Reproductive consequences of flower damage in two contrasting habitats: The case of Viola portalesia (Violaceae) in Chile

The indirect impact of flower herbivory on plant reproduction depends on the pollination environment, particularly on the presence or absence of pollinator species with the ability to discriminate damaged from undamaged flowers. The change in pollinator assemblages, due to habitat modification, may modify the impact of flower herbivory on plant reproductive success. In this work, we evaluate the effect of flower herbivory on the seed production of Viola portalesia (Gay) in two contrasting environments, a native and low-disturbed habitat and an extensively transformed habitat characterized by Pinus radiata plantations. Even though the two habitats differed substantially in the composition of pollinator assemblages and visitation rate, the flower damage performed on different petals had no impact on seed production neither within nor between habitats, indicating that change in pollinator assemblages have no indirect reproductive impact via discrimination of damaged flowers. There was a

Regime shifts of Cruces River wetland ecosystem: current conditions, future uncertainties

During April-May 2004 the Cruces River wetland ecosystem, located in Valdivia (40°S), southern Chile, was described as shifting from a clear water regime, dominated by the exotic macrophyte Egeria densa, to turbid waters and absence of submerged macrophytes. We analyzed the trophic status and ecological regime of the wetland from November 2011 through January 2013. The trophic status was determined comparing values of selected variables (nutrients, chlorophyll-a and transparency) with OECD criteria. The ecological regime was determined comparing the same variables with the criteria proposed by Ibelings et al. (2007). We further compared the concentration of nutrients and suspended solids with previous measurements. Current trophic status of the wetland is between eutrophic and hypereutrophic, as shown by results, and its ecological regime intermediate, between clear and turbid waters, with a considerable risk of returning to turbid waters. In this article we discuss the potential relationship between the watershed land use (agriculture, cattle feeding and forestry), the change in wetland's trophic level and future conditions