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).