings |
| Hidden welfare effects of tree plantations | Anríquez, Gustavo; Toledo, Gabriela; Arriagada, Rodrigo | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1017/S1355770X20000303 | Abstract Subsidies to promote tree plantations have been questioned because of negative impacts of the forestry industry. Quantitative evidence on the socioeconomic impacts of afforestation subsidies or of tree plantations is elusive, mainly due to data scarcity. We assess the overall impact of a tree plantation subsidy in Chile, using our original 20-year panel dataset that includes small area estimates of poverty and the subsidy assignment at the census-district scale. We show that forestry subsidies – on average – in fact, do increase poverty. More specifically, using difference in difference with matching techniques, and instrumental variables approaches, we show that there is an increase of about 2 per cent in the poverty rate of treated localities. We identify employment as a causal mechanism explaining this finding, since we found a negative effect of tree plantations on employment, and therefore, on poverty. We suggest reassessment of the distributional effects of the forest subsidy and forestry industry. | Environment and Development Economics | 1355-770X, 1469-4395 | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1355770X20000303/type/journal_article | 1-18 | | Thomson Reuters ISI | afforestation subsidies, impact evaluation, poverty, tree plantations |
| Low Growth Sensitivity and Fast Replenishment of Non-structural Carbohydrates in a Long-Lived Endangered Conifer After Drought | Urrutia-Jalabert, R.; Lara, A.; Barichivich, J.; Vergara, N.; Rodriguez, C.; Piper, F. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.3389/fpls.2020.00905 | There is an ongoing debate on whether a drought induced carbohydrate limitation (source limitation) or a direct effect of water shortage (sink limitation) limit growth under drought. In this study, we investigated the effects of the two driest summers recorded in southern Chile in the last seven decades, on the growth and non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) concentrations of the slow-growing conifer Fitzroya cupressoides. Specifically, we studied the seasonal variation of NSC in saplings and adults one and two years after the occurrence of a 2 year-summer drought at two sites of contrasting precipitation and productivity (mesic-productive vs. rainy-less productive). We also evaluated radial growth before, during and after the drought, and predicted that drought could have reduced growth. If drought caused C source limitation, we expected that NSCs will be lower during the first than the second year after drought. Conversely, similar NSC concentrations between years or higher NSC concentrations in the first year would be supportive of sink limitation. Also, due to the lower biomass of saplings compared with adults, we expected that saplings should experience stronger seasonal NSC remobilization than adults. We confirmed this last expectation. Moreover, we found no significant growth reduction during drought in the rainy site and a slightly significant growth reduction at the mesic site for both saplings and adults. Across organs and in both sites and age classes, NSC, starch, and sugar concentrations were generally higher in the first than in the second year following drought, while NSC seasonal remobilization was generally lower. Higher NSC concentrations along with lower seasonal NSC remobilization during the first post-drought year are supportive of sink limitation. However, as these results were found at both sites while growth decreased slightly and just at the mesic site, limited growth only is unlikely to have caused NSC accumulation. Rather, these results suggest that the post-drought dynamics of carbohydrate storage are partly decoupled from the growth dynamics, and that the rebuild of C reserves after drought may be a priority in this species. | Frontiers in Plant Science | 1664-462X | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpls.2020.00905/full | 905 | 11.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | carbon limitation, drought, fitzroya cupressoides, non-structural carbohydrates, remobilization, starch, sugars, tree-growth |
| Forest browning trends in response to drought in a highly threatened mediterranean landscape of South America | Miranda, A.; Lara, A.; Altamirano, A.; Di Bella, C.; González, M. E.; Julio Camarero, J. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106401 | Deforestation is widely studied throughout the world. However, a less evident issue is the effect of climate change and drought on remnants of native forests. The objective of this work was to understand the geographic variations in resistance to drought of the Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests of central Chile. These forests have been historically reduced and fragmented and in recent years were subjected to the most prolonged drought occurred between 2010 and 2017. Using data from the MODIS satellite sensor, temporal trends in the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) were quantified. We related these trends with different environmental variables to understand the effects of geographical variation and forest type as indicators of resistance to drought. We observed a significant direct effect of drought, attributable to the reduced precipitation in central Chile, and a significantly reduced NDVI in near one-third of the region forests (browning). However, NDVI and therefore forest productivity were more stable in some mesic sites such as ravine bottoms, but not on south-facing slopes. This suggests that under a regime of reduced precipitations, a greater available soil humidity would be a more important factor than the fact of receiving less solar radiation. Finally, the highest degree of browning was observed in semi-arid sclerophyllous forest dominated by species tolerant to drought. Our findings emphasize the need to consider topographic site conditions to adequately assess forest productivity and vulnerability where local wet conditions could provide drought refuges. This recent drought may be analogous to forecasted warmer and drier climate conditions with more frequent and severe droughts, so our results may serve as a general framework for climate-smart decisions in highly threatened forest restoration and conservation. | Ecological Indicators | 1470160X | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470160X20303381 | 106401 | 115.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate change, deforestation, drought, productivity, environmental variables, forest productivity, forest restoration, geographic variation, geographical variations, mediterranean landscapes, modis satellite sensors, normalized difference vegetation index, conservation, climate change, conservation status, deforestation, drought stress, endangered species, geographical variation, mediterranean environment, modis, ndvi, relative humidity, satellite sensor, vulnerability, wilting, chile |
| Evidence-based mapping of the wildland-urban interface to better identify human communities threatened by wildfires | Miranda, A.; Carrasco, J.; González, M. E.; Pais, C.; Lara, A.; Altamirano, A.; Weintraub, A.; Syphard, A. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | | 10.1088/1748-9326/ab9be5 | The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the spatial manifestation of human communities coupled with vegetated ecosystems. Spatial delineation of the WUI is important for wildfire policy and management, but is typically defined according to spatial relationships between housing development and wildland vegetation without explicit consideration of fire risk. A fire risk-based definition of WUI can enable a better distribution of management investment so as to maximize social return. We present a novel methodological approach to delineate the WUI based on a fire risk assessment. The approach establishes a geographical framework to model fire risk via machine learning and generate multi-scale, variable-specific spatial thresholds for translating fire probabilities into mapped output. To determine whether fire-based WUI mapping better captures the spatial congruence of houses and wildfires than conventional methods, we compared national and subnational fire-based WUI maps for Chile to WUI maps generated only with housing and vegetation thresholds. The two mapping approaches exhibited broadly similar spatial patterns, the WUI definitions covering almost the same area and containing similar proportions of the housing units in the area under study (17.1% vs. 17.9%), but the fire-based WUI accounted for 13.8% more spatial congruence of fires and people (47.1% vs. 33.2% of ignitions). Substantial regional variability was found in fire risk drivers and the corresponding spatial mapping thresholds, suggesting there are benefits to developing different WUI maps for different scales of application. We conclude that a dynamic, multi-scale, fire-based WUI mapping approach should provide more targeted and effective support for decision making than conventional approaches. | Environmental Research Letters | 1748-9326 | https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab9be5 | 094069 | 15.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | behavioral research, decision making, housing, mapping, risk assessment, vegetation, conventional approach, conventional methods, fire risk assessment, methodological approach, regional variability, spatial relationships, vegetated ecosystems, wildland urban interface, fires, decision making, machine learning, mapping, spatial analysis, threshold, wildfire, wildlife management, chile |
| Local Perceptions of Fires Risk and Policy Implications in the Hills of Valparaíso, Chile | Sapiains, Rodolfo; Ugarte, Ana María; Aldunce, Paulina; Marchant, Germant; Romero, Javier Alberto; González, Mauro E.; Inostroza-Lazo, Valentina | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos; Gobernanza e Interfaz Ciencia y Política | | 10.3390/su12104298 | Climate change is increasing the occurrence of natural disasters worldwide, and more frequent and intense fires represent one of the most destructive expressions of this trend. Chile is highly vulnerable to climate change, and fires are a recurrent phenomenon affecting many people each year. To reduce fire risk, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) suggests reducing both exposure and vulnerability through multiple initiatives, which demand increased community engagement. In such a context, this study explores local perceptions of fire in a sample of inhabitants in a wildland-urban interface (WUI) in Valparaiso, a city that is affected by numerous fires each year. The ultimate goal was to identify psychological and community factors that should be taken into consideration to develop prevention plans and safer environments for people living in a context of poverty and social inequity. Using a qualitative approach, 28 interviews were conducted and analyzed following grounded theory principles. Results identified multiple causes, impacts, and characteristics of the problem perceived by people who permanently cohabit with fire risk, showing that for many of them, fire risk is not about the probability of occurrence of a disaster, but a question about when and how the next fire will happen. However, in such a complex scenario, psychological, community, and structural barriers deter people from implementing more effective actions. Conversely, in emergency situations, such barriers are irrelevant and cooperative actions prevail, suggesting the existence of resources and capacities within the community that could lessen exposure and vulnerability if activated on a day-to-day basis. Overall, reducing fire risk cannot be achieved by local communities alone nor without their support. To build, maintain, and consolidate fire prevention actions, it is critical to activate community strengths and cooperation and engage the resources and management capacity of local governments. | Sustainability | 2071-1050 | https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/10/4298 | 4298 | 12.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | fire management, intergovernmental panel on climate change, local government, local planning, natural disaster, policy implementation, probability, qualitative analysis, risk assessment, vulnerability, valparaiso |
| Operationalizing the IUCN Red List of Ecosystems in public policy | Alaniz, Alberto J.; Pérez‐Quezada, Jorge F.; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Vásquez, Alexis E.; Keith, David A. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1111/conl.12665 | Threats to ecosystems are closely linked to human development, whereas lack, insufficiency, and inefficiency of public policies are important drivers of environmental decline. Previous studies have discussed the contribution of IUCN's Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) in conservation issues; however, its applications in different policy fields and instruments for achieving biodiversity conservation have not been explored in detail. Here, we introduce a framework to operationalize the RLE in public policy, facilitating work of governments, practitioners, and decision makers. Our analysis identified 20 policy instruments that could reduce risks to ecosystems highlighted by different Red List criteria. We discuss how RLE could inform the policy process by analyzing different instruments that could be designed, implemented, and modified to achieve risk reduction. We also present practical examples from around the world showing how ecosystem conservation could be improved by operationalizing the RLE in policy instruments. The RLE criteria can inform the policy process by helping to shape objectives and identifying policy instruments that directly address the causes and severity of risks illuminated in Red List assessments. We conclude that RLE could be expanded into a broader holistic spectrum of policy instruments, which could be a key to achieving the ecosystem conservation. | Conservation Letters | 1755-263X | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/conl.12665 | | | Thomson Reuters ISI | assessment criteria, conservation planning, ecosystem conservation, land use planning, policy instruments, prioritization, threatened ecosystems |
| Traits of perch trees promote seed dispersal of endemic fleshy-fruit species in degraded areas of endangered Mediterranean ecosystems | Miranda, Alejandro; Vásquez, Inao A.; Becerra, Pablo; Smith-Ramírez, Cecilia; Delpiano, Cristian A.; Hernández-Moreno, Angela; Altamirano, Adison | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.103995 | The presence and attributes of perch trees in degraded areas may promote seed dispersal. We evaluated the effect of the distance from remnant forest fragments on seed rain of different fleshy-fruit tree species and examined whether the seed rain is favoured by some traits of the perch trees (Acacia caven), such as canopy diameter and tree height. The study was carried out in two localities of central Chile with extensive “espinales” adjacent to remnant fragments of sclerophyllous forest. We installed 210 seed traps under the same number of A. caven trees along 10 transects in the two study areas. We set up the seed traps between 1 and 100 m away from forest fragments. We found a significant negative relationship between seed rain and distance. We also found a positive relationship between seed rain and the height and canopy diameter of the perch tree. Our results suggest that different woody species are able to disperse into the espinal, and that bigger A. caven trees are better perches than smaller individuals. We propose that at distances up to at least 100 m from forest fragments, seed availability does not limit natural regeneration into espinales. | Journal of Arid Environments | 0140-1963 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140196319300862 | 103995 | | Thomson Reuters ISI | coniferous tree, endangered species, endemic species, forest ecosystem, fruit, restoration ecology, seed dispersal, seed rain, chile, mediterranean region, acacia caven, aves |
| The Impacts of Native Forests and Forest Plantation on Water Supply in Chile | Alvarez-Garreton, Camila; Lara, Antonio; Boisier, Juan Pablo; Galleguillos, Mauricio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2019.0 | 10.3390/f10060473 | Over the past 40 years, south-central Chile has experienced important land-use-induced land cover changes, with massive conversion from native forests (NF) to Pinus radiata D.Don and Eucalyptus spp. exotic forest plantations (FP). Several case studies have related this conversion to a reduction in water supply within small catchments (<100 ha). In this work, we explore the impacts of NF and FP on streamflow by using a large-sample catchment dataset recently developed for Chile. We select 25 large forested catchments (>20,000 ha) in south-central Chile (35° S–41° S), analyze their land cover and precipitation spatial distributions, and fit a regression model to quantify the influence of NF, FP, grassland (GRA) and shrubland (SHR) partitions on annual runoff. To assess potential effects of land cover changes on water supply, we use the fitted model (R2 = 0.84) in synthetic experiments where NF, GRA and SHR covers within the catchments are replaced by patches of FP. We show that annual runoff consistently decreases with increments of FP, although the magnitude of the change (ranging from 2.2% to 7.2% mean annual runoff decrease for 10,000 ha increment in FP) depends on several factors, including the initial land cover partition within the basin, the replaced land cover class, the area of the catchment, and the type of catchment (drier or humid). Finally, in the context of the mitigation strategies pledged in the Chilean NDC (Nationally Determined Contributions defined after the Paris Agreement), which include the afforestation of 100,000 ha (mainly native forest) by 2030, we quantify the impacts on water supply due to the afforestation of 100,000 ha with different combinations of NF and FP. We show that annual runoff is highly sensitive to the relative area of FP to NF: ratios of FP to NF areas of 10%, 50% and 90% would lead to 3%, −18% and −40% changes in mean annual runoff, respectively. Our results can be used in the discussion of public policies and decision-making involving forests and land cover changes, as they provide scientifically-based tools to quantify expected impacts on water resources. In particular, this knowledge is relevant for decision making regarding mitigation strategies pledged in the Chilean NDC. | Forests | 1999-4907 | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/10/6/473 | 473 | 10.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | catchments, decision making, land use, large dataset, reforestation, regression analysis, runoff, chile, forest plantation, grassland, land use and land cover change, native forests, shrublands, water provision, water supply, grassland, land cover, land use change, plantation forestry, runoff, shrubland, streamflow, water supply, chile, decision making, land use, reforestation, regression analysis, runoff, chile, eucalyptus, pinus radiata |
