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Semi‐arid and arid landscapes (dry‐lands) cover 41% of the Earth’s land surface over five continents. These areas are home to 55% of mammal species. Bats have the second highest species richness among mammals, and, although many species are adapted to arid conditions, they are particularly sensitive in these habitats and require conservation priority. Information on bats in arid and semi‐arid landscapes is scattered, patchy and focused on small‐scale studies; therefore, we undertook a systematic review using the PRISMA protocol to identify the current knowledge status, detect knowledge gaps and propose future research priorities. We analysed 346 published articles and evaluated 40 topics within five topic categories (taxa studied, methodologies used, biology, ecology and conservation). The most commonly studied topic categories were ecology and biology. However, we found a gap in the topic category conservation (including topics such as conservation status and roost conservation). Our network analysis of topics within the categories showed that most ecology papers were focused on distribution, species richness and habitat use. When we analysed keywords, we found that phylogeny, taxonomy and distribution demonstrated relatively high presence. Moreover, comparison of the percentage of studies conducted in dry‐lands and the percentage of land surface area covered by dry‐lands in the continents revealed that dry‐lands in Africa and Australia were especially under‐represented. Our review shows that knowledge of bats in semi‐arid and arid landscapes is biased towards new records of the distribution of species, as well as covering systematic/taxonomic and morphological aspects of bat biology. We suggest that research on conservation measures and guidelines to protect the bat species found in semi‐arid and arid landscapes should be prioritised, together with the sharing of knowledge with local practitioners and the development of citizen science programmes.

Natural regeneration has been proposed as a cost-effective forest restoration approach for both small and large-scale initiatives. However, attributes for assessing the success of forest restoration through natural regeneration may vary among them in spatial patterns depending on the scale of analysis and on environmental gradients. Here we analysed the spatial patterns of recovery completeness (i.e. how similar attributes in restored forests are to the same attributes in reference forests) in response to environmental factors in a Mediterranean forest landscape of Central Chile. We evaluated (1) forest recovery completeness using basal area (BA), quadratic mean diameter (QMD), adult species density (ASD), adult species richness (ASR), and seedling species richness (SSR); (2) the spatial congruence of recovery completeness estimated by each of these indicators; and (3) the environmental factors potentially shaping these spatial patterns. We used field measurements and geospatial information sources to quantify and predict indicator responses by fitting boosted regression tree models. To assess the spatial congruence of predictions we overlaid high-level recovery completeness values for all indicators. Overall recovery completeness in the study area was 72.7%, suggesting positive prospects for attaining fully restored forests. Recovery completeness had a resulted higher for diversity (92.3%-99.6%) than structural forest attributes (33.5%-76.9%); however, spatial congruence among recovery indicators was low due to the uneven spatial responses of each indicator. The maximum potential spatial congruence was, Universidad de La Frontera, Fundación de Apoyo a la Investigación del Estado de Sao Paulo

An understanding of human attitudes towards wildlife can be an essential element in the success or failure of a conservation initiative, policy or practice and represents one of the main conservation problems for wildlife species. Despite the ecosystem services bats provide, they often are a socially stigmatized group, misperceived and even hunted. This problem has been on the increase as a result of the Covid‐19 pandemic. We examined how aesthetic appeal and informational factors could influence human attitudes towards bats in a survey of 1966 participants from Spanish‐speaking countries. Gender, educational level, religiousness and previous experiences with bats were relevant variables to understand attitudes towards them. The results indicate that both aesthetic and informational stimuli increase the positive responses, reducing the negatives on the participants' attitudes. Our results show the importance of public attitudes to achieve conservation goals, especially in the context of human‐wildlife conflict. Bats are not charismatic animals and are still surrounded in mystery; however, our findings could benefit bat conservation plans, allowing the development of new communication strategies both locally and nationally and increasing public acceptance that will facilitate bat conservation., An understanding of human attitudes towards wildlife can be an essential element in the success or failure of a conservation initiative, policy or practice and represents one of the main conservation problems for wildlife species. Despite the ecosystem services bats provide, they often are a socially stigmatized group, misperceived and even hunted. This problem has been on the increase as a result of the Covid‐19 pandemic. We examined how aesthetic appeal and informational factors could influence human attitudes towards bats in a survey of 1966 participants from Spanish‐speaking countries. Gender, educational level, religiousness and previous experiences with bats were relevant variables to understand attitudes towards them. The results indicate that both aesthetic and informational stimuli increase the positive responses, reducing the negatives on the participants' attitudes. Our results show the importance of public attitudes to achieve conservation goals, especially in the context of human‐wildlife conflict.

