Este proyecto analiza cómo distintos impulsores del cambio global afectan la biodiversidad y el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas en Chile, considerando su ocurrencia simultánea y su interacción a lo largo de gradientes ambientales y antrópicos. Mediante un enfoque de macrosistemas, se busca comprender cómo estos factores pueden modificar patrones de diversidad, estructura de comunidades y procesos ecosistémicos, incluyendo fenómenos como la homogeneización biótica. La investigación combina análisis biogeográficos, diseños de muestreo multiescala, modelación ecológica y evaluación de funciones ecosistémicas asociadas al ciclo de nutrientes, hidrología y producción de biomasa vegetal. Los resultados permitirán entender mejor las consecuencias del cambio global sobre la biodiversidad y los servicios ecosistémicos, aportando bases científicas para la conservación y gestión sostenible de los ecosistemas frente a escenarios de cambio ambiental.

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Este proyecto investiga el impacto de la co-contaminación por antibióticos veterinarios y metales/iones inorgánicos en suelos, un problema emergente asociado a prácticas agrícolas intensivas como la aplicación de estiércol, fertilización intensiva y riego con aguas residuales. La investigación se centra en comprender cómo la formación de complejos antibiótico-metal/ión influye en procesos clave como la adsorción, degradación, transporte en el suelo y absorción por plantas, así como en la actividad y estructura de las comunidades microbianas. Para ello, se evaluarán distintos tipos de suelos relevantes en sistemas agropecuarios intensivos en Chile, integrando modelación de transporte de solutos, estudios de especiación química, experimentos en columnas de suelo y análisis de absorción vegetal. Los resultados permitirán mejorar la comprensión del destino ambiental de estas mezclas complejas de contaminantes y aportar bases científicas para el desarrollo de estrategias de manejo, mitigación y remediación de suelos afectados.

Este proyecto analiza cómo distintos impulsores del cambio global afectan la biodiversidad y el funcionamiento de los ecosistemas en Chile, considerando su ocurrencia simultánea y su interacción a lo largo de gradientes ambientales y antrópicos. Mediante un enfoque de macrosistemas, se busca comprender cómo estos factores pueden modificar patrones de diversidad, estructura de comunidades y procesos ecosistémicos, incluyendo fenómenos como la homogeneización biótica. La investigación combina análisis biogeográficos, diseños de muestreo multiescala, modelación ecológica y evaluación de funciones ecosistémicas asociadas al ciclo de nutrientes, hidrología y producción de biomasa vegetal. Los resultados permitirán entender mejor las consecuencias del cambio global sobre la biodiversidad y los servicios ecosistémicos, aportando bases científicas para la conservación y gestión sostenible de los ecosistemas frente a escenarios de cambio ambiental.

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Climate projections anticipate an increase in frequent droughts, episodes of extreme fire behavior, in addition to heat waves and unstable atmospheric conditions, all phenomena related to climate change. Drought intensification has been projected to increase in frequency in several regions across the globe, including the southwestern part of South America, the European Mediterranean Basin, Northern Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Australia, and the USA. Particularly, the former three areas have been recognized as locations highly likely to face unprecedented droughts during the 21st century, and within Southwestern South America, Chile has been alarmingly pointed out as the country earlier in this era experiencing this phenomenon, regardless of the greenhouse gas emissions scenario. Catastrophic effects such as extreme droughts and changes in fire behavior are important drivers of ecosystem degradation in arid, semiarid, dry temperate and Mediterranean ecosystems. Mediterranean ecosystems of central Chile have been indicated as the earliest in its type experiencing effects of climate change; where an accelerated aridification is already registered; therefore, representing a scenario to anticipate the effects of climate anomalies at other ecosystems of its type. Persistent droughts and land burning can compromise belowground conditions that are essential to support aboveground life in terrestrial ecosystems. Nevertheless, despite their importance for ecosystem functioning and recovery after environmental disturbances, there still a considerable lack of comprehension on how belowground attributes respond to combined stressors such as droughts and fires. This is of particular concern in conditions where post-fire plant and soil recovery have been shown to be inhibited or retarded due to severe droughts. Therefore, this project aims to evaluate individual and combined effects of drought and fires over time in soil microbial communities and carbon and nitrogen functional dynamics along with the relationship of these attributes and the state of sclerophyll vegetation in Mediterranean forests of central Chile. To accomplish this goal a multiscale approach will be applied in this research by integrating scientific disciplines from landcape ecology to molecular biology. By using remote sensing study site will be selected within an area known to be affected by an extended drought period (since 2010), in addition to hyper-dry years (2019 and 2021), which in addition has experienced the occurrence of historical wildfires as the case of 2017. From this initial screening
18 study conditions resulting from three climate anomaly categories identified (high, medium, low) according to differences in precipitation with respect to historical average, three categories for forest response to drought (recovered, unaffected and unrecovered) based on analysis of Normalized Burn Index (NBR = [NIR – SWIR] / [NIR + SWIR]) and two burned conditions (with and without) will be obtained for soil and vegetation assessments. Classical soil physicochemical analyses and NG-sequencing techniques including high-throughput amplicon sequencing (metabarcoding), whole genome sequencing (metagenomics), and gene expression (metatransciptomics), in addition to soil physiological analyses will be performed. Moreover, vegetation recovery following drought and fire will be evaluated. Results from this study will allow to better understand the individual versus the combined effects of drought and fires in soil microbial community structure and carbon and nitrogen functionality, which are expected to be exacerbated with the combined occurrence of these phenomena, giving insights on the resilience capacity of soil microbiomes and carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles. From this work, results will also allow to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the linkages between soil functionality and vegetation responses to drought and fires over time, which will allow to identify ecological drivers related to ecosystem stability.