| Using aboveground vegetation attributes as proxies for mapping peatland belowground carbon stocks | Lopatin, Javier; Kattenborn, Teja; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Perez-Quezada, Jorge F.; Schmidtlein, Sebastian | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1016/j.rse.2019.111217 | Peatlands are key reservoirs of belowground carbon (C) and their monitoring is important to assess the rapid changes in the C cycle caused by climate change and direct anthropogenic impacts. Frequently, information of peatland area and vegetation type estimated by remote sensing has been used along with soil measurements and allometric functions to estimate belowground C stocks. Despite the accuracy of such approaches, there is still the need to find mappable proxies that enhance predictions with remote sensing data while reducing field and laboratory efforts. Therefore, we assessed the use of aboveground vegetation attributes as proxies to predict peatland belowground C stocks. First, the ecological relations between remotely detectable vegetation attributes (i.e. vegetation height, aboveground biomass, species richness and floristic composition of vascular plants) and belowground C stocks were obtained using structural equation modeling (SEM). SEM was formulated using expert knowledge and trained and validated using in-situ information. Second, the SEM latent vectors were spatially mapped using random forests regressions with UAV-based hyperspectral and structural information. Finally, this enabled us to map belowground C stocks using the SEM functions parameterized with the random forests derived maps. This SEM approach resulted in higher accuracies than a direct application of a purely data-driven random forests approach with UAV data, with improvements of r2 from 0.39 to 0.54, normalized RMSE from 31.33% to 20.24% and bias from −0.73 to 0.05. Our case study showed that: (1) vegetation height, species richness and aboveground biomass are good proxies to map peatland belowground C stocks, as they can be estimated using remote sensing data and hold strong relationships with the belowground C gradient; and (2) SEM is facilitates to incorporate theoretical knowledge in empirical modeling approaches. | Remote Sensing of Environment | 0034-4257 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0034425719302305 | 111217 | 231.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | carbon, climate change, decision trees, remote sensing, scanning electron microscopy, unmanned aerial vehicles (uav), wetlands, anthropogenic impacts, carbon stocks, floristic compositions, hyperspectral, path models, random forests, structural equation modeling, structural information, vegetation, aboveground biomass, allometry, belowground biomass, carbon sequestration, climate change, mapping method, path analysis, peatland, remote sensing, scanning electron microscopy, spectral analysis, unmanned vehicle, vegetation cover, tracheophyta |
| Spatial congruence among indicators of recovery completeness in a Mediterranean forest landscape: Implications for planning large-scale restoration | Altamirano, Adison; Miranda, Alejandro; Meli, Paula; Dehennin, Joris; Muys, Bart; Prado, Marco; Catalán, Germán; Smith-Ramírez, Cecilia; Bustamante-Sánchez, Marcela; Lisón, Fulgencio; María Rey-Benayas, José | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.03.046 | Natural regeneration has been proposed as a cost-effective forest restoration approach for both small and largescale initiatives. However, attributes for assessing the success of forest restoration through natural regeneration may vary among them in spatial patterns depending on the scale of analysis and on environmental gradients. Here we analysed the spatial patterns of recovery completeness (i.e. how similar attributes in restored forests are to the same attributes in reference forests) in response to environmental factors in a Mediterranean forest landscape of Central Chile. We evaluated (1) forest recovery completeness using basal area (BA), quadratic mean diameter (QMD), adult species density (ASD), adult species richness (ASR), and seedling species richness (SSR); (2) the spatial congruence of recovery completeness estimated by each of these indicators; and (3) the environmental factors potentially shaping these spatial patterns. We used field measurements and geospatial information sources to quantify and predict indicator responses by fitting boosted regression tree models. To assess the spatial congruence of predictions we overlaid high-level recovery completeness values for all indicators. Overall recovery completeness in the study area was 72.7%, suggesting positive prospects for attaining fully restored forests. Recovery completeness had a resulted higher for diversity (92.3%−99.6%) than structural forest attributes (33.5%−76.9%); however, spatial congruence among recovery indicators was low due to the uneven spatial responses of each indicator. The maximum potential spatial congruence was<10%, and was predicted only by two environmental variables (soil bulk density and slope). Our results suggest that low spatial congruence among forest recovery indicators may hinder the monitoring of restoration at large scales. The implications of such divergence in defining restoration success can be enormous given the current global challenge of forest restoration. Although our research was tested in a threatened region of global importance, our results may have wider significance for restoration planning providing cautionary notes and recommendations for the appropriate use of forest recovery indicators when monitoring large-scale restoration projects. | Ecological Indicators | 1470-160X | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1470160X19302274 | 752-759 | 102.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | cost effectiveness, recovery, reforestation, restoration, boosted regression trees, environmental gradient, environmental variables, forest restoration, geo-spatial informations, natural regeneration, quadratic mean diameter, vegetation recovery, conservation, basal area, diameter, forest ecosystem, mediterranean environment, plantation, regeneration, restoration ecology, seedling emergence, spatial analysis, species richness, chile |
| A late Pleistocene human footprint from the Pilauco archaeological site, northern Patagonia, Chile | Moreno, Karen; Bostelmann, Juan Enrique; Macías, Cintia; Navarro-Harris, Ximena; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Pino, Mario | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1371/journal.pone.0213572 | The present study describes the discovery of a singular sedimentary structure corresponding to an ichnite that was excavated at the paleo-archaeological site Pilauco (Osorno, Chile). The trace fossil is associated with megafauna bones, plant material and unifacial lithic tools. Here we present a detailed analysis of the Pilauco ichnite and associated sedimentary structures, as well as new radiocarbon data. The ichnological analysis confidently assigns the trace to the ichnospecies Hominipes modernus—a hominoid footprint usually related to Homo sapiens. Some particular characteristics of the Pilauco trace include an elongated distal hallux, lateral digit impressions obliterated by the collapsed sediment, and sediment lumps inside and around the trace. In order to evaluate the origin of the ichnite, trackmaking experiments are performed on re-hydrated fossil bed sediments. The results demonstrate that a human agent could easily generate a footprint morphology equivalent to the sedimentary structure when walking on a saturated substrate. Based on the evidence, we conclude that the trackmaker might well have been a bare-footed adult human. This finding, along with the presence of lithic artifacts in the same sedimentary levels, might represent further evidence for a pre-Clovis South American colonization of northern Patagonia, as originally proposed for the nearby Monte Verde site. | PLOS ONE | 1932-6203 | http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213572 | e0213572 | 14.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | carbon 14, adult, ape, article, artifact, chile, demography, digit (body part), foot, fossil, hallux, human, morphology, radiometric dating, sedimentology, stratigraphy, walking speed, animal, archeology, fossil, hominid, sediment, animals, archaeology, chile, foot, fossils, geologic sediments, hominidae, humans |
| Centennial‐Scale SE Pacific Sea Surface Temperature Variability Over the Past 2,300 Years | Collins, James A.; Lamy, Frank; Kaiser, Jérôme; Ruggieri, Nicoletta; Henkel, Susann; De Pol‐Holz, Ricardo; Garreaud, René; Arz, Helge W. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2019.0 | 10.1029/2018PA003465 | Detailed temperature reconstructions over the past 2,000 years are important for contextualizing modern climate change. The midlatitude SE Pacific is a key region in this regard in terms of understanding the climatic linkages between the tropics and southern high latitudes. Multicentennial timescale temperature variability remains, however, poorly understood, due to a lack of long, high-temporal-resolution temperature records from this region and from the southern high latitudes in general. We present a unique alkenone sea surface temperature (SST) record from 44°S on the southern Chilean margin in the SE Pacific spanning the last 2,300 years at decadal resolution. The record displays relatively large changes including a cooling transition from 14 to 12.5 °C between 1,100 and 600 cal yr BP, in line with other Chile margin SST records and coeval with Antarctic cooling. This cooling is attributable to reduced Southern Ocean deep convection, driven by a late Holocene sea-ice increase in the Weddell Sea associated with increased El-Niño Southern Oscillation variability. Superimposed on the late Holocene cooling, we observe multicentennial timescale SST variability, including relatively cool SSTs (12.5 °C) from 950 to 500 cal yr BP, corresponding to the Medieval Climate Anomaly, and warmer SSTs (13 °C) from 500 to 200 cal yr BP, corresponding to the Little Ice Age. These oscillations may reflect either multicentennial internal variability of the Southern Ocean deep convection and/or multicentennial variability in the phasing of El-Niño Southern Oscillation and Southern Annular Mode events. ©2019. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. | Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology | 2572-4517 | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2018PA003465 | | | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate change, convection, cooling, el nino-southern oscillation, holocene, medieval warm period, reconstruction, sea ice, sea surface temperature, pacific ocean, pacific ocean (southeast), southern ocean, weddell sea |
| A vertical forest within the forest: millenary trees from the Valdivian rainforest as biodiversity hubs | Tejo, Camila F.; Fontúrbel, Francisco E. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1002/ecy.2584 | Alerce (Fitzroya cupressoides (Molina) I.M. Johnst., Cupressaceae), known as Lahuan by the Mapuche people, is the most iconic endemic conifer of southern Chile and adjacent Argentina (Fig. 1). It can reach monumental dimensions (up to 5 m in diameter and over 50 m in height) and has remarkable longevity (Lara et al. 1999, Clement et al. 2001, Donoso‐Zeggers 2006, Urrutia‐Jalabert et al. 2015). The oldest alerce tree recorded is over 3,600 years old, making this species the second longest‐lived tree in the world after the North American Bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva D. K. Bailey) (Lara and Villalba 1993). | Ecology | 0012-9658 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/ecy.2584 | e02584 | 100.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | anthropogenic effect, biodiversity, biota, coniferous tree, endangered species, forest canopy, forest ecosystem, rainforest, red list, temperate forest, tree, argentina, chile, los rios [chile], valdivia, biodiversity, forest, rain forest, tree, tropic climate, biodiversity, forests, rainforest, trees, tropical climate |
| Assessment of soil physical properties' statuses under different land covers within a landscape dominated by exotic industrial tree plantations in south-central Chile | Soto, L.; Galleguillos, M.; Seguel, O.; Sotomayor, B.; Lara, A. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.2489/jswc.74.1.12 | Land use and land cover changes (LULCC) within a highly anthropized Mediterranean landscape dominated by industrial tree plantation leads to degradation of soil physical properties. This process has been more intense in the coastal range of south-central%%%Chile due to its soils, which are highly susceptible to erosion, combined with a long history of intensive land use changes during the last century, transitioning from native forest (NF) to agriculture and the more recent establishment of Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus spp. exotic tree plantations. In this context, the aim of this study was to assess the statuses of soil physical properties over different land cover situations. Historical land cover maps were determined via supervised classifications using the maximum likelihood classifier applied to satellite imagery. Five land use and land cover categories (LULC) were defined according to main land cover transitions associated with active and abandoned forestry operations that have been reported in the region: NF, pine plantation (P), eucalyptus plantation (Eu), early successional (E-S), and secondary successional (S-S). Successional stages were generated using change detection statistics considering changes between 2001 and 2014 maps. Soil samples were collected at%%%three depths in 39 plots that describe the five LULC. High clay contents were found in all%%%the LULC except Eu and P. These sites have shown more signs of degradation, with lower%%%organic matter (SOM) and macropores and higher shear strength (ShS). Soil organic matter was consistent with litter contribution and quality, establishing lower bulk density (Db) for NF and S-S and higher values for Eu and E-S. ShS and dispersion rate (DR) exhibit a correlation with SOM with lower ShS and higher DR when SOM increased. Relevant differences were identified for structural stability index (SSI) between LULC depending on soil physical quality, besides a positive correlation with SOM. Those results show the need to generate appropriate conditions of vegetation cover in order to recover soils subjected to current forestry management of industrial plantations. | Journal of Soil and Water Conservation | 0022-4561 | http://www.jswconline.org/lookup/doi/10.2489/jswc.74.1.12 | 12-23 | 74.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | anthropogenic effect, bulk density, forestry practice, land cover, land degradation, land use change, mediterranean environment, plantation forestry, pore space, shear strength, chile, eucalyptus, pinus radiata |
| Integrating socio-ecological dynamics into land use policy outcomes: A spatial scenario approach for native forest conservation in south-central Chile | Manuschevich, Daniela; Sarricolea, Pablo; Galleguillos, Mauricio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.01.042 | Chile is one of the first documented nations to undergo a forest transition dominated by tree farm expansion. Scenario modelling can inform the possible outcomes of forest conservation policies, especially when the scenarios are rooted in the political dynamics that shaped the current legislation. In Chile, tree farms of non-native Radiata Pine and Eucalyptus provide a fast return on investment. Today, fast-growing plantations compete for land area with forest conservation, putting the unique bundle of ecosystem services provided by the latter at risk. Based on a previous political analysis, we propose scenarios projected to 2030 to compare a business-as-usual scenario with A) a conservation scenario based on strict land use restrictions B) an optimistic conservation scenario; C) an unrestricted industrial land use scenario; and D) a restricted industrial land use scenario. The scenarios differ in terms of the implemented policy instruments and the land area required for each land use. We compared these scenarios in terms of carbon stock, control of erosion and wood production, all of which are relevant in the current Chilean political debate. A conservation scenario (A), that combines incentives and restrictions, would imply the largest increase in native forest and regulation services, namely carbon stock and erosion control. In contrast, an unrestricted industrial land use scenario (C) leads to the worst outcomes in terms of erosion compared to a business-as-usual scenario. This study seeks to link political and economic processes underpinning land use change to environmental outcomes, while contributing to the larger discussion on forest policy, forest transitions and environmental outcomes. © 2019 | Land Use Policy | 0264-8377 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0264837718307518 | 31-42 | 84.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | conservation planning, ecosystem service, forest management, forestry policy, land use planning, nature conservation, policy implementation, policy making, spatial analysis, chile, eucalyptus, radiata |