Understanding of people&rsquo, s landscape preferences is important for decision-making about land planning, particularly in the disturbance patterns that usually occur in rural-urban gradients. However, the use of different types of images concerning the same landscape may influence social preferences and thus perceptions of landscape management and planning decisions. We evaluated landscape preferences and perceptions in four landscapes of southern Chile. We specifically: (1) compared people&rsquo, s perceptions related to living in, visiting, the scenic beauty, well-being, risks, and level of landscape disturbance, and (2) evaluated the influence of the type of scene (i.e., eye-level or aerial images) in these preferences and perceptions. Preferences and perceptions resulted to be better when using eye-level (4.0 &plusmn, 1.1) than aerial (3.7 &plusmn, 0.6) images. In general, we observed a negative association between preferences and perceptions and the landscape disturbance, however, it was consistent when using aerial images but was masked when valuing landscape through eye-level images. Implications of these results are relevant because by far, most landscape preference studies use traditional eye-level images. Different types of scenes should be considered in order to embrace the landscape preferences and perceptions of all those involved and help decision-making in landscape planning.

The Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) is the spatial manifestation of the coupling of human communities and ecosystems, and wildfire is the most prominent issue. The WUI accounts for large percentages of fire prevention and suppression expenditures because it is where most human fatalities and structure losses occur. Therefore a fire-risk based definition of the spatial delimitation of the WUI may be critical to properly distributing prevention action and management investments to obtain the maximum social return. We present the first methodological approach that can be used to delineate the WUI based on a fire risk assessment. To accomplish this, we developed a geographical framework to model fire risk with the most prominent drivers and their interactions to define spatial explicit thresholds of the WUI. We built a Bagged Decision Tree (BDT) model to quantify fire risk based on Human Activity, Geographic and Topographic, and Land Cover variable interaction with fire ignition. For national and subnational threshold definition, we used Partial Dependence Plots (PDP) to analyze relationships between individual variables and predicted responses. A PDP can show the inflection point where a management action could potentially attain the best social return for decreasing fire risk. We find that the spatial threshold can vary more than double between subnational areas using the local fire risk-based approach. Subnational threshold definition accounts for 52% of fires in 3.4% of the national territory where lives 63% of the human population versus the conventional threshold or even nationally defined threshold that accounts for 36% and 54.4% of fires but in 3.3% and 4.3% of the land respectively. This multi-scale approach can be used to identify both general thresholds for large-scale applications as well as local thresholds for defining the WUI both operationally and empirically to determine optimal management areas.

Binary variables have two possible outcomes: occurrence or non-occurrence of an event (usually with 1 and 0 values, respectively). Binary data are common in ecology, including studies of presence/absence, alive/dead, and change/no-change. Logistic regression analysis has been widely used to model binary response variables. Unbalanced data (i.e., an extremely larger proportion of zeros than ones) are often found across a variety of ecological datasets. Sometimes the data are balanced (i.e., same amount of zeros and ones) before fitting the model, however, the statistical implications of balancing (or not) the data remain unclear. We assessed the statistical effects of balancing data when fitting a logistic regression model by studying both its statistical properties of the estimated parameters and its predictive capabilities. We used a base forest-mortality model as reference, and by using stochastic simulations representing different configurations of 0/1 data in a sample (unbalanced data scenarios), we fitted the logistic regression model by maximum likelihood. For each scenario we computed the bias and variance of the estimated parameters and several prediction indexes. We found that the variability of the estimated parameters is affected, with the balanced-data scenario having the lowest variability, thus, affecting the statistical inference as well. Furthermore, the prediction capabilities of the model are altered by balancing the data, with the balanced-data scenario having the better sensitivity/specificity ratio. Balancing, or not, the data to be used for fitting a logistic regression models may affect the conclusion that can arise from the fitted model and its subsequent applications.

