Long term socio-ecological research of the three LTSER-Chile founder sites: challenges and opportunities for future research

This article presents an analysis of the research programs carried out in the three foundational sites of the Chilean Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Network (LTSER-Chile) and presents the context in which these lines have been established

Las tres brechas del desarrollo sostenible y el cierre de la brecha ambiental en Chile: oportunidades para una recuperación pospandemia más sostenible y con bajas emisiones de carbono en América Latina y el Caribe

Las tres crisis del sistema internacional se expresan en tres brechas desde la perspectiva de la periferia latinoamericana y caribeña: la brecha del bajo crecimiento, la brecha de la desigualdad y la brecha de la destrucción del ambiente, en economías que dependen de las exportaciones de recursos naturales para sostener el crecimiento. En este documento se utiliza el concepto de “límites planetarios” para analizar la brecha ambiental en Chile. Estos se definen a partir de parámetros que circunscriben un área dentro de la cual los procesos biofísicos se mantienen en condiciones relativamente estables. El objetivo de definir dichos límites ambientales es lograr que la humanidad pueda operar sin alterar de manera drástica el estado del sistema terrestre, a fin de mantener la condición de habitabilidad del planeta y su resiliencia, así como el bienestar humano.Introducción .-- I. Antecedentes. A. Definición y relevancia del concepto de límites ambientales planetarios. B. La relevancia de analizar los límites ambientales planetariosa nivel nacional. C. Brechas en identificación de límites ambientales a niveles globales y nacional .-- II. Selección de límites: el caso de Chile .-- III. Una nueva forma de crecimiento .-- IV. Los límites planetarios y el modelo de las tres brechas .-- V. Brechas de conocimiento y recomendaciones de política pública .-- VI. Conclusiones

Senda Darwin Biological Station: Long-term ecological research at the interface between science and society

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.La Estación Biológica Senda Darwin (EBSD) constituye un centro de investigación inmerso en el paisaje rural del norte de la Isla de Chiloé (42º S), donde fragmentos del bosque siempreverde original coexisten con praderas de uso ganadero, turberas de Sphagnum, matorrales sucesionales, plantaciones de Eucalyptus y otras formaciones de origen antropogénico. Desde 1994 hemos realizado estudios de largo plazo centrados en algunas especies de plantas (e.g., Pilgerodendron uviferum D. Don) y animales (e.g., Aphrastura spinicauda Gmelin, Dromiciops gliroides [Thomas]) catalogados como amenazados o escasamente conocidos y en ecosistemas nativos de importancia regional y global (e.g., turberas de Sphagnum, bosque Valdiviano y Nordpatagónico). Las investigaciones han considerado las respuestas de las especies y de los ecosistemas frente al cambio antropogénico del paisaje y cambio climático, así como los efectos de diferentes formas de manejo. Este escenario es semejante al de otras regiones de Chile y Latinoamérica lo que da generalidad a nuestros resultados y modelos. En este período, investigadores asociados a la EBSD han producido más de un centenar de publicaciones en revistas nacionales e internacionales y 30 tesis de pre y postgrado. Entendiendo el papel clave de los seres humanos en los procesos ecológicos de la zona rural, la EBSD ha desarrollado un programa de educación ecológica y vinculación del avance científico con la sociedad local y nacional. La integración de la EBSD a la naciente red de Sitios de Estudios Socio-Ecológicos de Largo Plazo en Chile consolidará y fortalecerá la investigación básica y aplicada que realizamos para proyectarla hacia la siguiente década.Senda Darwin Biological Station (SDBS) is a field research center immersed in the rural landscape of northern Chiloé island (42º S), where remnant patches of the original evergreen forests coexist with open pastures, secondary successional shrublands, Sphagnum bogs, Eucalyptus plantations and other anthropogenic cover types, constituting an agricultural frontier similar to other regions in Chile and Latin America. Since 1994, we have conducted long-term research on selected species of plants (e.g., Pilgerodendron uviferum) and animals (e.g., Aphrastura spinicauda, Dromiciops glirioides) that are considered threatened, poorly known or important for their ecological functions in local ecosystems, and on ecosystems of regional and global relevance (e.g., Sphagnum bogs, North Patagonian and Valdivian rain forests). Research has assessed the responses of species and ecosystems to anthropogenic land-use change, climate change, and the impact of management. During this period, more than 100 scientific publications in national and international journals, and 30 theses (graduate and undergraduate) have been produced by scientists and students associated with SDBS. Because of our understanding of the key role that humans play in ecological processes at this agricultural frontier, since the establishment of SDBS we have been committed to creative research on the communication of science to society and ecological education. The integration of SDBS to the nascent Chilean network of long-term socio-ecological research will consolidate and strengthen basic and applied research to project our work into the next decade.http://ref.scielo.org/vbm4r