| Landscape restoration in a mixed agricultural-forest catchment: Planning a buffer strip and hedgerow network in a Chilean biodiversity hotspot | Rey Benayas, José M.; Altamirano, Adison; Miranda, Alejandro; Catalán, Germán; Prado, Marco; Lisón, Fulgencio; Bullock, James M. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1007/s13280-019-01149-2 | Guidance for large-scale restoration of natural or semi-natural linear vegetation elements that takes into account the need to maintain human livelihoods such as farming is often lacking. Focusing on a Chilean biodiversity hotspot, we assessed the landscape in terms of existing woody vegetation elements and proposed a buffer strip and hedgerow network. We used spatial analysis based on Google Earth imagery and QGIS, field surveys, seven guidelines linked to prioritization criteria and seedling availability in the region's nurseries, and estimated the budget for implementing the proposed network. The target landscapes require restoring 0.89 ha km-2 of woody buffer strips to meet Chilean law; 1.4 ha km-2 of new hedgerows is also proposed. The cost of restoration in this landscape is estimated in ca. USD 6900 per planted ha of buffer strips and hedgerows. Financial incentives, education, and professional training of farmers are identified as key issues to implement the suggested restoration actions. | Ambio | 0044-7447 | http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13280-019-01149-2 | 310-323 | 49.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | agricultural land, agroforestry, buffer zone, catchment, connectivity, conservation, ecosystem service, environmental restoration, gis, hedgerow, prioritization, spatial analysis, vegetation structure, chile, agriculture, biodiversity, chile, ecosystem, environmental protection, forest, human, agriculture, biodiversity, chile, conservation of natural resources, ecosystem, forests, humans |
| Marine Radiocarbon Reservoir Age Along the Chilean Continental Margin | Merino-Campos, Víctor; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Southon, John; Latorre, Claudio; Collado-Fabbri, Silvana | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1017/RDC.2018.81 | We present 37 new radiocarbon (14C) measurements from mollusk shells fragments sampled along the Chilean continental margin and stored in museum collections with known calendar age. These measurements were used to estimate the modern pre-bomb regional marine 14C age deviations from the global ocean reservoir (∆R). Together with previously published data, we calculated regional mean ∆R values for five oceanographic macro regions along the coast plus one for a mid-latitude open ocean setting. In general, upwelling regions north of 42ºS show consistent although sometimes highly variable ∆R values with regional averages ranging from 141 to 196 14C yr, whereas the mid-latitude open ocean location of the Juan Fernández archipelago and the southern Patagonian region show minor, ∆R of 40±38 14C yr, and 52±47 14C yr respectively. We attribute the alongshore decreasing pattern toward higher latitudes to the main oceanographic features along the Chilean coast such as perennial coastal upwelling in northern zone, seasonally variable upwelling at the central part and the large freshwater influence upon the southern | Radiocarbon | 0033-8222 | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0033822218000814/type/journal_article | 195-210 | 61.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | accelerator mass spectrometry, age, carbon isotope, continental margin, global ocean, mollusc, museum, radiocarbon dating, reservoir, shell, upwelling, chile, juan fernandez islands, patagonia, filicophyta |
| The cascade impacts of climate change could threaten key ecological interactions | Fontúrbel, Francisco E.; Lara, Antonio; Lobos, David; Little, Christian | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1002/ecs2.2485 | Climate change is triggering ecological responses all over the world as a result of frequent, prolonged droughts. It could also affect ecological interactions, particularly pollination and seed dispersal, which play a key role in plant reproduction. We used a tripartite interaction with a mistletoe, its pollinator and its disperser animals to gain insight into this issue. We studied flower and fruit production, and visitation rates during average (2012) and dry (2015) austral summers. Drought in our study area affected precipitation and soil water availability. Although pollinator visits did not significantly differ in these summers, during the dry summer flower and fruit production experienced an important decline, as did seed disperser visits. Also, mistletoe mortality increased from 12% in 2012 to 23% in 2015. This empirical evidence suggests that the cascade effects of climate change may indirectly be hindering ecological interactions in the Valdivian temperate rainforest ecosystem we studied. Long‐term research is essential to provide the knowledge necessary to understand how key ecological processes may be affected in a changing world. | Ecosphere | 2150-8925 | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ecs2.2485 | e02485 | 9.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | dromiciops gliroides, drought, sephanoides sephaniodes, soil moisture, temperate rainforests, tristerix corymbosus |
| GIMMS NDVI time series reveal the extent, duration, and intensity of “blooming desert” events in the hyper-arid Atacama Desert, Northern Chile | Chávez, R.O.; Moreira-Muñoz, A.; Galleguillos, M.; Olea, M.; Aguayo, J.; Latín, A.; Aguilera-Betti, I.; Muñoz, A.A.; Manríquez, H. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2019.0 | 10.1016/j.jag.2018.11.013 | The “blooming desert”, or the explosive development and flowering of ephemeral herbaceous and some woody desert species during years with abnormally high accumulated rainfall, is a spectacular biological phenomenon of the hyper-arid Atacama Desert (northern Chile) attracting botanists, ecologists, geo-scientists, and the general public from all over the world. However, the number of “blooming deserts”, their geographical distribution and spatio-temporal patterns have not been quantitatively assessed to date. Here, we used NDVI data from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) project to reconstruct the annual land surface phenology (LSP) of the Atacama Desert using a non-parametric statistical approach. From the reconstructed LSP, we detected the “blooming deserts” as positive NDVI anomalies and assessed three dimensions of the events: their temporal extent, intensity of “greening” and spatial extent. We identified 13 “blooming deserts” between 1981 and 2015, of which three (1997–98, 2002–03, and 2011) can be considered major events according to these metrics. The main event occurred in 2011, spanning 180 days between July and December 2011, and spread over 11,136 km 2 of Atacama dry plains. “Blooming deserts” in Atacama have been triggered by the accumulation of precipitation during a period of 2 to 12 months before and during the events. The proposed three-dimensional approach allowed us to characterize different types of “blooming deserts”: with longer episodes or larger spatial distribution or with different “greening” intensities. Its flexibility to reconstruct different LSP and detect anomalies makes this method a useful tool to study these rare phenomena in other deserts in the world also. | International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation | 0303-2434 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0303243418306202 | 193-203 | 76.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | desert, extreme event, land surface, numerical model, phenology, precipitation intensity, remote sensing, time series, vegetation mapping, atacama desert, chile |
| The Role of Streamside Native Forests on Dissolved Organic Matter in Forested and Agricultural Watersheds in Northwestern Patagonia | Becerra-Rodas, Constanza; Little, Christian; Lara, Antonio; Sandoval, Jorge; Osorio, Sebastián; Nimptsch, Jorge | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2019.0 | 10.3390/f10070595 | Streamside native forests are known for their key role in water provision, commonly referred to as buffers that control the input or output of nutrients from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems (i.e., nitrogen or carbon cycle). In order to assess the functional role of indigenous forests along streamside channels, we measured 10 parameters associated with DOM (Dissolved Organic Matter) at 42 points in 12 small catchments (15–200 ha) dominated by native forests (reference, WNF), forest plantations (WFP) and agricultural lands (WAL) in which the land cover portion was calculated in the entire watershed and along 30 and 60-m wide buffer strips. We found that watersheds WFP and WAL were statistically different than WNF, according to DIC concentrations (Dissolved Inorganic Carbon) and the intensity of the maximum fluorescence of DOM components. Using linear models, we related streamside native forest coverage in buffer strips with DOM parameters. The increase of streamside native forest coverage in 60 m wide buffer strips (0–100%) was related to lower DIC concentrations (0.89 to 0.28 mg C L−1). In watersheds WFP and WAL, the humic and fulvic-like components (0.42 to 1.42 R.U./mg C L−1) that predominated were related to an increase in streamside native forest coverage in the form of a 60 m wide buffer strip (0–75%). This is evidence that streamside native forests influence outputs of detritus and lowered in-stream processing with concomitant downstream transport, and functional integrity and water quality. We propose that DOM quantity and quality may be a potential tool for the identification of priority areas near streams for conservation and ecological restoration in terms of recovery of water quality as an important ecosystem service. The results of this study are useful to inform policy and regulations about the width of streamside native forests as well as their characteristics and restrictions. | Forests | 1999-4907 | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/10/7/595 | 595 | 10.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | aquatic ecosystems, biogeochemistry, biological materials, carbon, dissolution, organic compounds, runoff, water quality, watersheds, agricultural land, catchment management, dissolved organic matters, forest plantation, native forests, riparian vegetation, streamside native buffer, forestry, agricultural land, buffer zone, catchment, conservation management, dissolved organic carbon, ecosystem service, plantation forestry, restoration ecology, riparian vegetation, water quality, watershed, carbon, dissolving, forestry, organic compounds, runoff, water quality, patagonia |
| Wildfire management in Mediterranean-type regions: paradigm change needed | Moreira, Francisco; Ascoli, Davide; Safford, Hugh; Adams, Mark; Moreno, Jose Manuel; Pereira, Jose Cardoso; Catry, Filipe; Armesto, Juan; Bond, William J; Gonzalez, Mauro; Curt, Thomas; Koutsias, Nikos; McCaw, Lachlan; Price, Owen; Pausas, Juli; Rigolot, Eric; Stephens, Scott; Tavsanoglu, Cagatay; Vallejo, Ramon; Van Wilgen, Brian; Xanthopoulos, Gavriil; Fernandes, Paulo | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2020.0 | 10.1088/1748-9326/ab541e | During the last decades, climate and land use changes led to an increased prevalence of megafires in Mediterranean-type climate regions (MCRs). Here, we argue that current wildfire management policies in MCRs are destined to fail. Focused on fire suppression, these policies largely ignore ongoing climate warming and landscape-scale buildup of fuels. The result is a "firefighting trap" that contributes to ongoing fuel accumulation precluding suppression under extreme fire weather, and resulting in more severe and larger fires. We believe that a "business as usual" approach to wildfire in MCRs will not solve the fire problem, and recommend that policy and expenditures be rebalanced between suppression and mitigation of the negative impacts of fire. This requires a paradigm shift: policy effectiveness should not be primarily measured as a function of area burned (as it usually is), but rather as a function of avoided socio-ecological damage and loss. | Environmental Research Letters | 1748-9326 | http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab541e | | | Thomson Reuters ISI | extreme weather, land use, australia, california, chile, management policy, mediterranean-type regions, south africa, wildfires, fires, expenditure, fire management, management practice, mediterranean environment, wildfire, australia, california, south africa, united states |
| +A 5680-year tree-ring temperature record for southern South America | Lara, A.; Villalba, R.; Urrutia-Jalabert, R.; González-Reyes, A.; Aravena, J.C.; Luckman, B.H.; Cuq, E.; Rodríguez, C.; Wolodarsky-Franke, A. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2020.0 | 10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106087 | It is widely documented that the Earth’s surface temperatures have increased in recent decades. However, temperature increment patterns are not uniform around the globe, showing different or even contrasting trends. Here we present a mean maximum summer temperature record, based on tree-ring widths, over the past 5682 years (3672BC – 2009AD) for southern South America (SSA), covering from mid-Holocene to the present. This is the longest such record for the Southern Hemisphere (SH), and expands available annual proxy climate records for this region in more than 2060 years. Our record explains 49% of the temperature variation, and documents two major warm periods between 3140–2800BC and 70BC – 150AD, which coincide with the lack of evidence of glacier advances in SSA. Recent decades in the reconstruction (1959–2009) show a warming trend that is not exceptional in the context of the last five millennia. The long-term relationship between our temperature reconstruction and a reconstructed total solar irradiance record, with coinciding cycles at 293, 372, 432–434, 512 and 746 years, indicate a persistent influence of solar forcing on centennial climate variability in SSA. At interannual to interdecadal scales, reconstructed temperature is mainly related to the internal climate variability of the Pacific Ocean, including El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and longer oscillations. Our study reveals the need to characterize regional-scale climate variability and its drivers, which in the context of global-scale processes such as anthropogenic warming, interact to modulate local climate affecting humans and ecosystems. | Quaternary Science Reviews | 0277-3791 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379119306924 | 106087 | 228.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | atmospheric pressure, forestry, holocenes, internal climate variability, long-term relationships, paleoclimatology, south america, temperature reconstruction, total solar irradiance, tree rings, climatology, el nino-southern oscillation, paleoclimate, paleotemperature, proxy climate record, tree ring, trend analysis, south america |
| Managing Forests for Both Downstream and Downwind Water | Creed, Irena F.; Jones, Julia A.; Archer, Emma; Claassen, Marius; Ellison, David; McNulty, Steven G.; van Noordwijk, Meine; Vira, Bhaskar; Wei, Xiaohua; Bishop, Kevin; Blanco, Juan A.; Gush, Mark; Gyawali, Dipak; Jobbágy, Esteban; Lara, Antonio; Little, Christian; Martin-Ortega, Julia; Mukherji, Aditi; Murdiyarso, Daniel; Pol, Paola Ovando; Sullivan, Caroline A.; Xu, Jianchu | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.3389/ffgc.2019.00064 | | Frontiers in Forests and Global Change | 2624-893X | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/ffgc.2019.00064/full | 64 | 2.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | adaptation, climate change, forest, hydrologic cycle, mitigation, policy, sustainability, water |
| Protecting Patagonian peatlands in Chile | Hoyos-Santillan, Jorge; Miranda, Alejandro; Lara, Antonio; Rojas, Maisa; Sepulveda-Jauregui, Armando | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Gobernanza e Interfaz Ciencia y Política | 2019.0 | 10.1126/science.aaz9244 | In their Letter “Seeing Chile's forest for the tree plantations” (27 September, p. 1388), A. P. Durán and O. Barbosa explain how Chile's current proposal for reducing greenhouse gas emissions (1) inadequately addresses forest management with exotic tree plantations. We agree, but we are even more concerned that the proposal overlooks other ecosystems entirely. Chilean Patagonian peatlands cover 3.1 million hectares (2) and contain approximately 4800 million tons of carbon accumulated over 18,000 years (3, 4). This is 4.7 times more carbon than the aboveground biomass of forests in Chile (4, 5). Peat in Chile is classified as a fossil resource, allowing it to be exploited by the Ministry of Mining (6). Chile should invest in the protection of this important ecosystem. Because of the slow peat accumulation in sub-Antarctic regions (less than 1 mm per year) (4), exploitation of peatlands compromises their carbon sequestration capacity, shifting peatlands from net carbon sinks into net carbon sources (7). Protecting Chile's Patagonian peatlands would help the country achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 (8, 9). To protect the peatlands, Chile must end their classification as fossil resources. Instead, Chile should present peatland preservation as part of its greenhouse gas reduction contributions at the 2019 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP25) (now planned for Madrid, Spain, instead of Chile). Patagonian peatlands should also be recognized as overlooked carbon sinks of regional importance in Chile's new Climate Change Law (10). | Science | 0036-8075, 1095-9203 | http://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaz9244 | 1207-1208 | 366.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | chile, ecosystem, forest, tree, chile, ecosystem, forests, trees |