Forest monitoring is important for decision making of forest management and conservation. In Chile, the forest monitoring system was initiated in 1994, which has been continued through the implementation of regional updates. This has enabled a temporal monitoring of the distribution and surface covered by native forest. However, while regional updates have reported increase in the surface covered by native forest, other studies have shown an opposite trend. Therefore, the capacity of the forest monitoring system to measure the temporal variation in forest areas was evaluated. Specifically, a review of reports and official data of the national forest monitoring system was carried out through the fulfillment of three basic criteria: i) comparability, ii) replicability and iii) quality. According to our results, the Chilean forest monitoring system does not fulfill their basic requirements because: (i) methodologies have not been consistent over time; (ii) it does not provide a baseline of land cover or forest loss that allows comparisons with changing forest area; iii) there is not adequate error estimation and how it can affect the results and analysis of monitoring. The national forest monitoring system requires a redefinition of its aims and methods, guiding them to the long term by convening different stakeholders looking for a national agreement.

Globally, laws define both where protected areas are and their level of protection. Usually, the legal protection is not absolute and alternative land-uses can be implemented if perceived gains outweigh conservation losses. Technical reports, describing the importance of each protected area, are therefore crucial for decision-making, impact assessments, mitigation policies and management plans, and thus effective conservation. While much research has focused on protected areas themselves, including the biodiversity they contain and the impact of illegal activities, almost no research has evaluated the adequacy of the technical reports. Given high levels of data availability, the European Natura 2000 network (N2000) might be expected to represent best practice. Here we compare known bat presences with records from Standard Data Forms (SDFs) of Spanish N2000 Special Areas of Conservation (SAC); the Habitats Directive protects all European bat species. Across 1206 SACs, we found far fewer bat species listed in the SDFs than are known to occur in the SACs they represent, for both Annex II and particularly Annex IV bat species. These findings have serious conservation implications, including that decisions are systematically biased against conservation outcomes: if SDFs greatly underestimate the conservation value of their SACs, development of the land (or sea) is much more likely to be permitted. Incorporating known species presences into the SDFs of SACs is low in cost and straightforward, and can potentially achieve tremendous conservation benefits for minimal outlay; it should therefore be a top conservation priority globally, and conservation scientists should urgently engage with government agencies, accordingly.

Public urban green spaces provide people with many benefits. Understanding the relationship between public urban green spaces’ characteristics and human well-being components may assist in future planning and design of these spaces. This study performed a systematic bibliographic review to analyse the relationships between green spaces' specific characteristics and human well-being components. The green spaces characteristics found in 153 articles were divided in four groups: structure, biodiversity, naturalness, and others; while dimensions of human well-being were divided into four groups: health, security, good social relations, and freedom of choice and action. The number of green spaces and their percentage of vegetation cover and size (structure category) improved human well-being, in all aspects, especially in health. Structure and biodiversity are the characteristics most highly rated in the literature. These green spaces’ biodiversity and naturalness contribute to human well-being through improvements in health (particularly mental health) and good social relations. The most frequently methods used to assess the relationship of public urban green spaces and human well-being are mainly oriented towards studying perception of the green space’s users. This result highlights an opportunity to assess the congruence between methods evaluating perception and objective measurement. Our findings may provide tools for decision-makers to integrate green spaces into planning, identifying specific characteristics of public urban green spaces that promote human well-being and to face climate change.

The understanding of the spatial and temporal patterns in land use and land cover (LULC) change is a key issue for conservation efforts. In the Chilean hotspot, different studies have attempted to understand variations of LULC change. Nevertheless, a broader understanding of common patterns and variability of LULC over the entire range of the hotspot is lacking. We performed a complete review of the different studies reporting LULC changes and performed a joint analysis of their results using an integrated comprehensive approach. We related the variation of LULC change to latitude, time period and vascular plant richness using generalized linear models. Overall, there were nine studies, which covered 36.5 % of the study area, and reported the loss of 19 % of native forest (782,120 ha) between 1973 and 2011. The highest net forest loss was observed in the 1970–1990 period. This decreased in the 1990–2000 period and rose again in the 2000–2010 period. This result reveals a continuous forest loss in the last 40 years. Conversion of native forest to shrublands is the most important contributor to net native forest loss, accounting for 45 % of the loss. However, in the area of greatest species richness native forests are mainly converted to exotic tree plantations. Chilean forestry model has proved successful in expanding exotic tree plantation, but so far it has not been compatible with native forest conservation and restoration. It is imperative to design a new forestry policy to assure the conservation of one of the most unique biodiversity hotspots worldwide.

