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The Valdivian temperate rainforest (VTR) is a biome on the South American continent with high endemism that has experienced an intensive land-cover change in recent decades due to the expansion of agriculture, plantations of introduced forests, and urban growth. Today, the biome hosts key parts of the country's agricultural and forestry industries. Previous studies focused on quantifying native forest and plantation cover area and exotic forest plantation area, among others. However, the importance of mountain areas as refuge of native forest in Chile remains unexplored. The aim of this research is to highlight the role of latitude and slope on land cover in the VTR. A new methodological approach was used combining global classified datasets. Our results indicate that high mountain areas are the core location of the remaining primary forests and endemism whereas low mountain areas are dominated by exotic forest plantations. Between 40–48° S (The Los Ríos, Los Lagos, and Aysén Regions and high-mountain areas), in general, serve as a natural reservoir where human-induced land-cover change has not occurred on a large scale. Most public and private conservation areas are in high mountain areas, whereas low mountain areas and plain areas lack conservation schemes and are more prone to land cover change towards forestry. Considering geomorphological features in land cover change analysis can reveal interesting new perspectives in this research area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Valdivian temperate rainforest (VTR) is a biome on the South American continent with high endemism that has experienced an intensive land-cover change in recent decades due to the expansion of agriculture, plantations of introduced forests, and urban growth. Today, the biome hosts key parts of the country’s agricultural and forestry industries. Previous studies focused on quantifying native forest and plantation cover area and exotic forest plantation area, among others. However, the importance of mountain areas as refuge of native forest in Chile remains unexplored. The aim of this research is to highlight the role of latitude and slope on land cover in the VTR. A new methodological approach was used combining global classified datasets. Our results indicate that high mountain areas are the core location of the remaining primary forests and endemism whereas low mountain areas are dominated by exotic forest plantations. Between 40–48° S (The Los Ríos, Los Lagos, and Aysén Regions and high-mountain areas), in general, serve as a natural reservoir where human-induced land-cover change has not occurred on a large scale. Most public and private conservation areas are in high mountain areas, whereas low mountain areas and plain areas lack conservation schemes and are more prone to land cover change towards forestry. Considering geomorphological features in land cover change analysis can reveal interesting new perspectives in this research area.

Climate changes during the late Pleistocene influenced the demography and distribution of species in Patagonia. During the last glacial maximum (LGM), ice sheets covered a great extent of the temperate rainforest in the western Patagonian Andes. The persistence of forest species in refugia during the LGM has been debated for many vertebrates, but rarely for birds. The Green-backed Firecrown (Sephanoides sephaniodes) is an important avian pollinator distributed from the south of the Atacama Desert (28°S) to Tierra del Fuego (54°S) in South America. We evaluated the species' evolutionary history, combining molecular data and models for past and current species distribution. Our results show two distinct haplogroups: the genetically diverse North–South clade (NS) restricted to the Mediterranean and coastal temperate regions that exhibits a signature of population expansion after LGM, and the Austral-East clade (AE) confined to the temperate intermountain range, eastern temperate, and sub-Antarctic regions, with lower genetic diversity and evidence of a more recent population expansion. This AE clade and the past distribution models support the species survival in valleys and lowlands south of the ice sheets limit during LGM until the present. A secondary contact zone was observed with haplotypes from the AE clade distributed in low frequency along with the northern areas. Our results support the paleorefugia hypothesis during the LGM with postglacial secondary contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Species abundance is an important ecological parameter that can provide insights on ecological and evolutionary processes. Here, we report patterns of abundance for two coexisting Ceroglossus ground beetle species (C. buqueti and C. darwini) from a Valdivian temperate rainforest area in South Chile, sampled at four time periods within a year. Results show similar overall species abundances, although they varied differently along the year for each species. The abundance of the species C. darwini peaked earlier than the species C. buqueti and it was absent during fall and winter, while C. buqueti was detected at all seasons. Abundances also varied spatially, but they were positively correlated between species suggesting no spatial segregation. Carabidae, Chile, species abundance, Valdivian temperate rainforest.

Cultivable actinomycetes associated to lichenized microecosystems from the temperate Valdivian rainforests, Argentina. Twenty-three (23) cultivable strains of actinomycetes were isolated from the corticolous lichen species Pseudocyphellaria berberina present in the Valdivian temperate rainforest, Argentina, being twenty-one (21) endolichenic and two (2) ectolichenic. Seventeen (17) strains were identified as belonging to genera Actinoplanes (2), Dactylosporangium (1), aff. Pseudonocardia (1), Micromonospora (6), aff. Micromonospora (1) and Streptomyces (5), Streptosporangoium (1). This is the first record of actinomycetes isolated from lichenized fungi for Argentina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]