Historical State

Temperate forest of Central Chile, also known as Chilean Matorral, is located along the Pacific Coast of Chile and Eastern slopes of the Andes between 30 to 36 degrees south of latitude, which corresponds to South of Australia in latitude  (Thomas T. Veblen, Austin Kenneth R. Young, and Antony R. Orme, 187). It covers a 100 kilometer wide strip along the 200 mile long central Chile coast. According to the article Global Diversity in a Changing Environment, the region has an arrangement of evergreen, deciduous, and patches of conifer forests. The great amount in precipitation the ecosystem receives has shaped the ecosystem and plants there (Chapin III and Salas, 232). Wind blew from the ocean to the Andes slope, but it was unable to climb over the tall slope of Andes (Thomas T. Veblen, Austin Kenneth R Young, and Antony R, Orme, 187). Therefore, flow of moist air stayed in the region of Central Chile, forming the Mediterranean climate that serves as the cornerstone of the ecosystem. 

    

Link to the Google Earth Map of Central Chile

Image of the Jubena Chilensis forest at Cerro La Campana which is near Valparaiso

We chose this ecosystem because the ecosystem is one of most diverse ecosystems in the world, with nearly 1,500 species of plants endemic to the region, including species like Chilean Wine Palm. In fact, 95% of plant species in the ecosystem is endemic to the ecosystem. It is also the only Mediterranean ecosystem in South America. Many of Chile’s animals such as kodkod also cannot be found anywhere else on Earth. Yet, as we will mention later, the ecosystem is plagued by agriculture and practices such as clear cutting, which so far have brought a massive deforestation to the area.

Human Impacts

Central Chile has been occupied since 11000 BP. It can be speculated that vegetation and animals may have been affected by human activities. However, human impact of Native South Americans that were present before the region was inhabited by Europeans was very minimal. It was the economic and commercial factor from Europeans that began to transform the landscape and agriculture during the time (Javier A. Simonetti and Luis E.Cornejo). As Europeans came, the form of sustenance agriculture turned into a large-scale agriculture with most of land being clear cut of forest for agricultural land. Deforestation left only 252.2 ha of forest as of now, and during 1981-1991, forest was cut at an annual rate of 8.15 percent. Furthermore, constant fire and pollution introduced a new variable that native plants are having a very tough time adapting to, contributing to plants’ struggle to live as their habitats dwindle. Low regeneration rate of plants also contribute to the very, very slow recovery of native habitats in the ecosystem after the fire. The example of this can be seen in the case of Easter Island, located along the same latitude as Central Chile. Native palm trees went extinct due to human overpopulation and exploitation there. 

To this day species that are linked with the vegetation from the region from that time period may have not encountered harsh reactions to change; but it is worth noting that in 2009 the ecosystem has diminished by nearly 61.7 percent of what it was in 1989. It is unclear of how this has affected the current status of species, but it can be determined that the decrease in temperate forests may lead to the alteration and decline of species (Pablo M. Vergara, Christian G.Peres-Hernandez, et al, 2013).

Future Prospects

The preservation of Mediterranean ecosystem in Central Chile may be difficult due to the history of human presence, industrial movement, and declining agriculture. The conservation of endemic species in the region should strongly be encouraged. State and governmental interference should be present during these times to allow the flora and fauna to regrow (Thomas T. Veblen, Austin Kenneth R. Young, and Antony R. Orme, 197).  It might be the only chance of allowing the biodiversity in Central Chile to become once again dominant.

Improvements

According to Thomas T. Veblen, the opportunity to set aside a portion of land can help the endemic species survive and help contribute in bringing about a natural balance to the region (Thomas T. Veblen, Austin Kenneth R. Young, and Antony R. Orme, 197). This could also bring about the protection of native species from predators. The land can be preserved by fencing the selected area and allowing the biodiversity to occur.  We can take advantage of corporations' and government's help by encouraging private entities to buy more land and turn those land into protected areas. Also, there should be healthy regulation of land use to prevent fire from dominating the ecosystem. 

Data

The first figure shows the deforestation of Maipo River (30 degrees South latitude, 70 degrees West longitude) from 1989 to 2009. This area, right south of Santiago, roughly represent the central region of Chile. The dark black regions below represent the forest in Chile. The white areas show where most of the agriculture was practiced. The light gray areas represent the population of this region. The darker shade of gray serves as the urban life during this time period. The trend shows that over last twenty years, area of forest has decreased significantly to make room for more agriculture and population. 

The second figure magnifies the northwest part of the area during the years of 1989, 1999, and 2009 to show evidence of the deforestation that occurred. As one can see, the amount of forest decreased considerably and existing forests were broken into hundreds of segments, harming the biodiversity in the region. 

The third figure shows a summary of forest patch networks in central Chile during three study periods. PC is the probability of connectivity index.

References

Armesto, Juan J., Mary T. K. Arroyo, Luis F. Hinojosa. “The Mediterranean Environment of Central Chile” The Physical Geography of South America 8 (2007): 184-199. Print.

Chao, Li, Raffaele Lafortezza, Iquan Chen. Landscape Ecology in Forest Management and Conservation: Challenges and Solutions for Global Climate Change. Beijing: Higher Education Press and Springer, 2011. Print.

Chapin III, F. Stuart, Osvaldo E. Sala, and Elisabeth Huber-Sannwald. Global Biodiversity in a Changing Environment: Scenarios for the 21st Century. New York: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc., 2001. Print.

Simonetti, Javier A., and Luis E. Cornejo. "Economic and Ecological Changes: the Prehistory of the Andean Mountains of Central Chile." Economic Catalysts to Ecological Changes (1990): 65-77. Print.

Sink, Scott. Managing for Old-Growth Conditions in Second-Growth Temperate Rainforest of South-Central Chile. Ann Arbor: ProQuest LLC, 2009. Print.

Vergara, Pablo M., et al. “Deforestation in Central Chile Causes a Rapid Decline in Landscape Connectivity for a Forest Specialist Bird Species.” Ecological Research 28.3 (2013): 481-492. Print.

"Chile Mediterranean Habitat." Chile Mediterranean Habitat. Nature Conservancy, 02   

           Feb. 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. Nature.org.

Cox, Robin L., and Emma C. Underwood. "The Importance of Conserving Biodiversity Outside of Protected Areas in Mediterranean Ecosystems." PLOS ONE, Open Access Journal. 07 Jan. 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles.

Funk, Stephan M. "Chile Intertidal Zones." Human Impact and Conservation n.d.: 461. Arctic Institute of North America, 2011. Web. 25 Nov. 2013. arctic.ucalgary.ca/files/arctic/MAKMuir-ChileIntertidalZones.