Distinguishing between natural forests from exotic tree plantations is essential to get an accurate picture of the world’s state of forests. Most exotic tree plantations support lower levels of biodiversity and have less potential for ecosystem services supply than natural forests, and differencing them is still a challenge using standard tools. We use a novel approach in south-central of Chile to differentiate tree cover dynamics among natural forests and exotic tree plantations. Chile has one of the world’s most competitive forestry industry and the region is a global biodiversity hotspot. Our collaborative visual interpretation method combined a global database of tree cover change, remote sensing from high-resolution satellite images and expert knowledge. By distinguishing exotic tree plantation and natural forest loss, we fit spatially explicit models to estimate tree-cover loss across 40 millions of ha between 2000 and 2016. We were able to distinguish natural forests from exotic tree plantations with an overall accuracy of 99% and predicted forest loss. Total tree cover loss was continuous over time, and the disaggregation revealed that 1 549 909 ha of tree plantations were lost (mean = 96 869 ha year−1), while 206 142 ha corresponded to natural forest loss (mean = 12 884 ha year−1). Mostly of tree plantations lost returned to be plantation (51%). Natural forests were converted mainly (75%) to transitional land covers (e.g. shrubland, bare land, grassland), and an important proportion of these may finish as tree plantation. This replacement may undermine objectives of increasedcarbon storage and biodiversity. Tree planting as a solution has gained increased attention in recen years with ambitious commitments to mitigate the effects of climate change. However, negative outcomes for the environment could result if strategies incentivize the replacement of natural forests into other land covers. Initiatives to reduce carbon emissions should encourage differentiating natural forests from exotic tree plantations and pay more attention on protecting and managing sustainably the former.

Chile’s temperate forest is a global biodiversity hotspot. An upsurge in alien forest plantations has disturbed and fragmented the landscape, promoting biological invasions. The invasion process is not fully understood since monitoring large and inaccessible areas can be prohibitively expensive and logistically challenging using field-based methods alone. Here, a remote sensing approach using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, fragmentation analysis, and random forest modelling is applied to detect alien tree stands and describe their extent in relation to fragmentation and landscape structure in study areas around Malalcahuello National Reserve and Villarrica National Park. Detailed vegetation maps are produced, with classification accuracies >81% and including four forest classes, two native and two alien. An altitudinal pattern was observed in both sites. At lower altitudes, there was greater total area covered by alien trees and more fragmented native forests than at higher altitudes. However, Villarrica had less alien tree cover than Malalcahuello, but was a more fragmented landscape. Random forest modelling identified that alien pine tree mean patch area was positively correlated with both land cover diversity and Araucaria araucana forest mean patch area in both sites. Given their conservation and cultural relevance, the locations of protected areas need reconsidering to strengthen the protection of A. araucana, which could be outcompeted by alien trees in a context of increasing productive forestry. This is especially urgent in Villarrica, where protected areas already have a substantial presence of alien trees, with most A. araucana found outside protected areas.

The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the spatial manifestation of human communities coupled with vegetated ecosystems. Spatial delineation of the WUI is important for wildfire policy and management, but is typically defined according to spatial relationships between housing development and wildland vegetation without explicit consideration of fire risk. A fire risk-based definition of WUI can enable a better distribution of management investment so as to maximize social return. We present a novel methodological approach to delineate the WUI based on a fire risk assessment. The approach establishes a geographical framework to model fire risk via machine learning and generate multi-scale, variable-specific spatial thresholds for translating fire probabilities into mapped output. To determine whether fire-based WUI mapping better captures the spatial congruence of houses and wildfires than conventional methods, we compared national and subnational fire-based WUI maps for Chile to WUI maps generated only with housing and vegetation thresholds. The two mapping approaches exhibited broadly similar spatial patterns, the WUI definitions covering almost the same area and containing similar proportions of the housing units in the area under study (17.1% vs. 17.9%), but the fire-based WUI accounted for 13.8% more spatial congruence of fires and people (47.1% vs. 33.2% of ignitions). Substantial regional variability was found in fire risk drivers and the corresponding spatial mapping thresholds, suggesting there are benefits to developing different WUI maps for different scales of application. We conclude that a dynamic, multi-scale, fire-based WUI mapping approach should provide more targeted and effective support for decision making than conventional approaches.

