2023-05-17 05:19:16
The diversity and natural wealth that surrounds the UC Patagonia Interdisciplinary Research Station, locatea in the Aysén Region, in the Exploradores Valley, turns it into and sector keythe work they do national and foreign researchers, together with undergraduate and postgraduate students who, from different disciplines, develop their studies at this point of the Network of Regional Centers and Stations (RCER) of the Catholic University. all in a unique environment that generates a lot of scientific interest due to reduced human intervention that still exists in the area.
The study of carnivores that inhabit the temperate forest is the focus of the research carried out by Paula Zucolillo at the Patagonia UC Station. The biologist from the National University of La Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina, came to Chile to study a Master’s in Biological Sciences with a mention in Ecology at the Catholic University, which allowed her to establish links with the UC Institute of Geography and with the director of the Patagonia Station, Alejandro Salazar, in 2016. “As an ecologist, I was studying the invasion of the American mink and monitoring camera traps at the station,” says the researcher.
In 2018 and within the framework of the projects financed by the Observatory Hombre Medio Internacional (OHM-I) Patagonia-Bahía Explorers of the Network LabEx DRIIHM -network in which the UC Patagonia Station and the Observatory are the only members from Latin America-, financed by the Institute of Ecology and Environment (INEE) of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Paula ZucolilloPhD candidate in Ecology UC, was awarded the investigation «Assessment of contaminants in the carnivore community of the temperate forest in Bahía Exploradores, Aysén Region».
Actually, isand study It not only has a record of carnivores, but also of most of the vertebrates that live in the temperate forest of the station and surrounding areas. Its activity patterns have been described and the first results were reported last year, through a poster that was presented at a meeting attended by representatives of all the Middle Man Observatories that make up the network of observatories. LabEx DRIHM (INEE). This year, the researcher It will focus on the analysis of diet and contaminants, through the analysis of feces collected in different field works at the Station and its surroundings.
«We present how the activity patterns of different species are modified in intervened and non-intervened places of, for example, the güiña and how it is modified by the presence of the domestic cat, also a feline and which is totally alien to this native ecosystem. The impact of its presence, as well as that of the domestic dog, on the activity of the smallest native feline in Chile was observed. Now we are analyzing the feces and we will know what species the carnivores of the place feed on. For example, the puma, which is the largest carnivore in Chile, which inhabits the forests of the Station, feeds mainly on pudú”, he comments.
Iinterdisciplinary in the field
Like the research that Paula ZucolilloAt the Patagonia UC Station, another 13 projects are currently being developed, which are supported by different national and international organizations, such as the OHM-International Patagonia-Bahía Exploradores (INEE-CNRS/UC), from France; the fondecyt of Initiation and Regulation of the National Agency for Research and Development, ANID; and those awarded as Station.
«The growth of the Station, in terms of its academic and research capacities, has increased since its creation in 2009 as a grant of public land from the Ministry of National Assets and in 2015 as a Station itself at the university. It has become a place of reception for research, support and exchange with other professors from different faculties of the UC, from other universities, students from undergraduate and postgraduate programs, from Santiago, from regions and foreigners”, he says. the director of the UC Patagonia Station and academic of the Institute of Geography, Alejandro Salazar.
Likewise, it highlights the importance of national and international cooperation, especially with France and other international organizations, as well as synergy with higher education institutions and organizations in the Aysén Region. «It is a work laboratory for learning, research and production of valuable scientific knowledge. I see the future of the Station as a space with which, from the university, we can contribute interdisciplinary to the accelerated changes that the planet is experiencing”, says Alejandro Salazar.
for your part, andl Vice Chancellor for Research Pedro Corkunderlines sopen RCER UC, that Cs the Vice-Rector for Research we feel a tremendous responsibility with the university and, why not, with the country, for this initiative to continue to grow. At the UC Patagonia Station we study climate change and the effects of human beings on the environment and thus, each territory has its valuable particularities”.
Research Director María Elena Boisier highlights two areas regarding the research carried out at the Station: «The first is the complexity of carrying out border research in such isolated places, such as Bahía Exploradores, and that has been maintained over time; and the importance of international collaboration that this Station has, through a project of the CNRS of France, which is part of research that is related to the human impact on the environment, which has been very significant in maintaining, supporting and making visible the research that is being carried out. makes at this point of the RCER UC«.