Climate projections anticipate an increase in frequent droughts, episodes of extreme fire behavior, in addition to heat waves and unstable atmospheric conditions, all phenomena related to climate change. Drought intensification has been projected to increase in frequency in several regions across the globe, including the southwestern part of South America, the European Mediterranean Basin, Northern Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Australia, and the USA. Particularly, the former three areas have been recognized as locations highly likely to face unprecedented droughts during the 21st century, and within Southwestern South America, Chile has been alarmingly pointed out as the country earlier in this era experiencing this phenomenon, regardless of the greenhouse gas emissions scenario. Catastrophic effects such as extreme droughts and changes in fire behavior are important drivers of ecosystem degradation in arid, semiarid, dry temperate and Mediterranean ecosystems. Mediterranean ecosystems of central Chile have been indicated as the earliest in its type experiencing effects of climate change; where an accelerated aridification is already registered; therefore, representing a scenario to anticipate the effects of climate anomalies at other ecosystems of its type. Persistent droughts and land burning can compromise belowground conditions that are essential to support aboveground life in terrestrial ecosystems. Nevertheless, despite their importance for ecosystem functioning and recovery after environmental disturbances, there still a considerable lack of comprehension on how belowground attributes respond to combined stressors such as droughts and fires. This is of particular concern in conditions where post-fire plant and soil recovery have been shown to be inhibited or retarded due to severe droughts. Therefore, this project aims to evaluate individual and combined effects of drought and fires over time in soil microbial communities and carbon and nitrogen functional dynamics along with the relationship of these attributes and the state of sclerophyll vegetation in Mediterranean forests of central Chile. To accomplish this goal a multiscale approach will be applied in this research by integrating scientific disciplines from landcape ecology to molecular biology. By using remote sensing study site will be selected within an area known to be affected by an extended drought period (since 2010), in addition to hyper-dry years (2019 and 2021), which in addition has experienced the occurrence of historical wildfires as the case of 2017. From this initial screening
18 study conditions resulting from three climate anomaly categories identified (high, medium, low) according to differences in precipitation with respect to historical average, three categories for forest response to drought (recovered, unaffected and unrecovered) based on analysis of Normalized Burn Index (NBR = [NIR – SWIR] / [NIR + SWIR]) and two burned conditions (with and without) will be obtained for soil and vegetation assessments. Classical soil physicochemical analyses and NG-sequencing techniques including high-throughput amplicon sequencing (metabarcoding), whole genome sequencing (metagenomics), and gene expression (metatransciptomics), in addition to soil physiological analyses will be performed. Moreover, vegetation recovery following drought and fire will be evaluated. Results from this study will allow to better understand the individual versus the combined effects of drought and fires in soil microbial community structure and carbon and nitrogen functionality, which are expected to be exacerbated with the combined occurrence of these phenomena, giving insights on the resilience capacity of soil microbiomes and carbon and nitrogen biogeochemical cycles. From this work, results will also allow to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the linkages between soil functionality and vegetation responses to drought and fires over time, which will allow to identify ecological drivers related to ecosystem stability.

Avocado is a very nutritious and tasty fruit, characteristics that have caused a high global demand for this fruit. Increasing evidence of health benefits of the avocado is both driving increased consumption and stimulating research. The results of this study are expected not only to provide more foundation into the agronomic, biochemical and molecular aspects associated to waterlogging of ‘Hass’ avocados grafted on different rootstocks but also provide potential biomarkers and genes involved in stress tolerance and select the best suited rootstocks for the current and the upcoming extreme climate change events, which may help to implement new Hass avocado production protocols that will reduce this predicted climate change problem in practice.

Centro UOH de Biología de Sistemas para la Sanidad Vegetal (BioSaV-UOH)

Centro UOH de Biología de Sistemas para la Sanidad Vegetal (BioSaV-UOH)