Chile

Beginning in 2006 and continuing through 2010, 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. In 2009, Dr. Harding went birdwatching in the Atacama Desert and the high Altiplano in the Andes Mountains on the border with Bolivia and Argentina. 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. (Full text)

Below are selected photos from 2006, 2007 and 2009. A more complete presentation of photos from 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 is given at http://picasaweb.google.com/Lee.Coquitlam

Photos from Chile, 2006:

Photos from Chile, 2007:

Photos from Chile, 2009:

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. Additional photos from Peru are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/Lee.Coquitlam/Peru2005#, and primates from this trip are included in  http://picasaweb.google.com/Lee.Coquitlam/Primates#.