| Surface indicators are correlated with soil multifunctionality in global drylands | Eldridge, David J.; Delgado‐Baquerizo, Manuel; Quero, José L.; Ochoa, Victoria; Gozalo, Beatriz; García‐Palacios, Pablo; Escolar, Cristina; García‐Gómez, Miguel; Prina, Aníbal; Bowker, Mathew A.; Bran, Donaldo E.; Castro, Ignacio; Cea, Alex; Derak, Mchich; Espinosa, Carlos I.; Florentino, Adriana; Gaitán, Juan J.; Gatica, Gabriel M.; Gómez‐González, Susana; Ghiloufi, Wahida; Gutierrez, Julio R.; Guzman, Elizabeth; Hernández, Rosa M.; Hughes, Frederic M.; Muiño, Walter; Monerris, Jorge; Ospina, Abelardo; Ramírez, David A.; Ribas‐Fernández, Yanina A.; Romão, Roberto L.; Torres‐Díaz, Cristian; Koen, Terrance B.; Maestre, Fernando T. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1111/1365-2664.13540 | Multiple ecosystem functions need to be considered simultaneously to manage and protect the many ecosystem services that are essential to people and their environments. Despite this, cost effective, tangible, relatively simple, and globally‐relevant methodologies to monitor in situ soil multifunctionality, i.e. the provision of multiple ecosystem functions by soils, have not been tested at the global scale. We combined correlation analysis and structural equation modelling to explore whether we could find easily measured, field‐based indicators of soil multifunctionality (measured using functions linked to the cycling and storage of soil carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus). To do this, we gathered soil data from 120 dryland ecosystems from five continents. Two soil surface attributes measured in situ (litter incorporation and surface aggregate stability) were the most strongly associated with soil multifunctionality, even after accounting for geographic location and other drivers such as climate, woody cover, soil pH and soil electric conductivity. The positive relationships between surface stability and litter incorporation on soil multifunctionality was greater beneath the canopy of perennial vegetation than in adjacent, open areas devoid of vascular plants. The positive associations between surface aggregate stability and soil functions increased with increasing mean annual temperature. Synthesis and applications. Our findings demonstrate that a reduced suite of easily measured in situ soil surface attributes can be used as potential indicators of soil multifunctionality in drylands worldwide. These attributes, which relate to plant litter (origin, incorporation, cover), and surface stability, are relatively cheap and easy to assess with minimal training, allowing operators to sample many sites across widely varying climatic areas and soil types. The correlations of these variables are comparable to the influence of climate or soil, and would allow cost‐effective monitoring of soil multifunctionality under changing land use and environmental conditions. This would provide important information for evaluating the ecological impacts of land degradation, desertification and climate change in drylands worldwide. | Journal of Applied Ecology | 0021-8901, 1365-2664 | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13540 | 1365-2664.13540 | | Thomson Reuters ISI | aggregate stability, climate change, desertification, dryland farming, ecosystem function, numerical model, soil surface, soil type, vascular plant, tracheophyta |
| Onset and Evolution of Southern Annular Mode-Like Changes at Centennial Timescale | Moreno, P. I.; Vilanova, I.; Villa-Martínez, R.; Dunbar, R. B.; Mucciarone, D. A.; Kaplan, M. R.; Garreaud, R. D.; Rojas, M.; Moy, C. M.; De Pol-Holz, R.; Lambert, F. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Ciudades Resilientes; Agua y Extremos; Gobernanza e Interfaz Ciencia y Política | 2018.0 | 10.1038/s41598-018-21836-6 | The Southern Westerly Winds (SWW) are the surface expression of geostrophic winds that encircle the southern mid-latitudes. In conjunction with the Southern Ocean, they establish a coupled system that not only controls climate in the southern third of the world, but is also closely connected to the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and CO2 degassing from the deep ocean. Paradoxically, little is known about their behavior since the last ice age and relationships with mid-latitude glacier history and tropical climate variability. Here we present a lake sediment record from Chilean Patagonia (51°S) that reveals fluctuations of the low-level SWW at mid-latitudes, including strong westerlies during the Antarctic Cold Reversal, anomalously low intensity during the early Holocene, which was unfavorable for glacier growth, and strong SWW since ∼7.5 ka. We detect nine positive Southern Annular Mode-like events at centennial timescale since ∼5.8 ka that alternate with cold/wet intervals favorable for glacier expansions (Neoglaciations) in southern Patagonia. The correspondence of key features of mid-latitude atmospheric circulation with shifts in tropical climate since ∼10 ka suggests that coherent climatic shifts in these regions have driven climate change in vast sectors of the Southern Hemisphere at centennial and millennial timescales. | Scientific Reports | 2045-2322 | http://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-21836-6 | | 8 | Thomson Reuters ISI | antarctica, article, climate change, cold stress, glaciation, holocene, lake sediment, latitude, southern hemisphere, tropic climate, writing |
| Portugal and Chile: Longing for sustainable forestry while rising from the ashes | Gómez-González, Susana; Ojeda, Fernando; Fernandes, Paulo M. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1016/j.envsci.2017.11.006 | The recent catastrophic wildfires in Portugal and Chile shared similar features, not just because they developed under extreme weather conditions but also because extensive forest plantations were involved. Dense forest plantations of flammable pine and eucalypt species favor the development of high-intensity large fires, threatening people and the forest industry sustainability under increasingly frequent and severe drought events. Preventive land-use planning and cost-effective fuel management are key elements of sustainable forestry. Understanding the fire ecology context prior to plantation establishment is also crucial for the success of fire management planning. Although the forest industry has contributed to the economy of these countries, improved regulation and science-based management policies are strongly needed. Fuel treatment strategies can be optimized by risk-based modeling approaches, and should be mandatory in wildland-urban interfaces. The tragedy caused by these wildfires is an opportunity to change towards more sustainable landscape arrangements that reconcile ecosystem services, biodiversity conservation, and protection from life-threatening wildfires. | Environmental Science & Policy | 1462-9011 | http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1462901117307694 | 104-107 | 81 | Thomson Reuters ISI | fuel, ash, chile, conservation biology, cost effectiveness analysis, drought, environmental planning, environmental policy, environmental protection, environmental sustainability, eucalyptus, fire ecology, forest fire, forest management, forestry, government regulation, land use, landscape ecology, model, note, plantation, portugal, priority journal, risk assessment, species, sustainable development, wildfire |
| Heat shock and plant leachates regulate seed germination of the endangered carnivorous plant <i>Drosophyllum lusitanicum</i> | Gómez-González, Susana; Paniw, Maria; Antunes, Kamila; Ojeda, Fernando | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.5194/we-18-7-2018 | In fire-prone ecosystems, many plant species have specialized mechanisms of seed dormancy that ensure a successful recruitment after fire. A well-documented mechanism is the germination stimulated by firerelated cues, such as heat shock and smoke. However, less is known about the role of inhibitory germination signals (e.g. allelopathy) in regulating post-fire recruitment. Plant leachates derived from the unburned vegetation can enforce dormancy by means of allelopathic compounds, acting as a signal of unfavourable (highly competitive) niche for germination in pyrophyte species. Here, we assessed the separate effects of heat shock and plant leachates on seed germination of Drosophyllum lusitanicum, an endangered carnivorous plant endemic to Mediterranean fire-prone heathlands. We performed a germination experiment in which seeds were subjected to three treatments: (1) 5 min at 100 °C, (2) watering with plant leachate, and (3) control. Germination rate and seed viability was determined after 63 days. Heat shock stimulated seed germination in D. lusitanicum while plant leachates had inhibitory germination effects without reducing seed viability. Thus, both positive and negative signals could be involved in its successful post-fire recruitment. Fire would break seed dormancy and stimulate seed germination of D. lusitanicum through high temperatures, but also by eliminating allelochemical compounds from the soil. These results help to understand the population dynamics patterns found for D. lusitanicum in natural populations, and highlight the role of fire in the ecology and conservation of this endangered species. Seed dormancy imposed by plant-derived leachates as an adaptive mechanism should be considered more in fire ecology theory. | Web Ecology | 1399-1183 | https://www.web-ecol.net/18/7/2018/ | 7-13 | 18 | Thomson Reuters ISI | carnivorous plant, dormancy, endangered species, germination, heat shock, leachate, population dynamics, species conservation, drosophyllum lusitanicum |
| Influence of Glacier Melting and River Discharges on the Nutrient Distribution and DIC Recycling in the Southern Chilean Patagonia | Vargas, Cristian A.; Cuevas, L. Antonio; Silva, Nelson; González, Humberto E.; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Narváez, Diego A. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1002/2017JG003907 | The Chilean Patagonia constitutes one of the most important and extensive fjord systems worldwide, therefore can be used as a natural laboratory to elucidate the pathway of both organic and inorganic matter in the receiving environment. In this study we use data collected during an intensive oceanographic cruise along the Magellan Strait into the Almirantazgo Fjord in southern Patagonia to evaluate how different sources of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and recycling may impact particulate organic carbon (POC) δ13C and influence the nutrients and carbonate system spatial distribution. The carbonate system presented large spatial heterogeneity. The lowest total alkalinity and DIC were associated to freshwater dilution observed near melting glaciers. The δ13CDIC analysis suggests that most DIC in the upper 50 m depth was not derived from terrestrial organic matter remineralization. 13C-depleted riverine and ice-melting DIC influence the DIC pool along the study area, but due to that DIC concentration from rivers and glaciers is relatively low, atmospheric carbon contribution or biological processes seem to be more relevant. Intense undersaturation of CO2 was observed in high chlorophyll waters. Respired DIC coming from the bottom waters seems to be almost insignificant for the inorganic carbon pool and therefore do not impact significantly the stable carbon isotopic composition of dissolved organic carbon and POC in the upper 50 m depth. Considering the combined effect of cold and low alkalinity waters due to ice melting, our results highlight the importance of these processes in determining corrosive waters for CaCO3 and local acidification processes associated to calving glacier in fjord ecosystems. | Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences | 2169-8953 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2017JG003907 | 256-270 | 123 | Thomson Reuters ISI | alkalinity, carbon cycle, carbon isotope, carbonate system, chlorophyll, dissolved inorganic carbon, fjord, glacier, melting, nutrient dynamics, ocean acidification, organic matter, particulate organic carbon, remineralization, river discharge, spatial distribution, chile, magellan strait, patagonia |
| An unusual kind of diurnal streamflow variation | Cuevas, Jaime G.; Arumí, José L.; Zúñiga-Feest, Alejandra; Little, Christian | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1515/johh-2017-0041 | During hydrological research in a Chilean swamp forest, we noted a pattern of higher streamflows close to midday and lower ones close to midnight, the opposite of an evapotranspiration (Et)-driven cycle. We analyzed this diurnal streamflow signal (DSS), which appeared mid-spring (in the growing season). The end of this DSS coincided with a sustained rain event in autumn, which deeply affected stream and meteorological variables. A survey along the stream revealed that the DSS maximum and minimum values appeared 6 and 4 hours earlier, respectively, at headwaters located in the mountain forests/ plantations than at the control point in the swamp forest. Et in the swamp forest was higher in the morning and in the late afternoon, but this process could not influence the groundwater stage. Trees in the mountain headwaters reached their maximum Ets in the early morning and/or close to midday. Our results suggest that the DSS is a wave that moves from forests high in the mountains towards lowland areas, where Et is decoupled from the DSS. This signal delay seems to convert the link between streamflow and Et in an apparent, but spurious positive relationship. It also highlights the role of landscape heterogeneity in shaping hydrological processes. | Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics | 0042-790X | http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/johh.2018.66.issue-1/johh-2017-0041/johh-2017-0041.xml | | 66 | Thomson Reuters ISI | evapotranspiration, groundwater, landforms, stream flow, wetlands, growing season, hydrological process, landscape heterogeneities, meteorological variables, mountain forests, riparian zones, streamflow variations, swamp forests, forestry, evapotranspiration, groundwater, groundwater-surface water interaction, growing season, headwater, montane forest, riparian zone, seasonal variation, streamflow, swamp forest, chile |
| Coupled human-climate signals on the fire history of upper Cachapoal Valley, Mediterranean Andes of Chile, since 1201 CE | Rozas, Vicente; Le Quesne, Carlos; Rojas-Badilla, Moisés; González, Mauro E.; González-Reyes, Álvaro | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2018.05.013 | The long-term history of fire regimes in the Mediterranean Andes of Chile is almost unknown. Subalpine woodlands of Austrocedrus chilensis include long-lived trees resilient to low-intensity fires, which can provide valuable tree-ring-based information about fire history. In this work, we performed an annually resolved multicentury reconstruction of past fires from fire-scar records identified in relict Austrocedrus wood found on steep highly-eroded and rocky slopes with coarser fuel structure in the upper Cachapoal Valley, central Andes of Chile. We compared this fire record with historical land-use changes and extensive reconstructions of regional precipitation and temperature, as well as large-scale climatic patterns. The highest fire frequencies were recorded in the Spanish settlement period (1541–1750), when land-clearing activities, cattle ranching, agriculture, and mining practices became widespread after the Spanish conquest. At an interannual time scale, fire occurrence and precipitation were unconnected during the Spanish settlement. By contrast, in the indigenous period (1200–1540), under the influence of the aboriginal Chiquillanes people, fires occurred in wet years with high vegetation productivity. In the livestock grazing period (1751–1950), when large cattle ranches were established, fires occurred in dry years after a wet year. Fires in this period were likely ignited under conditions of high fuel flammability to improve plant production and promote intensive livestock grazing. At a multidecadal time scale, fires were more frequent in cold periods throughout the whole record. These findings suggest that herbaceous fuel accumulation and flammability, modulated by climate variation and human land uses, were the main factors promoting fires spread in this Mediterranean subalpine area. Our research emphasizes the importance of relict Austrocedrus wood for fire history reconstruction and expands knowledge about fire regime shifts over the past eight centuries in southern South America. | Global and Planetary Change | 0921-8181 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0921818117304988 | 137-147 | 167 | Thomson Reuters ISI | forestry, fuels, land use, plants (botany), austrocedrus chilensis, dendrochronology, fire regimes, interannual time scale, land use history, multi-decadal time scale, southern south america, vegetation productivity, fires, climate variation, coniferous tree, dendrochronology, environmental factor, fire history, indigenous population, land use, land use change, nature-society relations, precipitation (climatology), subalpine environment, temperature effect, wood, woodland, andes, chile, mediterranean region, spain, austrocedrus, austrocedrus chilensis, bos |
| Climate variability and forest fires in central and south-central Chile | Urrutia-Jalabert, Rocío; González, Mauro E.; González-Reyes, Álvaro; Lara, Antonio; Garreaud, René | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2018.0 | 10.1002/ecs2.2171 | This paper evaluates the relationship between fire occurrence (number and burned area) and climate variability (precipitation and maximum temperatures) across central and south-central Chile (32°–43° S) during recent decades (1976–2013). This region sustains the largest proportion of the Chilean population, contains ecologically important remnants of endemic ecosystems, the largest extension of forest exotic plantations, and concentrates most of the fire activity in the country. Fire activity in central Chile was mainly associated with above-average precipitation during winter of the previous year and with dry conditions during spring to summer. The later association was particularly strong in the southern, wetter part of the study region. Maximum temperature had a positive significant relationship with burned area across the study region, with stronger correlations toward the south. Fires in central Chile were significantly related to El Nino~ –Southern Oscillation, through rainfall anomalies during the year previous to the fire season. The Antarctic Oscillation during winter through summer was positively related to fires across the study area due to drier/warmer conditions associated with the positive polarity of this oscillation. Climate change projections for the region reveal an all-season decrease in precipitation and increases in temperature, that may likely result in an increment of the occurrence and the area affected by fires, as it has been observed during a multi-year drought afflicting central Chile since 2010. | Ecosphere | 2150-8925 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/ecs2.2171 | e02171 | 9 | Thomson Reuters ISI | antarctic oscillation, climate change, el niño–southern oscillation (enso), exotic plantations, forest fires, mediterranean forests, temperate forests |
