Chile

Beginning in 2006 and continuing in 2009, SciWrite studied the causes of the virtual disappearance of submerged aquatic plants in the Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary, a Ramsar site near Valdivia, Chile. The disappearance of the aquatic plants caused starvation and abandonment of the sanctuary by black-necked swans and other waterbirds that fed on the plants. These events followed followed decades of siltation that reduced the amount of habitat for the dominant, submergent macrophyte, Egeria densa. The ecosystem switched alternate stable states from a macrophyte/clear water state to a phytoplankton/turbid water state. A paper with Dr. Harding as the lead author has been by published:

Lee Harding, Julius Pretorius and Michael McGurk 2007. Recent changes in the Rio Cruces: Comment on Mulsow & Grandjean (2006). Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics 2007: 1-3.

Photos from Chile, 2006:


Carlos Anwandter Nature Sanctuary, Cruces River, Chile


Pulp Mill, San José de la Mariquina, Chile


Southern beech (Nothofagus) forest near Valdivia


La Campana National Park near Santiago






Black-necked swan, Carlos Anwanter Nature Sanctuary


Oystercatchers and stilts in a coastal wetland near Santiago

Photos from Chile, 2007:


Coscoroba swan


Mustached turka


Crested duck


Ochre-naped ground-tyrant


Black-fronted ground-tyrant


Torrent ducks

Peru

SciWrite has not worked in Peru (yet). In 2005, Dr. Harding went bird- and mammal watching in the Andes Mountains, Amazon Rainforest, coastal wetlands, and a coastal desert.

Vilcabamba valley

Giant otters, Amazon

Lettered aracari, Amazon

Short-nosed armadillo

Many-sided rush tyrant

Peruvian thick-knee, a desert bird