Deforestation is widely studied throughout the world. However, a less evident issue is the effect of climate change and drought on remnants of native forests. The objective of this work was to understand the geographic variations in resistance to drought of the Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests of central Chile. These forests have been historically reduced and fragmented and in recent years were subjected to the most prolonged drought occurred between 2010 and 2017. Using data from the MODIS satellite sensor, temporal trends in the NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) were quantified. We related these trends with different environmental variables to understand the effects of geographical variation and forest type as indicators of resistance to drought. We observed a significant direct effect of drought, attributable to the reduced precipitation in central Chile, and a significantly reduced NDVI in near one-third of the region forests (browning). However, NDVI and therefore forest productivity were more stable in some mesic sites such as ravine bottoms, but not on south-facing slopes. This suggests that under a regime of reduced precipitations, a greater available soil humidity would be a more important factor than the fact of receiving less solar radiation. Finally, the highest degree of browning was observed in semi-arid sclerophyllous forest dominated by species tolerant to drought. Our findings emphasize the need to consider topographic site conditions to adequately assess forest productivity and vulnerability where local wet conditions could provide drought refuges. This recent drought may be analogous to forecasted warmer and drier climate conditions with more frequent and severe droughts, so our results may serve as a general framework for climate-smart decisions in highly threatened forest restoration and conservation. Fil: Miranda, Alejandro. Universidad de La Frontera; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Universidad Austral de Chile; Chile Fil: Lara, Antonio. Universidad Austral de Chile; Chile. Universidad de Chile; Chile Fil: Altamirano, Adison. Universidad de La Frontera; Chile Fil: Di Bella, Carlos Marcelo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación de Recursos Naturales. Instituto de Clima y Agua; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Métodos Cuantitativos y Sistemas de Información; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario; Argentina Fil: González, Mauro Eduardo Javier. Universidad de Chile; Chile. Universidad Austral de Chile; Chile Fil: Julio Camarero, Jesus. Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología; España

Temperate forest represents the smallest area among the main world's forest biomes, but is one of those most threatened by forest loss. Chile contains most of the temperate forest in South America and more than half of the temperate forest in the southern hemisphere. Chilean temperate forest is considered to be one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. In this study we assessed the rate of land use and land cover (LULC) change over time, identified the main LULCs replacing native forest, and described how changes have evolved in contrasting physiographical conditions and through different historical phases of the landscape over the last 40 years. To achieve this, we analysed LULC change with particular focus on forest cover in three areas representing different physiographical conditions and histories of human occupation in the Araucania Region of Chile, namely the Central Valley, the Coastal range, and the Andean range. We found substantial differences in temporal and intra-regional patterns of forest loss and LULC change. In the Central Valley, forest loss started long ago, and the area occupied by native forest nowadays is less than 5% of the landscape. In the Coastal range, rapid land cover change has taken place since 1973, with an increasing rate of forest loss over time. We detected a similar but less intense pattern in the forests of the Andean range. Overall, the general pattern points to a process of landscape homogenization in all three physiographical areas. Exotic tree plantations have spread over large geographical areas, becoming the dominant land cover. Land cover change in the Araucania Region reflects a model of change in which areas with better environmental conditions and accessibility are occupied first for productive activities. As the availability of suitable areas for the expansion of productive activities diminishes, these activities start to move into physiographical areas which were previously “protected” by adverse environmental conditions or poor accessibility. This model of production growth could lead to the complete deforestation of areas outside national protected areas, and other areas which still remain inaccessible due to technological restrictions on exploitation.

Forest biomass is one of the main alternatives that Chile could promote to supply the long-term demand of energy, which can help to diversify the national en...