| The 2010-2015 Megadrought and its influence on the fire regime in central and south-central Chile | González, Mauro E.; Gómez-González, Susana; Lara, Antonio; Garreaud, René; Díaz-Hormazábal, Ignacio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2018.0 | 10.1002/ecs2.2300 | Forest fire activity has increased in recent years in central and south-central Chile. Drought conditions have been associated with the increase of large wildfires, area burned and longer fire seasons. This study examines the influence of drought on fire regimes and discusses landscape management opportunities to decrease fire hazard. Specifically, we investigate the effect of the 2010–2015 Megadrought (MD) compared to 1990–2009 period on fire activity (fire-season length, number of fires and burned area across months, fire sizes, regions and vegetation cover types, simultaneity, and duration of fires) in central and south-central Chile (32°–39° S), using contemporary fire statistics derived from the Chilean Forest Service. For large fire events (>200 ha) the average season length increased by 67 d (44%), comparing 2010–2015 to 1990–2009. Earlier and later ignition dates resulted in extended fire seasons in MD years. During the MD, the number, area burned, simultaneity, and duration of large fires increased significantly compared to the control period, including the unprecedented occurrence of large fires during winter. The burned area in large fires increased in all vegetation types, during the MD compared to the control period, especially in the exotic plantation cover type. The regions that were most affected by fire (i.e., total area burned) during the MD wereMaule, B ıo-B ıo, and Araucan ıa (35–39° S) that concentrate >75% of forest plantations in Chile. Although both maximum temperatures and precipitation are drivers of fire activity, a simple attribution analysis indicates that the sustained rainfall deficit during 2010–2015 was the most critical factor in the enhanced fire activity. Future climate change predictions indicate more recurrent, intense, and temporally extended droughts for central and south-central Chile. Under this scenario, land-use planning and fire and forest management strategies must promote a more diverse and less flammable landscape mosaic limiting high load, homogenous, and continuous exotic plantations. | Ecosphere | 2150-8925 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/ecs2.2300 | e02300 | 9 | Thomson Reuters ISI | drought, fire regimes, fire-prone vegetation, fire-season length |
| Temperature and agriculture are largely associated with fire activity in Central Chile across different temporal periods | Gómez-González, Susana; González, Mauro E.; Paula, Susana; Díaz-Hormazábal, Ignacio; Lara, Antonio; Delgado-Baquerizo, Manuel | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2019.0 | 10.1016/j.foreco.2018.11.041 | Wildfires have important ecological and socio-economic implications worldwide. Identifying the major ecological drivers regulating fire activity across space and time is critical to formulating sustainable policies of landscape planning and management under global change scenarios. However, large scale studies quantifying the relative importance of relevant fire drivers across different time periods are largely lacking. We conducted a high-resolution spatial survey in Central Chile and used structural equation models (SEMs) to evaluate the direct and indirect effects of climate, human impact, land uses, and topography on the number of fires and burned area across two distinct periods of time (2000–2005 and 2011–2016). Mean temperature and agricultural use had the highest direct positive effect on the number of fires and burned area in the two studied periods, and thus were the major ecological predictors of fire activity. Human impact was also an important predictor of fire attributes. Topography had multiple indirect effects on fire activity by regulating land use, temperature, and human impact, but direct effects were negligible. Precipitation seasonality, drought and aridity indexes, native forests, and plantations, were less relevant predictors of fire activity. Even so, our SEMs suggested that areas dominated by native forests tended to have lower number of fires than those covered by croplands or plantations. Our results suggest that fire activity in Central Chile will be highly sensitive to increases in human pressure, land use change and warming by climate change. Because the relative importance of the predictors of fire activity was steady over time, the knowledge derived from this study provides critical insights for preventive fire management and landscape planning. The control of stubble burning, native forest restoration and sustainable forestry management could improve social adaptation to a fire-prone future. | Forest Ecology and Management | 0378-1127 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378112718315962 | 535-543 | 433 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate change, climate models, conservation, drought, ecology, economics, forestry, land use, topography, human impact, land-use change, large-scale studies, mediterranean-type climate, structural equation models, sustainable forestry, sustainable policies, wildfires, fires, agriculture, anthropogenic effect, drought, fire, fire management, land use change, landscape planning, mediterranean environment, temperature, topography, wildfire, conservation, drought, ecology, economics, forestry, land use, chile |
| The CAMELS-CL dataset: catchment attributes and meteorology for large sample studies – Chile dataset | Alvarez-Garreton, Camila; Mendoza, Pablo A.; Boisier, Juan Pablo; Addor, Nans; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Zambrano-Bigiarini, Mauricio; Lara, Antonio; Puelma, Cristóbal; Cortes, Gonzalo; Garreaud, Rene; McPhee, James; Ayala, Alvaro | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2018.0 | 10.5194/hess-22-5817-2018 | We introduce the first catchment dataset for large sample studies in Chile. This dataset includes 516 catchments; it covers particularly wide latitude (17.8 to 55.0°S) and elevation (0 to 6993ma.s.l.) ranges, and it relies on multiple data sources (including ground data, remote-sensed products and reanalyses) to characterise the hydroclimatic conditions and landscape of a region where in situ measurements are scarce. For each catchment, the dataset provides boundaries, daily streamflow records and basin-averaged daily time series of precipitation (from one national and three global datasets), maximum, minimum and mean temperatures, potential evapotranspiration (PET; from two datasets), and snow water equivalent. We calculated hydro-climatological indices using these time series, and leveraged diverse data sources to extract topographic, geological and land cover features. Relying on publicly available reservoirs and water rights data for the country, we estimated the degree of anthropic intervention within the catchments. To facilitate the use of this dataset and promote common standards in large sample studies, we computed most catchment attributes introduced by Addor et al. (2017) in their Catchment Attributes and MEteorology for Large-sample Studies (CAMELS) dataset, and added several others. We used the dataset presented here (named CAMELS-CL) to characterise regional variations in hydroclimatic conditions over Chile and to explore how basin behaviour is influenced by catchment attributes and water extractions. Further, CAMELS-CL enabled us to analyse biases and uncertainties in basin-wide precipitation and PET. The characterisation of catchment water balances revealed large discrepancies between precipitation products in arid regions and a systematic precipitation underestimation in headwater mountain catchments (high elevations and steep slopes) over humid regions. We evaluated PET products based on ground data and found a fairly good performance of both products in humid regions (r > 0.91) and lower correlation (r < 0.76) in hyper-arid regions. Further, the satellite-based PET showed a consistent overestimation of observation-based PET. Finally, we explored local anomalies in catchment response by analysing the relationship between hydrological signatures and an attribute characterising the level of anthropic interventions. We showed that larger anthropic interventions are correlated with lower than normal annual flows, runoff ratios, elasticity of runoff with respect to precipitation, and flashiness of runoff, especially in arid catchments. CAMELS-CL provides unprecedented information on catchments in a region largely underrepresented in large sample studies. This effort is part of an international initiative to create multi-national large sample datasets freely available for the community. CAMELS-CL can be visualised from http://camels.cr2.cl and downloaded from https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.894885. | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences | 1607-7938 | https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/22/5817/2018/ | 5817-5846 | 22 | Thomson Reuters ISI | arid regions, catchments, remote sensing, reservoirs (water), snow, time series, uncertainty analysis, catchment water balance, hydroclimatic conditions, in-situ measurement, multiple data sources, potential evapotranspiration, precipitation products, regional variation, snow water equivalent, runoff, catchment, climate conditions, data set, headwater, hydrometeorology, land cover, meteorological hazard, potential evapotranspiration, precipitation (climatology), remote sensing, runoff, streamflow, water budget, chile, camelidae |
| Spatio-temporal patterns of thermal anomalies and drought over tropical forests driven by recent extreme climatic anomalies | Jimenez, Juan C.; Barichivich, Jonathan; Mattar, Cristian; Takahashi, Ken; Santamaría-Artigas, Andrés; Sobrino, José A.; Malhi, Yadvinder | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1098/rstb.2017.0300 | The recent 2015-2016 El Niño (EN) event was considered as strong as the EN in 1997-1998. Given such magnitude, it was expected to result in extreme warming and moisture anomalies in tropical areas. Here we characterize the spatial patterns of temperature anomalies and drought over tropical forests, including tropical South America (Amazonia), Africa and Asia/Indonesia during the 2015-2016 EN event. These spatial patterns of warming and drought are compared with those observed in previous strong EN events (1982-1983 and 1997-1998) and other moderate to strong EN events (e.g. 2004-2005 and 2009-2010). The link between the spatial patterns of drought and sea surface temperature anomalies in the central and eastern Pacific is also explored. We show that indeed the EN2015-2016 led to unprecedented warming compared to the other EN events over Amazonia, Africa and Indonesia, as a consequence of the background global warming trend. Anomalous accumulated extreme drought area over Amazonia was found during EN2015-2016, but this value may be closer to extreme drought area extents in the other two EN events in 1982-1983 and 1997-1998. Over Africa, datasets disagree, and it is difficult to conclude which EN event led to the highest accumulated extreme drought area. Our results show that the highest values of accumulated drought area over Africa were obtained in 2015-2016 and 1997-1998, with a long-term drying trend not observed over the other tropical regions. Over Indonesia, all datasets suggest that EN 1982-1983 and EN 1997-1998 (or even the drought of 2005) led to a higher extreme drought area than EN2015-2016. Uncertainties in precipitation datasets hinder consistent estimates of drought severity over tropical regions, and improved reanalysis products and station records are required.This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The impact of the 2015/2016 El Niño on the terrestrial tropical carbon cycle: patterns, mechanisms and implications'. © 2018 The Author(s). | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences | 0962-8436 | http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/lookup/doi/10.1098/rstb.2017.0300 | 20170300 | 373 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate effect, drought stress, el nino, extreme event, precipitation (climatology), spatiotemporal analysis, temperature anomaly, tropical forest, tropical region, africa, amazonia, indonesia, africa, brazil, climate change, drought, el nino, forest, greenhouse effect, indonesia, season, temperature, tropic climate, africa, brazil, climate change, droughts, el nino-southern oscillation, forests, global warming, indonesia, seasons, temperature, tropical climate |
| Monitoreo de la superficie de los bosques nativos de Chile: un desafío pendiente | Miranda, Alejandro; Lara, Antonio; Altamirano, Adison; Zamorano-Elgueta, Carlos; Hernández, H Jaime; González, Mauro E; Pauchard, Aníbal; Promis, Álvaro | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.4067/S0717-92002018000200265 | Forest monitoring is important for decision making of forest management and conservation. In Chile, the forest monitoring system was initiated in 1994, which has been continued through the implementation of regional updates. This has enabled a temporal monitoring of the distribution and surface covered by native forest. However, while regional updates have reported increase in the surface covered by native forest, other studies have shown an opposite trend. Therefore, the capacity of the forest monitoring system to measure the temporal variation in forest areas was evaluated. Specifically, a review of reports and official data of the national forest monitoring system was carried out through the fulfillment of three basic criteria: i) comparability, ii) replicability and iii) quality. According to our results, the Chilean forest monitoring system does not fulfill their basic requirements because: (i) methodologies have not been consistent over time; (ii) it does not provide a baseline of land cover or forest loss that allows comparisons with changing forest area; iii) there is not adequate error estimation and how it can affect the results and analysis of monitoring. The national forest monitoring system requires a redefinition of its aims and methods, guiding them to the long term by convening different stakeholders looking for a national agreement. | Bosque (Valdivia) | 0717-9200 | http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-92002018000200265&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en | 265-275 | 39 | Thomson Reuters ISI | deforestation, land cover change, land use change, national forest monitoring, redd+ |
| First evidence of a mid-Holocene earthquake-triggered megaturbidite south of the Chile Triple Junction | Piret, Loïc; Bertrand, Sebastien; Kissel, Catherine; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Tamayo Hernando, Alvaro; Van Daele, Maarten | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2018.01.002 | | Sedimentary Geology | 00370738 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0037073818300113 | 120-133 | 375 | Thomson Reuters ISI | bathymetry, deposits, geochemistry, grain size and shape, lakes, maps, sediments, submarine geology, chile triple junctions, environmental implications, glacial lake outburst flood, holocenes, paleoenvironmental study, patagonia, sediment provenance, turbidite, earthquakes, deposition, earthquake trigger, fjord, holocene, paleoenvironment, paleoseismicity, provenance, subduction zone, turbidite, chile, chile triple junction, pacific ocean, patagonia, foraminifera |
| Recent intensification of Amazon flooding extremes driven by strengthened Walker circulation | Barichivich, Jonathan; Gloor, Emanuel; Peylin, Philippe; Brienen, Roel J. W.; Schöngart, Jochen; Espinoza, Jhan Carlo; Pattnayak, Kanhu C. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1126/sciadv.aat8785 | The Amazon basin is the largest watershed on Earth. Although the variability of the Amazon hydrological cycle has been increasing since the late 1990s, its underlying causes have remained elusive. We use water levels in the Amazon River to quantify changes in extreme events and then analyze their cause. Despite continuing research emphasis on droughts, the largest change over recent decades is a marked increase in very severe floods. Increased flooding is linked to a strengthening of the Walker circulation, resulting from strong tropical Atlantic warming and tropical Pacific cooling. Atlantic warming due to combined anthropogenic and natural factors has contributed to enhance the change in atmospheric circulation. Whether this anomalous increase in flooding will last depends on the evolution of the tropical inter-ocean temperature difference. | Science Advances | 2375-2548 | http://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aat8785 | eaat8785 | 4 | Thomson Reuters ISI | |
| Global Climate - d. Hydrological cycle - Drought | Osborn, T. J.; Barichivich, J.; Harris, I.; Schrier, G. VAN DER; Jones, P. D. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1175/2018BAMSStateoftheClimate.1 | | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | 0003-0007 | http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/2018BAMSStateoftheClimate.1 | S36-S37 | 99 | Thomson Reuters ISI | A |