“Station starto with a strong focus from geography, to analyze the dynamics and territorial transformations in Valle Exploradores, taking all the historical vestiges of explorations in this place; to then move towards various topics, including water microbiology hand in hand with the Faculty of Biological Sciences; other perspectives with entomologists and herpetologists analyzing insects, frogs and amphibians; from glaciology, oriented a little more to earth sciences; and design -together with architecture-, thinking of basic services for the Station and associated tourism, and how science communicates in a better way, looking for accurate information to be able to deliver to tourists ».
New research possibilities
Last March, a commission from RCER UC, made up of authorities from the Catholic University, visited the station on a two-day trip that included traveling on dirt roads and a boat trip on the Exploradores River. This is the second visit made by this commission, the first was to the Atacama UC Station, in Alto Patache, Tarapacá Region, in June 2022.
This delegation, led by the vice-rector, was made up of the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Mariane Krause; the dean of the Faculty of History, Geography and Political Science, Valeria Lift; Research Director, María Elena Boisier; the academic from the Faculty of Engineering, Gloria Arancibia; the academic of the Faculty of Architecture, Design and Urbanism, Francisco Chateau; the deputy director of the Institute of Geography, Esteban Sagredo; and the executive director of the UC Data Science Initiative, Rodrigo Carrasco.
For her part, the dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences highlights that “the essential thing” of each regional station is the possibility of generating scientific research in a local context, which also allows us to be attentive to the needs of the environment. «In the case of the Patagonia UC Station, it is located in the middle of the native forest, with a minimalist, harmonious and non-polluting construction and, although it does not have immediate neighbors, a lot of reciprocal work can be done with the closest towns, such as Tranquil River Port».
“I think the seasons have that value. One can leave an instrumental measuring and that is true, but being in situ, feeling the impact of the place and addressing these problems through the conversation and interaction of people who live different disciplines, is the magic of the seasons, “concludes Valeria Lift.
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
Patagonia-Bahía Exploradores (INEE-CNRS)
•Arthropods from Bahía Exploradores (Chile: Aysén): identification of biodiversity and its use. Major university. Principal Investigator: Paul lovers.
•The creation of agriculture in Aysen: colonisation and transformation of the Exploradores Valley. Catholic University of Temuco. Principal Investigator: Jorge Olea
•Basin-wide biodiversity survey through environmental DNA metabarcoding. Southern University of Chile. Responsible investigator: Cristián Correa.
•Analysis of tourism development in geosites in the Exploradores Valley, Aysén Regionand evaluation of its socio-territorial impacts. CIEP. Responsible Investigator: Fabien Bourlon
•Pollutants assessment at carnivore community in temperate forest in Exploradores Bay, Aysén Region.
•Exploradores (Chile: Aysén): native vs. invasive, case of two species of the genus Bombus.Facultad of Agronomy and Forestry UC. Responsible investigator: Alejandra Muñoz.
•Rapid adaptation in a non-native species : The extreme case study of the brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Patagonia (Chile). SETE, CNRS. Responsible Investigator: Simon Blanket.
•Arthropods from Bahía Exploradores (Chile: Aysén): Coleoptera, bioindicators of the level of disturbance in southern forests.University Elderly. Principal Investigator: Paul lovers.
FONDECYT Initiation and Regular Projects
• «Geographical-environmental interactions: Linking socio-ecological systems with environmental history. Exploradores Valley, western Patagonia, Aysén Region». (2019-2022) Principal Investigator: Alejandro Salazar, Institute of Geography UC.
• «Geographies posthumanas in Patagonia: intersections between nature, capital and desire». Responsible researcher: Andrés Núñez, Institute of Geography UC.
•Applicability of quantitative estimates of past vegetation cover in the Aysen region, Chilean Patagonia. CIEP. Responsible investigator: Valentina Álvarez.
•Ecosystem effects of trophic imbalances in costal systems. Faculty of Biological Sciences UC. Principal Investigator: Rodrigo De la Iglesia.
Projects awarded as Station -associated-, in execution
• ANID Project, International Linkage. «International network of scientific tourism and participatory monitoring of climate change in southern watersheds». CIEP.
• FIC Project. Aysen Region. «Resilience, sustainability and valorization of the LSR-G Biosphere Reserve». Main Institution: CIEP.
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