Small mammals of Maulino forest remnants, a vanishing ecosystem of south-central Chile

Alien tree plantations are expanding globally with potential negative effects for native biodiversity. We investigated plant species diversity and composition in a Pinus radiata landscape in south-central Chile, a biodiversity hotspot, by sampling understory vegetation in different plantation age classes, along forest roads and in natural forest remnants in order to find effective conservation measures for native biodiversity. Plantations, including different age classes and roadsides, maintained high native species richness at the landscape scale but supported a completely different community composition than natural forests. Thus, natural forest remnants must be conserved as plantations cannot replace them. Certain natural forest species occurred frequently in mature plantations and can represent starting points for retaining natural elements in plantations. Generalist native and alien species benefited from plantation management, mainly in young plantations and along roadsides. Stand maturation and a closed canopy, though, reduced alien species occurrences within plantations. Along roads, shade-tolerant aliens should be monitored and removed as they can potentially invade natural forests. Native species conservation in plantations requires a holistic approach of the full mosaic of land uses including the protection of remaining natural forests, alien species monitoring along roadsides and patches with continuous canopy cover to reduce pressure by alien species.

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Intertidal zonation patterns of macroinfauna over a range of exposed sandy beaches in south-central Chile

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps101105 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 101 ◽

pp. 105-118 ◽

Cited By ~ 57

Author(s):

E Jaramillo ◽

A McLachlan ◽

P Coetzee

Keyword(s):

Sandy Beaches ◽

Central Chile ◽

South Central ◽

Intertidal Zonation ◽

Zonation Patterns

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Cardiorespiratory Fitness: Reference on the Six-Minute Walk Test and Oxygen Consumption in Adolescents from South-Central Chile

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18052474 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (5) ◽

pp. 2474

Author(s):

Jaime Vásquez-Gómez ◽

Nelson Gatica Salas ◽

Pedro Jiménez Villarroel ◽

Luis Rojas-Araya ◽

Cesar Faundez-Casanova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cardiorespiratory Fitness ◽

Reference Values ◽

Estimation Error ◽

Walk Test ◽

Central Chile ◽

Six Minute Walk Test ◽

Body Adiposity ◽

South Central ◽

Males And Females ◽

Minute Walk

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) provides oxygen to the exercising muscles and is related to body adiposity, with cardiometabolic variables. The aim was to develop reference values and a predictive model of CRF in Chilean adolescents. A total of 741 adolescents of both genders (15.7 years old) participated in a basic anthropometry, performance in the six-minute walk test (SMWT), and in Course Navette was measured. Percentiles were determined for the SMWT, for the V̇O2max, and an equation was developed to estimate it. The validity of the equation was checked using distribution assumptions and the Bland–Altman diagram. The STATA v.14 program was used (p < 0.05). The 50th percentile values for males and females in the SMWT and in the V̇O2max of Course Navette were, respectively, from 607 to 690 and from 630 to 641 m, and from 43.9 to 45 and from 37.5 to 31.5 mlO2·kg·min−1, for the range of 13 to 17 years. For its part, the model to predict V̇O2max incorporated gender, heart rate, height, waist-to-height ratio (WHR), and distance in the SMWT (R2 = 0.62; estimation error = 0.38 LO2·min−1; p <0.001). Reference values can guide physical fitness in Chilean adolescents, and V̇O2max was possible to predict from morphofunctional variables.

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