The presence and attributes of perch trees in degraded areas may promote seed dispersal. We evaluated the effect of the distance from remnant forest fragments on seed rain of different fleshy-fruit tree species and examined whether the seed rain is favoured by some traits of the perch trees (Acacia caven), such as canopy diameter and tree height. The study was carried out in two localities of central Chile with extensive “espinales” adjacent to remnant fragments of sclerophyllous forest. We installed 210 seed traps under the same number of A. caven trees along 10 transects in the two study areas. We set up the seed traps between 1 and 100 m away from forest fragments. We found a significant negative relationship between seed rain and distance. We also found a positive relationship between seed rain and the height and canopy diameter of the perch tree. Our results suggest that different woody species are able to disperse into the espinal, and that bigger A. caven trees are better perches than smaller individuals. We propose that at distances up to at least 100 m from forest fragments, seed availability does not limit natural regeneration into espinales.

A pesar de la reconocida importancia de los incendios forestales, la investigación sobre modelación de ocurrencia de incendios es escasa en el Hemisferio Sur, y en particular en Chile. Se estudió el efecto de la heterogeneidad del paisaje en la ocurrencia de incendios forestales en Chile Central. Se ajustó un modelo que incluye variables climáticas, topográficas, de actividad humana y cobertura del suelo. La probabilidad de ocurrencia aumentó con una mayor temperatura mínima y estacionalidad de la precipitación, y disminuyó con una mayor distancia a las ciudades. El modelo clasificó correctamente un 65% de los datos de validación. Las predicciones sugieren que un 38% del área de estudio tiene muy alta probabilidad de ocurrencia de incendios, la cual aumenta bajo un simulado escenario futuro. El modelo predictivo debería ser utilizado como una herramienta para orientar aspectos urgentes de protección y prevención, lo cual debe continuar siendo discutido y evaluado. Forest fires are recognized as a serious problem. Despite its importance, research into modelling of forest fire occurrence is lacking for the southern hemisphere, in particular for Chile. We investigated how landscape heterogeneity affects the probability of the occurrence of forest fires in Central Chile. We fitted a logistic regression model which included climatic, topographic, human-related and land-cover variables. Estimated probabilities of forest fire occurrence increased positively with the minimum temperature and precipitation seasonality, and decreased with distance to cities. The model correctly classified 65% of the validation data set. Our predictions suggest that 38% of the study area has a very high probability of forest fire occurrence. Under the assumed future scenario we predict an important increase in the probability of forest fire occurrence. The prediction model should be seen as a tool for addressing urgent protection and prevention issues, which should be discussed and evaluated further.

Loss of native forest is a key conservation concern globally, for reasons of biodiversity, climate change and ecosystem services. Landscape measures are used widely to characterize forest loss and associated landscape structure, but often without regard for structure imposed by the data used, and associated assumptions. Notably, forest loss is often expressed simply as net change in forest cover over time, but this approach does not account for turnover (i.e. the gross losses and gains of forest). It also ignores forest age (e.g. young regrowth forest or mature forest), which is significant in conservation terms. We investigate the effects of removing common data constraints on landscape characterization, as typically used in landscape dynamic analyses. We produced fine-resolution (0.0225 ha) classified maps from satellite imagery of the temperate Araucania Region of Chile, for 1986, 1999 and 2008. We calculated areas of land-use classes and associated landscape indices. Landscape measures and trends through time varied markedly around the region, with forest loss and fragmentation confined to areas not designated as protected. Net (‘headline’) figures masked very large turnover through time, with about 30% of unprotected land switching land use each decade. Accounting for this, in unprotected areas the loss of established native forest was 2.4% and 3.5% per year in the two time periods, much higher than equivalent ‘standard’ figures. Using finer-resolution data increased estimates of native forest loss and reversed temporal trends in patch density and mean patch size, compared with the commonly-used National Vegetation Classification (6.25 and 4.5 ha resolution). Interestingly, mean patch size of native forest actually switched, from a decreasing trend to an increasing one, with continued deforestation. We conclude that landscape characterization can lead to effective conservation practices, but it is necessary to use appropriate data resolution, define the data domain carefully and examine change through time, including the degree of dynamism (turnover) within the landscape: our results suggest a strong need to consider continuity of forest cover as well as overall totals.