| Elucidating the hydraulic vulnerability of the longest-lived Southern Hemisphere conifer to aridification | Urrutia-Jalabert, R.; Peña, M.P.; Coopman, R.E.; Carvajal, D.E.; Jiménez-Castillo, M.; Lara, A.; Cosimo, D.; Lobos-Catalán, P. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1016/j.foreco.2018.08.027 | Drier climatic conditions will be the future scenario in many regions worldwide, including southern South America. Few studies have characterized the ecophysiological vulnerability of the endemic tree species that inhabit this area, to climate change. In this study we assessed the hydraulic vulnerability of the longest-lived tree of the Southern Hemisphere, Fitzroya cupressoides, focusing on adult trees and saplings from two highly disturbed populations: the Coastal Range (AC) and Central Depression (FN) of southern Chile, which represent contrasting site conditions. This, as a basis for the design of conservation strategies to safeguard the persistence of these endangered forests in a drier future. We assessed water potentials (WP) throughout a growing season, their relationships with environmental conditions, as well as leaf and stem (branch) traits and hydraulic safety margins. Despite that the studied summer was the second driest in the last seven decades, minimum WP were not that negative (−1.3 to −1.5 MPa); which could be partly explained by a high leaf capacitance in this species. Adult trees and saplings from both sites did not significantly differ in their WP at turgor loss point, and their associated leaf safety margins, which were relatively low in all cases. However, they significantly differed in the xylem WP causing a 50% loss of stem conductivity (P50): adults AC: −5.14, saplings AC: −2.53, adults FN: −3.71, and saplings FN: −3.87 MPa. These values led to a relatively large stem safety margin (SSM) in most cases, and their variation was not explained neither by wood density, nor by tracheid size changes. Moreover, there appears to be an ontogenic adjustment in the more restrictive site AC, which was not seen in FN. Within the continuum of species strategies to cope with water stress, Fitzroya has features of the two ends of the continuum: tissues with large SSM, and tissues that sustain milder operation pressures through capacitance. Although Fitzroya appears to be relatively resistant to water scarcity, saplings from AC, seem to be the most vulnerable to the aridification trend in southern Chile. Moreover, future drying could become a significant extra threat to the highly endangered Central Depression population. Conservation actions are urgently needed to secure the future of Fitzroya forests in southern Chile. | Forest Ecology and Management | 0378-1127 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S037811271830793X | 472-484 | 430 | Thomson Reuters ISI | capacitance, climate change, histology, tissue, conservation actions, conservation strategies, environmental conditions, fitzroya cupressoides, safety margin, southern hemisphere, southern south america, temperate rainforest, forestry, aridification, climate change, climate conditions, coniferous forest, conservation management, ecophysiology, endangered species, endemic species, environmental conditions, growing season, hydraulic conductivity, rainforest, safety, southern hemisphere, temperate environment, vulnerability, capacitance, fitzroya, forestry, histology, safety, saplings, southern hemisphere, tissue, chile, coastal range [taiwan], south america, taiwan, coniferophyta, fitzroya, fitzroya cupressoides |
| Landscape drivers of recent fire activity (2001-2017) in south-central Chile | McWethy, David B.; Pauchard, Aníbal; García, Rafael A.; Holz, Andrés; González, Mauro E.; Veblen, Thomas T.; Stahl, Julian; Currey, Bryce | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1371/journal.pone.0201195 | In recent decades large fires have affected communities throughout central and southern Chile with great social and ecological consequences. Despite this high fire activity, the controls and drivers and the spatiotemporal pattern of fires are not well understood. To identify the large-scale trends and drivers of recent fire activity across six regions in south-central Chile (~32–40 S Latitude) we evaluated MODIS satellite-derived fire detections and compared this data with Chilean Forest Service records for the period 2001–2017. MODIS burned area estimates provide a spatially and temporally comprehensive record of fire activity across an important bioclimatic transition zone between dry Mediterranean shrublands/ sclerophyllous forests and wetter deciduous-broadleaf evergreen forests. Results suggest fire activity was highly variable in any given year, with no statistically significant trend in the number of fires or mean annual area burned. Evaluation of the variables associated with spatiotemporal patterns of fire for the 2001–2017 period indicate vegetation type, biophysical conditions (e.g., elevation, slope), mean annual and seasonal climatic conditions (e.g., precipitation) and mean population density have the greatest influence on the probability of fire occurrence and burned area for any given year. Both the number of fires and annual area burned were greatest in warmer, biomass-rich lowland Bío-Bío and Araucanía regions. Resource selection analyses indicate fire ‘preferentially’ occurs in exotic plantation forests, mixed native-exotic forests, native sclerophyll forests, pasture lands and matorral, vegetation types that all provide abundant, flammable and connected biomass for burning. Structurally and compositionally homogenous exotic plantation forests may promote fire spread greater than native deciduous-Nothofagaceae forests which were once widespread in the southern parts of the study area. In the future, the coincidence of warmer and drier conditions in landscapes dominated by flammable and fuel-rich forest plantations and mixed native-exotic and sclerophyll forests are likely to further promote large fires in south-central Chile. © 2018 McWethy et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. | PLOS ONE | 1932-6203 | http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0201195 | e0201195 | 13 | Thomson Reuters ISI | chile, climate change, controlled study, ecosystem fire history, environmental change, environmental exposure, environmental impact, forest fire, geographic distribution, landscape, population density, review, seasonal variation, trend study, wildfire, biomass, chile, ecosystem, environmental protection, fire, procedures, satellite imagery, statistics and numerical data, theoretical model, biomass, chile, climate change, conservation of natural resources, ecosystem, fires, models, theoretical, satellite imagery |
| Chronology, stratigraphy and hydrological modelling of extensive wetlands and paleolakes in the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert during the late quaternary | Pfeiffer, Marco; Latorre, Claudio; Santoro, Calogero M.; Gayo, Eugenia M.; Rojas, Rodrigo; Carrevedo, María Laura; McRostie, Virginia B.; Finstad, Kari M.; Heimsath, Arjun; Jungers, Matthew C.; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Amundson, Ronald | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Ciudades Resilientes | 2018.0 | 10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.08.001 | The halite-encrusted salt pans (salars) present at low elevations of the hyperarid core of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile are unique features of one of the driest and possibly oldest deserts on Earth. Here we show that these landscapes were shallow freshwater lakes and wetlands during the last glacial period, periodically between ~46.9 ka and 7.7 ka. The moisture appears to have been sourced from increased Andean runoff and most of our chronologies for these deposits were coeval with the Central Andean Pluvial Event (17.5-14.2 ka and 13.8-9.7 ka), but we also find evidence for older as well as slightly younger wet phases. These environments supported a diverse hygrophyte vegetation, as well as an array of diatoms, ostracods and gastropods. Using a regional hydrological model, we estimate that recharge rates from 1.5 to 4 times present were required to activate and maintain these wetlands in the past. Activation in the late Pleistocene was part of a regional enhancement of water resources, extending from the Andes, downstream and through riparian corridors, to the lowest and most arid portions of the desert itself. This fundamentally unique environment was encountered by the earliest human explorers in the region, and most likely facilitated migration and encampments on a landscape that at present lacks macroscopic life on its surface. | Quaternary Science Reviews | 0277-3791 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0277379117310521 | 224-245 | 197 | Thomson Reuters ISI | arid regions, hydrology, sedimentology, sodium chloride, stratigraphy, water resources, atacama desert, hyperaridity, late quaternary, paleogeography, south america, wetlands, arid region, aridity, chronology, gastropod, hydrological modeling, lake, paleoclimate, paleogeography, pleistocene, recharge, salt pan, sedimentology, stratigraphy, wetland, andes, atacama desert, chile, chile, bacillariophyta, gastropoda |
| Adding new evidence to the attribution puzzle of the recent water shortage over São Paulo (Brazil) | Pattnayak, K.C.; Gloor, E.; Tindall, J.C.; Brienen, R.J.W.; Barichivich, J.; Baker, J.C.A.; Spracklen, D.V.; Cintra, B.B.L.; Coelho, C.A.S. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2018.0 | 10.1080/16000870.2018.1481690 | View references (44) São Paulo, Brazil has experienced severe water shortages and record low levels of its water reservoirs in 2013–2014. We evaluate the contributions of Amazon deforestation and climate change to low precipitation levels using a modelling approach, and address whether similar precipitation anomalies might occur more frequently in a warming world. Precipitation records from INMET show that the dry anomaly extended over a fairly large region to the north of São Paulo. Unique features of this event were anomalous sea surface temperature (SST) patterns in the Southern Atlantic, an extension of the sub tropical high into the São Paulo region and moisture flux divergence over São Paulo. The SST anomalies were very similar in 2013/14 and 2014/15, suggesting they played a major role in forcing the dry conditions. The SST anomalies consisted of three zonal bands: a cold band in the tropics, a warm band to the south of São Paulo and another cold band poleward of 40 S. We performed ensemble climate simulations with observed SSTs prescribed, vegetation cover either fixed at 1870 levels or varying over time, and greenhouse gases (GHGs) either fixed at pre-industrial levels (280 ppm CO2) or varying over time. These simulations exhibit similar precipitation deficits over the São Paulo region in 2013/14. From this, we infer that SST patterns and the associated large-scale state of the atmosphere were important factors in determining the precipitation anomalies, while deforestation and increased GHGs only weakly modulated the signal. Finally, analyses of future climate simulations from CMIP5 models indicate that the frequency of such precipitation anomalies is not likely to change in a warmer climate. © 2018, © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. | Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography | 1600-0870 | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16000870.2018.1481690 | 1-14 | 70 | Thomson Reuters ISI | algorithm, climate change, climate effect, climate forcing, deforestation, future prospect, hydrological response, pattern recognition, precipitation intensity, reservoir, resource scarcity, sea surface temperature, temperature anomaly, water supply, atlantic ocean, atlantic ocean (south), brazil, sao paulo [brazil] |
| Impact of residential combustion and transport emissions on air pollution in Santiago during winter | Mazzeo, Andrea; Huneeus, Nicolás; Ordoñez, César; Orfanoz-Cheuquelaf, Andrea; Menut, Laurent; Mailler, Sylvan; Valari, Myrto; Denier van der Gon, Hugo; Gallardo, Laura; Muñoz, Ricardo; Donoso, Rodrigo; Galleguillos, Maurico; Osses, Mauricio; Tolvett, Sebastian | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Ciudades Resilientes | 2018.0 | 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.06.043 | Santiago (33.5°S, 70.5°W), the capital of Chile, is frequently affected by extreme air pollution events during wintertime deteriorating air quality (AQ) and thus affecting the health of its population. Intense residential heating and on-road transport emissions combined with poor circulation and vertical mixing are the main factors responsible for these events. A modelling system composed of a chemistry-transport model (CHIMERE) and a meteorological model (WRF) was implemented to assess the AQ impacts of residential and transportation sources in the Santiago basin. A two-week period of July 2015 with various days with poor AQ was simulated focusing on the impact on AQ with respect to fully inhalable particles (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOX). Three emission scenarios, within the range of targeted reductions of the decontamination plan of Santiago, were tested; namely 50% reduction of residential emission, 50% reduction of transport emissions and the combination of both. An additional scenario decreasing transport emissions in 10% was carried out to examine whether a linear dependence of surface concentrations on changes in emissions exists. The system was validated against surface and vertically resolved meteorological measurements. The model reproduces the daily surface concentration variability from the AQ monitoring network of Santiago. However, the model not fully captures the emissions variations inferred from the observations which may be due to missing sources such as resuspension of dust. Results show that, during the period studied, although both residential and transportation sources contribute to observed AQ levels in Santiago, reducing transport emissions is more effective in terms of reducing the number of days with pollution events than decreasing residential combustion. This difference in impact is largely due to the spatial distribution of the emission sources. While most of the residential combustion is emitted in the outskirts of the city, most of the transport emissions occur within the city, where most of the stations from AQ monitoring network of Santiago are located. As can be expected, the largest improvement of AQ in Santiago is achieved by the combined reduction of emissions in both sectors. Sensitivity analysis with 10% reduction in transport emissions reveals a linear behavior between emissions and concentrations for NOX and approximate linear behavior for PM2.5. The absence of secondary aerosols formation and dust resuspension in the current simulation could explain this deviation from linearity for fine particles. Nevertheless, it suggests that the results can be used for mitigation policies with emissions reductions below the 50% used in this study. | Atmospheric Environment | 1352-2310 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1352231018304345 | 195-208 | 190 | Thomson Reuters ISI | air quality, combustion, dust, housing, nitrogen oxides, roads and streets, sensitivity analysis, chemistry transport model, meteorological measurements, meteorological modeling, mitigation policies, on-road emissions, pm2.5, residential emissions, road transport emissions, atmospheric movements, nitrogen oxide, air quality, atmospheric modeling, atmospheric pollution, climate modeling, combustion, environmental factor, extreme event, mitigation, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, pollutant source, pollutant transport, pollution effect, pollution monitoring, pollution policy, public health, residential location, road traffic, spatial distribution, traffic emission, winter, air pollution, airborne particle, article, chile, combustion, concentration (parameters), exhaust gas, meteorology, model, particle size, priority journal, residential area, surface property, traffic and transport, winter, chile, metropolitana |
| Assimilating satellite-based canopy height within an ecosystem model to estimate aboveground forest biomass: Assimilating Canopy Height Into Biomass | Joetzjer, E.; Pillet, M.; Ciais, P.; Barbier, N.; Chave, J.; Schlund, M.; Maignan, F.; Barichivich, J.; Luyssaert, S.; Hérault, B.; von Poncet, F.; Poulter, B. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.1002/2017GL074150 | Despite advances in Earth observation and modeling, estimating tropical biomass remains a challenge. Recent work suggests that integrating satellite measurements of canopy height within ecosystem models is a promising approach to infer biomass. We tested the feasibility of this approach to retrieve aboveground biomass (AGB) at three tropical forest sites by assimilating remotely sensed canopy height derived from a texture analysis algorithm applied to the high-resolution Pleiades imager in the Organizing Carbon and Hydrology in Dynamic Ecosystems Canopy (ORCHIDEE-CAN) ecosystem model. While mean AGB could be estimated within 10% of AGB derived from census data in average across sites, canopy height derived from Pleiades product was spatially too smooth, thus unable to accurately resolve large height (and biomass) variations within the site considered. The error budget was evaluated in details, and systematic errors related to the ORCHIDEE-CAN structure contribute as a secondary source of error and could be overcome by using improved allometric equations. | Geophysical Research Letters | 00948276 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/2017GL074150 | 6823-6832 | 44 | Thomson Reuters ISI | biomass, budget control, ecosystems, forestry, population statistics, systematic errors, aboveground biomass, allometric equations, earth observations, ecosystem model, optical satellite imagery, radar satellites, satellite measurements, secondary sources, satellite imagery, aboveground biomass, algorithm, canopy, ecosystem modeling, feasibility study, height determination, optical method, pleiades, radar imagery, remote sensing, satellite imagery, tropical forest |
| Potencial de los anillos de crecimiento de Pilgerodendron uviferum para el estudio histórico de las Iglesias de Chiloé, Patrimonio de la Humanidad | Puchi, Paulina; Muñoz, Ariel A; González, Mauro E; Abarzúa, Ana; Araya, Katerine; Towner, Ronald; Fitzek, Reinhard; Holz, Andrés; Stahle, Daniel | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2017.0 | 10.4067/S0717-92002017000100012 | Las iglesias de Chiloé son antiguas estructuras de madera reconocidas patrimonio de la humanidad por la UNESCO. Gran parte de su historia de construcción y reparaciones aún se desconoce. Considerando que muchas de las iglesias de Chiloé fueron construidas utilizando madera de Pilgerodendron uviferum, el objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el potencial de esta especie para datar piezas de madera de dos de estas históricas construcciones: las iglesias de Vilupulli e Ichuac. En Vilupulli se dataron piezas de 311 y 181 años provenientes de los pilares de la torre. Estas piezas fueron fechadas con cronologías de ancho de anillos de P. uviferum cercanas a las dos iglesias. También utilizando estas cronologías se dataron piezas de 79, 89, 97 y 135 años obtenidas a partir de los pilotes que sostienen el piso de la iglesia de Ichuac. Considerando que Vilupulli fue construida a principios del siglo XX, es posible que las muestras de la torre que presentaron fechas cercanas a 1918, sean parte del proceso tardío de construcción de la iglesia o de una restauración posterior. Por su parte, Ichuac fue construida a finales del siglo XIX, por lo que las piezas del piso que dataron entre 19201929, formarían parte de una posible restauración no descrita previamente en archivos históricos, la cual pudo ocurrir incluso varios años posterior a la fecha del anillo más reciente encontrado en las piezas estudiadas. Se concluye que P. uviferum tiene alto potencial para estudios históricos en estructuras patrimoniales en el sur de Chile. | Bosque (Valdivia) | 0717-9200 | http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-92002017000100012&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=en | 109-121 | 38 | Thomson Reuters ISI | dendroarchaeology, historical structures, pilgerodendron uviferum |