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Young People Are Changing Their Socio-Ecological Reality to Face Climate Change: Contrasting Transformative Youth Commitment with Division and Inertia of Governments

International audienceThis paper contributes to a critical re-reading of the notion of climate services. It does so by problematizing the discontinuity between young people’s commitment to climate change, and the lack of a common vision regarding climate policy among governments. In this essay, youth commitment is characterized in terms of participation in the Global Youth Climate Pact (GYCP, 2015–2022). Here, young people share projects from their own high schools and communities and participate in a citizen consultation. Most projects have achieved a good success score, increasing over the years, especially for those carried out in emerging and developing countries. Some of them were presented at the COPs. In contrast, a textual analysis of intended nationally determined contributions (INDC) illustrates divergent understandings of the Paris Agreement and exemplifies the poor results of governmental climate diplomacy. This study establishes the need to closely monitor early warning signs of climate change in conjunction with high schools and school communities. The initiatives of young people are building a civic and planetary awareness for climate change in contrast with governmental division and inertia. In this sense, climate services, directed to young people, could contribute to design a sustainable future. We approach the practices, attitudes, and commitments of young people from the angle of cooperation rather than a moral vision of responsibility. Particularly, we propose a dialogical link between the treatment of climate issues and its effects on the constitution of networks, notably as they relate to practices of action, that is, the way in which distinct groups of young people develop relationships with their environments, organize themselves, and act and transform reality

Carbon fluxes from a temperate rainforest site in southern South America reveal a very sensitive sink

Ecosystems where carbon fluxes are being monitored on a global scale are strongly biased toward temperate Northern Hemisphere latitudes. However, forest and moorland ecosystems in the Southern Hemisphere may contribute significantly to the global and regional C balance and are affected by different climate systems. Here, we present the first data from an old‐growth forest representative of temperate, broad‐leaved rainforests from southern South America. Carbon fluxes monitored over two years using the eddy covariance technique showed that this rainforest acts as an annual sink (−238 ± 31 g C/m2). However, there were significant pulses of carbon emission associated with dry episodes during the summer months (i.e., peak of the growing season) and periods of significant carbon fixation during the cold austral winter, indicating that the carbon balance in this forest is very sensitive to climate fluctuations. The carbon fixation surges in winter seem to be related to the mild temperatures recorded during this period of the year under the prevailing oceanic climate. Winter carbon gain was more relevant in determining the annual carbon balance than summer pulse emissions. Regarding the annual carbon balance, this southern forest resembles the patterns observed in montane tropical forests more than the behavior of narrow‐leaved evergreen temperate forests from the Northern Hemisphere. These patterns make this southern forest type relevant to understanding the mechanisms and thresholds that control ecosystem shifts from carbon sinks and sources and will provide key data to improve global dynamic vegetation models.This work was supported by FONDEQUIP AIC-37, Iniciativa Científica Milenio grant P05-002 and CONI-CYT grant PFB-23 to the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity-Chile (IEB), FONDECYT grant 1130935 to JPQ, and the LINCGlobal research program funded by CSIC-Spain and Catholic University of Chile. The authors thank Robert Cook and Alison Boyer, who kindly provided the FLUXNET database 2015. The authors are grateful to Paul Reich (USDA) for sharing the Biome database, Sebastiaan Luyssaert for providing them with the database of CO2 balance of forest ecosystems, and an anonymous reviewer whose comments helped them to improve the manuscript. This is a contribution to the Research Program of Senda Darwin Biological Station and the Chilean Long-Term Socio-Ecological Research Network (LTSER-Chile), affiliated with ILTER, AMERIFLUX, and FLUXNET.Peer reviewe