Ulex europaeus (gorse) is an invasive shrub deemed as one of the most invasive species in the world. U. europaeus is widely distributed in the south-central area of Chile, which is considered a world hotspot for biodiversity conservation. In addition to its negative effects on the biodiversity of natural ecosystems, U. europaeus is one of the most severe pests for agriculture and forestry. Despite its importance as an invasive species, U. europaeus has been little studied. Although information exists on the potential distribution of the species, the interaction of the invasion process with the spatial dynamic of the landscape and the landscape-scale factors that control the presence or absence of the species is still lacking. We studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of the landscape and how these relate to U. europaeus invasion in south-central Chile. We used supervised classification of satellite images to determine the spatial distribution of the species and other land covers for the years 1986 and 2003, analysing the transitions between the different land covers. We used logistic regression for modelling the increase, decrease and permanence of U. europaeus invasion considering landscape variables. Results showed that the species covers only around 1 % of the study area and showed a 42 % reduction in area for the studied period. However, U. europaeus was the cover type which presented the greatest dynamism in the landscape. We found a strong relationship between changes in land cover and the invasion process, especially connected with forest plantations of exotic species, which promotes the displacement of U. europaeus. The model of gorse cover increase presented the best performance, and the most important predictors were distance to seed source and landscape complexity index. Our model predicted high spread potential of U. europaeus in areas of high conservation value. We conclude that proper management for this invasive species must take into account the spatial dynamics of the landscape within the invaded area in order to address containment, control or mitigation of the invasion.

Chile has more than half of the temperate forests in the southern hemisphere. These have been included among the most threatened eco-regions in the world, because of the high degree of endemism and presence of monotypic genera. In this study, we develop empirical models to investigate present and future spatial patterns of woody species richness in temperate forests in south-central Chile. Our aims are both to increase understanding of species richness patterns in such forests and to develop recommendations for forest conservation strategies. Our data were obtained at multiple spatial scales, including field sampling, climate, elevation and topography data, and land-cover and spectrally derived variables from satellite sensor imagery. Climatic and land-cover variables most effectively accounted for tree species richness variability, while only weak relationships were found between explanatory variables and shrub species richness. The best models were used to obtain prediction maps of tree species richness for 2050, using data from the Hadley Centre's HadCM3 model. Current protected areas are located far from the areas of highest tree conservation value and our models suggest this trend will continue. We therefore suggest that current conservation strategies are insufficient, a trend likely to be repeated across many other areas. We propose the current network of protected areas should be increased, prioritizing sites of both current and future importance to increase the effectiveness of the national protected areas system. In this way, target sites for conservation can also be chosen to bring other benefits, such as improved water supply to populated areas., Universidad de Chile, Ministerio de Planificación y Política Económica

Se realizó un análisis multitemporal para determinar los cambios en la cobertura del suelo en una zona de la precordillera andina de la Región del Maule, Chile. Para ello se utilizaron imágenes satelitales de los años 1989 y 2003, y se analizaron las causas probables de la deforestación del bosque nativo presente en estos ecosistemas. El bosque nativo se redujo en un 44%, lo cual se traduce en una tasa de deforestación de 4,1% anual. La superficie de bosque nativo fue reemplazada preferentemente por coberturas de matorral (29%) y plantaciones de especies exóticas (27%). Una gran proporción de las actuales plantaciones exóticas está establecida sobre terrenos que anteriormente correspondían a bosque nativo (63%). La mayor pérdida de bosque nativo se concentra en niveles de elevación intermedia, donde se encuentra la mayor superficie de bosque nativo, asociándose también a una menor distancia de la red de caminos. El reemplazo del bosque nativo por matorrales se asocia principalmente a prácticas de floreo y extracción de leña, lo cual produce la degradación del bosque. La sustitución de bosque nativo por especies exóticas se explica por el incentivo a la forestación y por la creciente demanda de productos derivados de la madera y pulpa. Debido a los múltiples impactos que produce la deforestación se propone focalizar los incentivos estatales en áreas con altos niveles de deforestación y pobreza, presencia de especies amenazadas y menor disponibilidad de agua desde las cuencas. Adicionalmente, se propone priorizar la conectividad de las actuales áreas protegidas y el desarrollo de un sistema de fiscalización eficaz para el manejo de los bosques, el cual considere un monitoreo permanente con uso de tecnologías avanzadas.

