2Patagonia is commonly seen as an exceptionally pristine area because of its wildlife and practically unpolluted 3 waters. However, during the twentieth century the burning of natural forests was one of the most important 4 human activities in Northern Chilean Patagonia. Some estimations indicate that three million hectares were 5 burned during the first three decades of the century being its impacts rarely assessed. Hence the objective of this 6 study was to evaluate the impacts of the historical fires in Lake Burgos (45º42'S) and Lake Thompson (45º38'S) 7 in Chilean Patagonia. The impact was measured by evaluating chironomid assemblage since they are sensitive 8 enough to be used as an indicator of aquatic ecosystem health. Fires have a direct and drastic effect on a lake 9 watershed but also indirectly affect a lake ecosystem, changing sedimentation patterns or increasing nutrient 10 inputs. In the studied lakes the periods with higher prevalence of fires were identified by charcoal analysis, 11 while organic matter and magnetic susceptibility allowed to confirm the pre-fire and post-fire periods. The 12 chironomid composition was evaluated through a PCA and an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM) to test the 13 significance among periods while a DCA was applied to the chironomid assemblage downcore to assess 14 compositional structure and taxa turnover. In Lake Burgos the ANOSIM test indicated significant differences 15 between the pre-fire and fire periods (p<0.05), while in Lake Thompson differences were not significant.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.