| The pre-Columbian introduction and dispersal of Algarrobo (Prosopis, Section Algarobia) in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile | McRostie, Virginia B.; Gayo, Eugenia M.; Santoro, Calogero M.; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Latorre, Claudio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Ciudades Resilientes | 2017.0 | 10.1371/journal.pone.0181759 | Archaeological and palaeoecological studies throughout the Americas have documented widespread landscape and environmental transformation during the pre-Columbian era. The highly dynamic Formative (or Neolithic) period in northern Chile (ca. 3700–1550 yr BP) brought about the local establishment of agriculture, introduction of new crops (maize, quinoa, manioc, beans, etc.) along with a major population increase, new emergent villages and technological innovations. Even trees such as the Algarrobos (Prosopis section Algarobia) may have been part of this transformation. Here, we provide evidence that these species were not native to the Atacama Desert of Chile (18–27S), appearing only in the late Holocene and most likely due to human actions. We assembled a database composed of 41 taxon specific AMS radiocarbon dates from archaeobotanical and palaeoecological records (rodent middens, leaf litter deposits), as well an extensive bibliographical review comprising archaeobotanical, paleoecological, phylogenetic and taxonomic data to evaluate the chronology of introduction and dispersal of these trees. Although Algarrobos could have appeared as early as 4200 yr BP in northernmost Chile, they only became common throughout the Atacama over a thousand years later, during and after the Formative period. Cultural and natural factors likely contributed to its spread and consolidation as a major silvicultural resource. | PLOS ONE | 1932-6203 | http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0181759 | e0181759 | 12 | Thomson Reuters ISI | carbon 14, article, chile, chronology, desert, holocene, leaf litter, nonhuman, paleoecology, phylogeny, plant dispersal, prosopis, species introduction, taxonomy, agriculture, archeology, classification, crop, desert climate, genetics, history, human, phylogeny, physiology, prosopis, agriculture, archaeology, chile, crops, agricultural, desert climate, history, ancient, humans, phylogeny, plant dispersal, prosopis |
| Postfire responses of the woody flora of Central Chile: Insights from a germination experiment | Gómez-González, Susana; Paula, Susana; Cavieres, Lohengrin A.; Pausas, Juli G. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.1371/journal.pone.0180661 | Fire is a selective agent shaping plant traits and community assembly in fire-prone ecosystems. However, in ecosystems with no fire history, it can be a cause of land degradation when it is suddenly introduced by humans, as plant species may not be able to respond to such novel disturbance. Unlike other Mediterranean-type ecosystems (MTE) of the world, natural fires have not been frequent during the Quaternary in the matorral of Central Chile, and thus, plant adaptive responses are expected to be uncommon. We evaluated the effect of heat shock on seed survival and germination of 21 native woody plants of the Chilean matorral and compiled information on smoke-stimulation and resprouting, to evaluate the importance of fire-adaptive responses in the context of the other MTE. We found that in the Chilean woody flora negative seed responses to fire cues were more frequent than positive responses. Although resprouting is a relatively widespread trait, fire-stimulated germination is not as common in the Chilean matorral as in other MTE. The seeds of seven endemic species were strongly damaged by fire cues and this should be considered in post-fire restoration planning. However, our results also showed that many species were resistant to elevated doses of heat shock and in some, germination was even stimulated. Thus, future research should focus on the evolutionary causes of these responses. These findings could help to develop strategies for fire management in the Chilean matorral. In addition, they will improve our understanding of the evolutionary forces that shaped this plant community and to better frame this region among the other MTE worldwide. | PLOS ONE | 1932-6203 | http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0180661 | e0180661 | 12 | Thomson Reuters ISI | chile, endemic species, flora, germination, heat shock, human, nonhuman, plant community, smoke, woody plant, biomass, chile, evolution, fire, forest, genetic selection, genetics, growth, development and aging, plant seed, biological evolution, biomass, chile, fires, forests, germination, seeds, selection, genetic |
| Predicting Vascular Plant Diversity in Anthropogenic Peatlands: Comparison of Modeling Methods with Free Satellite Data | Castillo-Riffart, Ivan; Galleguillos, Mauricio; Lopatin, Javier; Perez-Quezada, J. F. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.3390/rs9070681 | Peatlands are ecosystems of great relevance, because they have an important number of ecological functions that provide many services to mankind. However, studies focusing on plant diversity, addressed from the remote sensing perspective, are still scarce in these environments. In the present study, predictions of vascular plant richness and diversity were performed in three anthropogenic peatlands on Chiloé Island, Chile, using free satellite data from the sensors OLI, ASTER, and MSI. Also, we compared the suitability of these sensors using two modeling methods: random forest (RF) and the generalized linear model (GLM). As predictors for the empirical models, we used the spectral bands, vegetation indices and textural metrics. Variable importance was estimated using recursive feature elimination (RFE). Fourteen out of the 17 predictors chosen by RFE were textural metrics, demonstrating the importance of the spatial context to predict species richness and diversity. Non-significant differences were found between the algorithms; however, the GLM models often showed slightly better results than the RF. Predictions obtained by the different satellite sensors did not show significant differences; nevertheless, the best models were obtained with ASTER (richness: R2 = 0.62 and %RMSE = 17.2, diversity: R2 = 0.71 and %RMSE = 20.2, obtained with RF and GLM respectively), followed by OLI and MSI. Diversity obtained higher accuracies than richness; nonetheless, accurate predictions were achieved for both, demonstrating the potential of free satellite data for the prediction of relevant community characteristics in anthropogenic peatland ecosystems. © 2017 by the authors. | Remote Sensing | 2072-4292 | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/7/681 | 681 | 9 | Thomson Reuters ISI | decision trees, ecology, ecosystems, forecasting, maximum likelihood, satellites, wetlands, aster, generalized linear model, random forests, richness, shannon index, sphagnum, forestry |
| Southern Annular Mode drives multicentury wildfire activity in southern South America | Holz, Andrés; Paritsis, Juan; Mundo, Ignacio A.; Veblen, Thomas T.; Kitzberger, Thomas; Williamson, Grant J.; Aráoz, Ezequiel; Bustos-Schindler, Carlos; González, Mauro E.; Grau, H. Ricardo; Quezada, Juan M. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.1073/pnas.1705168114 | The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is the main driver of climate variability at mid to high latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere, affecting wildfire activity, which in turn pollutes the air and contributes to human health problems and mortality, and potentially provides strong feedback to the climate system through emissions and land cover changes. Here we report the largest Southern Hemisphere network of annually resolved tree ring fire histories, consisting of 1,767 fire-scarred trees from 97 sites (from 22 °S to 54 °S) in southern South America (SAS), to quantify the coupling of SAM and regional wildfire variability using recently created multicentury proxy indices of SAM for the years 1531–2010 AD. We show that at interannual time scales, as well as at multidecadal time scales across 37–54 °S, latitudinal gradient elevated wildfire activity is synchronous with positive phases of the SAM over the years 1665–1995. Positive phases of the SAM are associated primarily with warm conditions in these biomass-rich forests, in which widespread fire activity depends on fuel desiccation. Climate modeling studies indicate that greenhouse gases will force SAM into its positive phase even if stratospheric ozone returns to normal levels, so that climate conditions conducive to widespread fire activity in SAS will continue throughout the 21st century. © 2017, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 0027-8424, 1091-6490 | http://www.pnas.org/lookup/doi/10.1073/pnas.1705168114 | 9552-9557 | 114 | Thomson Reuters ISI | article, biomass, climate change, fire, forest, greenhouse gas, land use, ozone layer, priority journal, south america, southern hemisphere, temperature, tree |
| Loco or no Loco? Holocene Climatic Fluctuations, Human Demography, and Community Based Management of Coastal Resources in Northern Chile | Santoro, Calogero M.; Gayo, Eugenia M.; Carter, Chris; Standen, Vivien G.; Castro, Victoria; Valenzuela, Daniela; De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Marquet, Pablo A.; Latorre, Claudio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Ciudades Resilientes | 2017.0 | 10.3389/feart.2017.00077 | The abundance of the southern Pacific mollusk loco (Concholepas concholepas), among other conspicuous marine supplies, are often cited as critical resources behind the long-term cultural and demographic fluctuations of prehistoric hunter-gatherers in the coastal Atacama Desert. These societies inhabited one of the world’s most productive marine environments flanked by one the world’s driest deserts. Both of these environments have witnessed significant ecological variation since people first colonized themat the end of the Pleistocene (c. 13,000 cal yr BP). Here, we examine the relationship between the relative abundance of shellfish (a staple resource) along a 9,500-year sequence of archeological shell midden accumulations at Caleta (a small inlet or cove) Vitor, with past demographic trends (established via summed probability distributions of radiocarbon ages) and technological innovations together with paleoceanographic data on past primary productivity. We find that shellfish extraction varied considerably from one cultural period to the next in terms of the number of species and their abundance, with diversity increasing during periods of regionally decreased productivity. Such shifts in consumption patterns are considered community based management decisions, and for the most part they were synchronous with large and unusual regional demographic fluctuations experienced by prehistoric coastal societies in northern Chile. When taken together with their technological innovations, our data illustrates how these human groups tailored their socio-cultural patterns to what were often abrupt and prolonged environmental changes throughout the Holocene. | Frontiers in Earth Science | 2296-6463 | http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2017.00077/full | | 5 | Thomson Reuters ISI | arid regions, climatology, demography, landforms, population dynamics, population statistics, shellfish, atacama desert, community-based management, cultural resources, demographic fluctuations, enso, holocene climate, socio-cultural patterns, technological innovation, probability distributions |
| Climate change and resilience of deciduous Nothofagus forests in central-east Chilean Patagonia over the last 3200 years: RESILIENCE OF DECIDUOUS NOTHOFAGUS FORESTS IN PATAGONIA | Simi, E.; Moreno, P. I.; Villa-Martínez, R.; Vilanova, I.; de Pol-Holz, R. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2017.0 | 10.1002/jqs.2948 | We examine the response of Nothofagus forests to climate change and disturbance regimes over the last 3200 years near Coyhaique (45°S), central–east Chilean Patagonia, using fine‐resolution pollen and charcoal records from lake sediment cores. Closed‐canopy deciduous Nothofagus forests have dominated the region with little variation until the arrival of Chilean–European settlers, suggesting a predominance of cool‐temperate and wet conditions. Within this state we identify centennial‐scale episodes of forest fragmentation, increase in littoral macrophytes and volcanic/paleofire disturbance between 2700 and 3000 cal a BP, 2200 and 2500 cal a BP and over the last ∼250 years, which we interpret as intervals with negative hydrologic balance. Natural variability caused little impact on the physiognomy and composition of the vegetation in pre‐European time, in contrast to the accelerated shift that started during the late 19th century associated with deforestation, homogenization and synchronization of ecosystem changes at the landscape level, and spread of exotic plant species brought by Chilean and European settlers during a warm/dry interval. The resilience of deciduous Nothofagus forests to natural disturbance regimes and climate change was exceeded by large‐scale human disturbance since the late 19th century by fire, timber exploitation and livestock grazing. These disturbances caused an ecosystem shift towards artificial meadows and scrublands with frequent high‐magnitude fires. | Journal of Quaternary Science | 0267-8179 | http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/jqs.2948 | 845-856 | 32 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climate variation, deciduous forest, disturbance, fire history, holocene, human activity, paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, tephra, chile, patagonia, nothofagus |
| The 2010-2015 mega drought in Central Chile: Impacts on regional hydroclimate and vegetation | Garreaud, R.; Alvarez-Garreton, Camila; Barichivich, Jonathan; Boisier, Juan Pablo; Christie, Duncan; Galleguillos, Mauricio; LeQuesne, Carlos; McPhee, James; Zambrano-Bigiarini, Mauricio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Agua y Extremos | 2017.0 | 10.5194/hess-21-6307-2017 | Since 2010 an uninterrupted sequence of dry years, with annual rainfall deficits ranging from 25 to 45 %, has prevailed in Central Chile (western South America, 30–38° S). Although intense 1- or 2-year droughts are recurrent in this Mediterranean-like region, the ongoing event stands out because of its longevity and large spatial extent. The extraordinary character of the so-called Central Chile Mega Drought (MD) was established against century long historical records and a millennial tree-ring reconstruction of regional precipitation. The largest MD-averaged rainfall relative anomalies occurred in the northern, semi-arid sector of central Chile but the event was unprecedented to the south of 35° S. ENSO neutral conditions have prevailed since 2011 (but for the strong El Niño 2015) contrasting with La Niña conditions that often accompanied past droughts. The precipitation deficit diminished the Andean snowpack and resulted in amplified declines (up to 90 %) of river flow, reservoir volumes and groundwater levels along central Chile and westernmost Argentina. In some semiarid basins we also found a conspicuous decrease in the runoff-to-rainfall coefficient. A substantial decrease in vegetation productivity occurred in the shrubland-dominated, northern sector, but a mix of greening and browning patches occurred farther south where irrigated croplands and exotic forest plantations dominate. The ongoing warming in central Chile, making the MD one of the warmest 6-year period on record, may have also contributed to such complex vegetation changes by increasing potential evapotranspiration. The understanding of the nature and biophysical impacts of the MD contributes to preparedness efforts to face a dry, warm future regional climate scenario. | Hydrology and Earth System Sciences | 1027-5606 | https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/hess-2017-191/ | 6307-6327 | 21 | Thomson Reuters ISI | climatology, drought, groundwater, nickel, rain, exotic forest plantations, historical records, irrigated cropland, potential evapotranspiration, precipitation deficits, tree-ring reconstruction, vegetation productivity, western south america, vegetation, agricultural land, drought, el nino, el nino-southern oscillation, groundwater, historical record, la nina, multireservoir system, plantation forestry, potential evapotranspiration, precipitation (climatology), rainfall-runoff modeling, regional climate, river flow, shrubland, snowpack, tree ring, vegetation dynamics, andes, argentina, chile, mediterranean region |