La fragmentacion del habitat es una de las principales amenazas para la integridad de los ecosistemas. En este estudio se evaluo el efecto de la fragmentacion sobre la estructura de la vegetacion en poblaciones de la especie arborea Legrandia concinna en el centro-sur de Chile. Se describio el patron de ocupacion de las poblaciones de Legrandia en fragmentos remanentes de bosques nativos y se evaluaron las relaciones entre indices de paisaje y variables de estructura de la vegetacion. Los indices de paisaje (area, indice de proximidad media, forma y distancia al borde de fragmentos) fueron aplicados a mapas de cobertura forestal generados a partir de una imagen satelital Landsat ETM+ del ano 2001. Los resultados mostraron una alta predominancia de fragmentos de reducido tamano, altos niveles de aislamiento y formas regulares. El patron de ocupacion de las poblaciones de Legrandia sugiere que las poblaciones ocupan preferentemente fragmentos de menor tamano y mayor aislamiento. No hubo diferencias significativas entre la distribucion de frecuencias de los fragmentos con presencia y sin presencia de Legrandia en cuanto a area y aislamiento. Sin embargo, se obtuvo que el tamano, aislamiento y la distancia al borde del fragmento se relacionara significativamente con la presencia de la especie. Como medida de conservacion de la especie, se recomienda incluir dentro de areas protegidas a aquellas poblaciones con mayor riesgo a desaparecer, promover su conservacion ex situ y establecer un programa de monitoreo. El estudio sienta un precedente respecto a la vinculacion entre informacion a escala de paisaje proveniente de imagenes satelitales e informacion de estructura de la vegetacion medida en terreno, para evaluar el estado de conservacion de poblaciones de especies amenazadas que cubren extensiones restringidas de territorio. Esta innovacion metodologica ofrece la posibilidad de monitorear los cambios producidos en el tiempo a fin de evaluar la efectividad de determinadas estrategias de conservacion para estas poblaciones

Temperate and tropical montane forests in Latin America represent a major natural resource at both regional and national levels for a number of reasons - biological, climatic, economic, cultural. Native tree species in these forests share conservation problems because of deforestation, habitat degradation, overall biodiversity loss and integrity of landscape structure. However, literature on forest restoration research and practices in these ecosystems is scanty and dispersed. We integrate forest restoration experiences aimed at a variety of purposes that allow us to gain insight over several years under contrasting ecological, social and economic conditions in six study regions: the Argentinian Andes, the IX and X Regions in Chile (including northern Chiloe Island), and central Veracruz and the central and northern Highlands of Chiapas (Mexico). By comparing analogous conditions and highlighting differences among the study sites, current pitfalls can be identified and used to define a minimum set of elements to be considered in a protocol for restoration practices. The restoration studies reviewed here include a wide variety of ecological and socio-economic circumstances that allow the identification of broad guidelines, criteria and indicators for planning, implementing and monitoring ecological restoration programmes. We conclude with statements that suggest approaches, strategies and concrete actions that might be considered as lessons learned and inputs for best practice in forest restoration research and programmes conducted in other developing regions.

Los índices o métricas de paisaje han sido ampliamente utilizados para relacionar patrones espaciales con procesos o funciones ecológicas. Si bien, su utilización y aplicaciones son amplias, se ha encontrado que los índices de paisaje son muy sensibles a algunos aspectos relacionados con el análisis de imágenes de sensores remotos. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar el efecto de la exactitud de clasificación de imágenes satelitales en los índices de paisaje para el análisis de la estructura espacial. Se utilizó el método de clasificación supervisada con distintas estrategias basadas en información espectral y auxiliar. A partir de una imagen satelital se generaron un total de ocho imágenes clasificadas con las distintas estrategias. Se calcularon índices de paisaje a nivel de paisaje y clase derivados de cada una de las imágenes clasificadas. Los resultados muestran que, en general, las imágenes con mayor exactitud presentan menores valores de coeficiente de variación en los índices de paisaje. Existen índices que muestran una menor sensibilidad frente al incremento en la exactitud de la clasificación, como los índices de diversidad de Shannon y Simpson, el porcentaje de adyacencias comunes y el índice de agregación. Sin embargo, otros índices muestran mayor sensibilidad, como la densidad de parches y el área núcleo. Las fuentes de error en el análisis de imágenes de sensores remotos son muy variadas. Debido a esto, se debe tener especial precaución en estos aspectos cuando se realice un análisis de la estructura espacial mediante índices de paisaje.