| Ecosystem engineering by Fascicularia bicolor in the canopy of the South-American temperate rainforest | Ortega-Solís, Gabriel; Díaz, Iván; Mellado-Mansilla, Daniela; Tello, Francisco; Moreno, Ricardo; Tejo, Camila | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.1016/j.foreco.2017.06.020 | Ecosystem engineers are organisms that modify habitats and resource flows, they therefore could have a disproportionate impact on the diversity of ecological communities. Evidence suggests that trash basket epiphytes (TBE) can be considered ecosystem engineers of forest canopies, due to their relationship with arboreal soil availability and treetop communities. Here we evaluated whether the TBE Fascicularia bicolor (Bromeliaceae), modulates temperature and humidity in the forest canopy. We also investigated if this bromeliad is related with greater arboreal soil accumulation and is associated to higher diversity of other epiphytic plants and invertebrates in the canopy of the South-American temperate rainforest (SATR), in Chile. We measured temperature and humidity in ten trees within the forest before and after the experimental addition of F. bicolor. We also related the presence of F. bicolor with occurrence of soil macrofauna and other canopy dwelling plants in a comparative field survey. Temperature variability in the canopy was reduced by F. bicolor. Soil availability was higher in siteswith mats of F. bicolor. The richness of vascular epiphytes was unaltered by the presence of F. bicolor,but species composition differed between sites with and without mats on each tree. At the group level,the cover of lichens and bryophytes was greater in sites without F. bicolor, while vascular epiphytes showa larger cover in sites with F. bicolor. The species richness of invertebrates increased in treetop sites colonized by F. bicolor but species composition was not different from soil in branch bifurcations. Our resultsshow that F. bicolor must be considered in forest management practices to determine which trees must belogged, in order to preserve the viability of populations of these key organisms in the treetops of South-American temperate rainforests. | Forest Ecology and Management | 0378-1127 | http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0378112717302074 | 417-428 | 400 | Thomson Reuters ISI | animals, ecosystems, professional aspects, soils, ecosystem engineering, forest management practices, measured temperatures, soil accumulations, species composition, temperate rainforest, temperature and humidities, temperature variability, forestry, bryophyte, colonization, ecosystem engineering, epiphyte, forest canopy, invertebrate, lichen, monocotyledon, rainforest, species richness, temperate environment, ecosystems, forest canopy, humidity, south america, bromeliaceae, bryophytes, fascicularia bicolor, invertebrata |
| Monitoring global drought using the self-calibrating Palmer Drought Severity Index | Osborn, T. J.; Barichivich, J.; Harris, I.; van der Schrier, G.; Jones, P. D. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2017.0 | 10.1175/2017BAMSStateoftheClimate.1 | | Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society | 0003-0007 | http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/2017BAMSStateoftheClimate.1 | Si-S280 | 98 | Thomson Reuters ISI | atmospheric temperature, carbon dioxide, climate change, drought, greenhouse gases, hurricanes, insurance, lanthanum, nitrogen oxides, observatories, ozone, ozone layer, satellites, sea level, snow, storms, submarine geophysics, surface measurement, surface properties, surface waters, atmospheric measurement, carbon dioxide concentrations, increasing temperatures, land surface temperature, lower stratospheric temperature, precipitation variability, sea surface temperature (sst), stratospheric ozone depletion, sea ice |
| Effect of urban tree diversity and condition on surface temperature at the city block scale | Chinchilla, Javiera; Carbonnel, Alexandre; Galleguillos, Mauricio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.ufug.2021.127069 | Urban forests affect land surface temperature (LST) within a city due to the cooling effect of transpiration. The latter depends on tree health, but it can also be affected by the structure and composition of forest, as a mono-species environment may potentially worsen the health of urban forest. The following hypotheses are therefore proposed: a) greater tree diversity within urban forest results in lower LST at the city block scale; and b) the state of biotic disturbance of urban forest is negatively correlated with LST. The present research explores the relationship between urban forest tree diversity and health based on a survey of 38,950 individuals in the district of Providencia in the city of Santiago, Chile, and compares this information against LST data from the ASTER satellite instrument at the city block scale. The health of the urban forest was determined by expert knowledge means of a field survey that collected data concerning growth stage, phytosanitary state, and state of biotic disturbance. The first hypothesis could not be tested by the lack of urban tree diversity which showed strong domination of three species with more than 52 % of abundance (Robinia pseudoacacia, Platanus orientalis and Acer negundo). The second hypothesis was proved since the results revealed a positive and significant correlation between urban forest diversity and LST, with a Spearman's correlation coefficient of between 0.56 and 0.7. A positive and significant correlation of 0.55 was found between mean biotic disturbance (BDSm) and median LST (Med), indicating a direct relationship between higher LST and poorer urban forest health. A possible explanation is that, among the trees surveyed within the urban forest, the effect of biotic disturbance is greater than that of species diversity. As such, it may be concluded that planting of trees on city streets as a means of temperature moderation is made less effective if specimens are maintained in a poor general condition of health. | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 16188667 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1618866721000947 | 127069 | 60.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | aster, environmental disturbance, field survey, land surface, soil temperature, species diversity, urban ecosystem, chile, metropolitana, acer negundo, platanus orientalis, providencia, robinia pseudoacacia |
| Seed dispersal distance, seed morphology, and recruitment in the Chilean sclerophyllous tree Quillaja saponaria: implications for passive restoration in a semiarid ecosystem | Vásquez, Inao; Miranda, Alejandro; Delpiano, Cristian A.; Becerra, Pablo I. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1007/s11258-021-01207-4 | Recolonization of wind-dispersed tree species in degraded areas may decline with distance from remnant forest fragments because seed rain frequently decreases with distance from the seed source. However, regeneration of these species may be even more limited to sites close to the seed source if dispersal distance is negatively affected by seed mass, and germination probability is positively affected by seed mass. We evaluated these hypotheses in a Mediterranean-type ecosystem of central Chile, using the wind-dispersed tree species Quillaja saponaria. We assessed the seed rain curve in a degraded open area adjacent to a remnant forest fragment of this species, and related seed mass with dispersal distance from the seed source. Then, we evaluated the relationship between seed mass, germination, and seedling growth, and if seeds that fall nearer the seed source have greater germination probability. We found a decreasing seed rain with the distance from the seed source. Seed mass was not related to dispersal distance, although seeds with higher wing area dispersed further. Germination probability was significantly and positively related to the seed mass. We observed no significant relationship between distance and germination probability. We conclude that germination probability of this species does not vary along the seed rain curve, and that the recruitment density would be greater near the seed source only due to decreasing seed rain with distance. Our results suggest that this species has the potential to be passively restored in degraded areas, especially within the first 70 m from the remnant forest fragments. | Plant Ecology | 1385-0237, 1573-5052 | https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11258-021-01207-4 | | | Thomson Reuters ISI | central chile, dispersal capability, mediterranean-type ecosystem, passive restoration, plant recolonization, seed rain |
| Estimating the implicit discount rate for new technology adoption of wood-burning stoves | Carrasco-Garcés, Moisés; Vásquez-Lavín, Felipe; Ponce Oliva, Roberto D.; Diaz Pincheira, Francisco; Barrientos, Manuel | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112407 | In the last decade, there have been several initiatives to incentivize Efficient Energy Technologies (EET) to reduce air pollution caused by wood-burning in developing countries. More efficient woodstoves can improve health, reduce family expenditures, CO2 emissions, and forest degradation. Despite these benefits, there is low level of adoption of EETs. This paper contributed to the literature in three ways. First, it estimates the implicit discount rate (IDR) used by individuals to decide whether to adopt EET using exponential and hyperbolic specifications. Second, it includes sociodemographic characteristics in the definition of the IDR. Third, it evaluates how the adoption curve changes by different policy designs. Since the interest rate is part of the policy design, comparing the interest rate and the IDR is relevant to increasing adoption. Our monthly estimated IDR is between 1.7% and 5.4% with a significant overlap with market interest rate. The IDR is affected by the perception of the future economic situation, trust in environmental authorities, happiness, and gender. We found that using an interest rate lower than the IDR increases the probability of adoption significantly. An understanding of the effects of copayments, payment frequencies, and difference between interest rates and IDR is needed to maximize adoption. | Energy Policy | 03014215 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0301421521002779 | 112407 | 156.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | developing countries, energy policy, efficient energy technologies, energy regulation, implicit discount rate, interest rates, intertemporal choices, policy design, stated preferences, technology adoption, wood burning, energy efficiency, biomass power, cooking appliance, developing world, energy efficiency, energy policy, environmental economics, estimation method, financial system, fuelwood, interest rate, technological development, technology adoption |
| A multispecies assessment of wildlife impacts on local community livelihoods | Pozo, Rocío A.; LeFlore, Eric G.; Duthie, A. Bradley; Bunnefeld, Nils; Jones, Isabel L.; Minderman, Jeroen; Rakotonarivo, O. Sarobidy; Cusack, Jeremy J. | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2021.0 | 10.1111/cobi.13565 | Conflicts between the interests of agriculture and wildlife conservation are a major threat to biodiversity and human well-being globally. Addressing such conflicts requires a thorough understanding of the impacts associated with living alongside protected wildlife. Despite this, most studies reporting on human–wildlife impacts and the strategies used to mitigate them focus on a single species, thus oversimplifying often complex systems of human–wildlife interactions. We sought to characterize the spatiotemporal patterns of impacts by multiple co-occurring species on agricultural livelihoods in the eastern Okavango Delta Panhandle in northern Botswana through the use of a database of 3264 wildlife-incident reports recorded from 2009 to 2015 by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks. Eight species (African elephants [Loxodonta africana], hippopotamuses [Hippopotamus amphibious], lions [Panthera leo], cheetah [Acinonyx jubatus], African wild dogs [Lycaon pictus], hyenas [Crocuta crocuta], leopards [Panthera pardus], and crocodiles [Crocodylus niloticus]) appeared on incident reports, of which 56.5% were attributed to elephants. Most species were associated with only 1 type of damage (i.e., either crop damage or livestock loss). Carnivores were primarily implicated in incident reports related to livestock loss, particularly toward the end of the dry season (May–October). In contrast, herbivores were associated with crop-loss incidents during the wet season (November–April). Our results illustrate how local communities can face distinct livelihood challenges from different species at different times of the year. Such a multispecies assessment has important implications for the design of conservation interventions aimed at addressing the costs of living with wildlife and thereby mitigation of the underlying conservation conflict. Our spatiotemporal, multispecies approach is widely applicable to other regions where sustainable and long-term solutions to conservation conflicts are needed for local communities and biodiversity. | Conservation Biology | 0888-8892, 1523-1739 | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.13565 | 297-306 | 35.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | biodiversity, canid, carnivore, crop damage, database, dry season, elephant, livelihood, livestock, nature conservation, wet season, botswana, ngamiland, okavango delta, acinonyx jubatus, crocodylidae (all crocodiles), crocodylus niloticus, crocuta crocuta, elephantidae, hippopotamidae, loxodonta, loxodonta africana, lycaon pictus, panthera leo, panthera pardus, animal, carnivora, environmental protection, lion, panthera, wild animal, animals, animals, wild, carnivora, conservation of natural resources, lions, panthera |
| Assessing the socio-economic and land-cover drivers of wildfire activity and its spatiotemporal distribution in south-central Chile | Pozo, Rocío A.; Galleguillos, Mauricio; González, Mauro E.; Vásquez, Felipe; Arriagada, Rodrigo | Cambio de Uso de Suelo | 2022.0 | 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.152002 | Sustained human pressures on the environment have significantly increased the frequency, extent, and severity of wildfires, globally. This is particularly the case in Mediterranean regions, in which human-caused wildfires represent up to 90% of all recorded wildfire ignitions. In Chile, it has been estimated that nearly 90% of wildfires are related to human activities, and that their frequency and distribution have steadily increased over the last decade. Despite this, the role of socio-economic factors in driving wildfire activity and its spatiotemporal distribution remains unclear. In this study, we assess the association between socio-economic drivers and spatiotemporal patterns of wildfires in the Mediterranean region of south-central Chile over the period 2010–2018. Our results show that 98.5% of wildfires are related to human activities, either accidentally (58.2%) or intentionally (36.6%). Wildfires occurred primarily during the summer months and their density at the commune-level was associated with increased road access, as well as with the percentage of land covered by agriculture, exotic tree plantations, and native forest. Wildfire activity at the commune-level was also related to socio-economic variables such as population density, proportion of indigenous population, and unemployment rate, although such associations varied considerably depending on the region and on whether the wildfire was started accidentally or intentionally. Our study provides a comprehensive and interdisciplinary assessment of the complex ways in which land-cover and socio-economic factors drive the distribution of wildfire activity in south-central Chile. It represents an important guide for policy-making, as well a baseline for research into strategies aimed at predicting and mitigating wildfire activity at both local and national levels. | Science of The Total Environment | 00489697 | https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0048969721070789 | 152002 | 810.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | economic analysis, fires, forestry, population statistics, spatial distribution, central chile, human activities, interdisciplinary, land cover, mediterranean ecosystem, mediterranean region, socio-economic driver, socio-economic factor, socio-economics, spatiotemporal distributions, land use, article, chile, forest, human, land use, management, plantation, population density, socioeconomics, southern europe, summer, unemployment, wildfire |
| Chemical Signals in Tree Rings from Northern Patagonia as Indicators of Calbuco Volcano Eruptions since the 16th Century | Bertin, Lizette J.; Christie, Duncan A.; Sheppard, Paul R.; Muñoz, Ariel A.; Lara, Antonio; Alvarez, Claudio | Cambio de Uso de Suelo; Ciudades Resilientes; Agua y Extremos | 2021.0 | 10.3390/f12101305 | The Calbuco volcano ranks third in the specific risk classification of volcanoes in Chile and has a detailed eruption record since 1853. During 2015, Calbuco had a sub-Plinian eruption with negative impacts in Chile and Argentina, highlighting the need to determine the long-term history of its activity at a high-resolution time scale to obtain a better understanding of its eruptive frequency. We developed a continuous eruptive record of Calbuco for the 1514–2016 period by dendrochemical analysis of Fitzroya cupressoides tree rings at a biennium resolution using inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry. After comparing the chemical record of 20 elements contained in tree rings with historical eruptions, one group exhibited positive anomalies during (Pb/Sn) and immediately after (Mo/P/Zn/Cu) eruptions, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) ≥ 3, and so were classified as chemical tracers of past eruptions (TPE). The tree-ring width chronology also exhibited significant decreases in tree growth associated with eruptions of VEI ≥ 3. According to these records, we identified 11 new eruptive events of Calbuco, extending its eruptive chronology back to the 16th century and determining a mean eruptive frequency of ~23 years. Our results show the potential to use dendrochemical analysis to infer past volcanic eruptions in Northern Patagonia. This information provides a long-term perspective for assessing eruptive history in Northern Patagonia, with implications for territorial planning. | Forests | 1999-4907 | https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/12/10/1305 | 1305 | 12.0 | Thomson Reuters ISI | forestry, indicators (chemical), inductively coupled plasma, mass spectrometry, chemical signals, fitzroya cupressoides, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, northern patagonia, risk classification, sub-plinian eruption, tree rings, volcanic eruptions, volcanic explosivity indices, volcano eruptions, volcanoes, chemical analysis, dendrochronology, inductively coupled plasma method, pine, plinian eruption, sixteenth century, territorial planning, tree ring, chemicals, forestry, frequency, patagonia, records, resolution, rings, trees, argentina, chile, patagonia, fitzroya cupressoides |
