June 8-13, 2008
Conference: "Are we prepared to confront climate change? Adaptation, conservation and development"

One of the major challenges for biological and cultural conservation is the integration of social and ecological dimensions of environmental problems and the wellbeing of all living beings. In this process, it is necessary for academia to design new strategies that permit not only generating and transmitting knowledge, but also actively incorporating itself into these decision-making processes with social, economic, scientific and value criteria.

To support this line of work, the Conservation and Society group of the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity has defined three complementary approaches:

The creation of a long-term socio-ecological research network, The implementation of biosphere reserves as conservation and development models in association with the Man and Biosphere Program of UNESCO, The institutionalization of international and interdisciplinary field education programs

These three areas were the central axes of the recent international workshop, convened by the IEB between 8 and 13 June 2008, entitled “Confronting global change with a network of long-term socio-ecological study sites in the south of America.” The event was carried out in the austral towns of Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams (Magallanes and Chilean Antarctic Region) and the collaboration of the University of Magallanes (UMAG) and the Chilean Program of the University of North Texas (UNT), and financing was obtained from the Ministry of Planning (MIDEPLAN) and the National Science and Technology Commission (CONICYT) and the Hispanic Global Initiative.

Accompanying the strong contingent of IEB researchers, directors and postdoctoral fellows, distinguished international scientists from USA, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain and Argentina were invited to support the topics of the workshop and lend their experiences to the subject of long-term research and the integration of society and ecology.

In the context of the workshop, on 13 June the LTSER network was officially inaugurated and it will extend the length of temperate forests in Chile 30º - 56º S and link 20 years of research at Fray Jorge National Park (IEB-CEAZA-ULS), 13 years of research at Senda Darwin Biological Station (IEB-CASEB-PUC-UC) and 8 years of research at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park (IEB-UMAG-UNT-OSARA-CEP). These activities were coordinated to coincide with the third anniversary of the creation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, as both are symbols of the possible achievements that can exist during a fruitful collaboration between academics, the government and private sector (the nomination of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve was led by the Omora Park in conjunction with the Provincial Government).

During the inauguration of the network in the Omora Park, the regional governor of Magallanes and Chilean Antarctica Ms. Eugenia Mancilla presided over the ceremony and cut the ribbon on a new thematic trail in the park, called “The miniature forests of Cape Horn”, which will strengthen specialty tourism through the observation of bryophytes, called tourism with a hand lens.”

The launching of this socio-ecological network from Cape Horn allowed the strengthening of the international and interdisciplinary alliance forming around the IEB, UNT and UMAG, which is currently conducting field courses in biocultural conservation at the Omora Park. To work towards this goal, the workshop also had present Dr. Vish Prasad, UNT’s Vice-President for Research, to consolidate and support the existing Exchange programs between UNT and Omora-UMAG, as well as projecting this initiative to the IEB’s other field stations.

In this area, there were also advances on the ground, as well, with a parallel course taking place for the third edition of the “Tracing Darwin’s Path” field course. For the first time students from the University of La Serena joined the UMAG and UNT students in the program. This course, coordinated by OSARA, now expects to increase its impact and coverage, through he IEB’s network to provide a platform to not only study the integration of science and society, but also provide an excellent opportunity to impart outdoor classes and create a direct, hands on experience for students from different disciplines and countries.

	Alumnos del curso de conservación biocultural (ULS-UMAG-UNT-OSARA) llegan al aeropuerto en Puerto Williams, con el Parque Omora en el trasfondo.
Dr. Ricardo Rozzi muestra la portada de la revista Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, para destacar que las fotos de esta revista de gran prestigio internacional fueron obtenidas de los musgos que se encuentran en el nuevo circuito “Bosque en miniatura del Cabo de Hornos”.
	Participantes e invitados especiales del Taller reunidos en la entrada del Parque Omora en el “anfiteatro de los grandes y pequeños paisajes”.
Presidida por la Intendenta de la Región de Magallanes y Antártica Chilena, y con la presencia de autoridades de las FF.AA., el gobierno provincial y local, investigadores nacionales e internacionales y representantes de la educación escolar y pre-escolar, se dio por inaugurada la Red de Sitios de Estudios Socio-Ecológicos a Largo Plazo en el Parque Omora el día 13 de Junio de 2008.
	La Intendenta de la Región de Magallanes y Antártica Chilena practica “turismo con lupa” con alumnos del Taller Omora en el Liceo de Puerto Williams durante el lanzamiento de la red de investigación socio-ecológica a largo plazo, coordinada por el IEB.
La delegación de científicos regionales, nacionales e internacionales llegando a Puerto Williams con el Parque Omora en el trasfondo.
	Inauguración de la Red LTSER en el Parque Omora.

November 16, 2007
Conference: "Are we prepared to confront climate change? Adaptation, conservation and development"

This conference, organized by the IEB and WWF-Chile with the sponsorship of the New Zealand Embassy and La Segundanewspaper, was presented by Dr. Lara Hansen, senior scientist for the WWF Climate Change Program. The presentation was conducted in the Cultural Center of the Moneda Presidential Palace with the presence of approximately 180 attendees, ranging from high school and university students to professors and academics, the private and public sector, NGOs and media outlets.

Hansen spoke of the different conservation strategies that are being developed to react appropriately to climate change, increasing the resilience of living beings, or their capacity to support climate change without negative impacts.

“Climate change is occurring now, and nature is experiencing its impacts. In addition to quickly decreasing CO2 emissions, what can we do to increase the capacity of ecosystems to support climate change without suffering its consequences? Responding to this question, we have developed strategies for the initial adaptation of ecosystems to climate change, such as strategies to increase the resilience or capacity of ecosystems to resist change, or planning protected areas that will be necessary to respond to the threats of climate change,” suggested Hansen. “Some of these strategies are in line with the conservation strategies that we have already been developing for years, such as the reduction of habitat fragmentation, the construction of corridors and threat reduction,” she added.

Together with Dr. Hansen, two Chilean scientists offered their perspective on the national context. Pablo Marquet, researcher at the Center for Advanced Studies in Ecology and Biodiversity (CASEB) and the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), and Eduardo Sanhueza, Executive Director of Climate Change and Development Consultants, spoke of the scientific advances and the private and public policies that are being developed, or should be developed, to confront the imminent effects of climate change.

Since 1990, Hansen has studied the direct biological effects of global climate change and the adaptation of natural systems to this phenomenon. Today, she also focuses her work on the redesign of conservation strategies to adapt them to climate change. The projects that Hansen has carried out around the world vary from corral reefs to mountain glaciers and from tigers in mangrove forests to polar bears in the Bering Sea. 

Lara Hansen will be in Santiago until leaving for a scientific expedition to Antarctica, which will be led by a WWF scientific team that will film a documentary and work on a report of the effects of climate change on penguins.

October 10, 2007
International Course “Advanced Topics in Behavioral Ecology”

Between September 24 and 29, 2007, the international course “Advanced topics in Behavioral Ecology” took place in the Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Chile. In the course, organized and coordinated by the IEB associated professor Dr. Rodrigo Vásquez, participated distinguished researchers from Chile and abroad: Dr. Dominique Allaine and Dr. Carlos Bernstein, both from Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France; Dr. Juan Carlos Reboreda, from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dr. Luis Ebensperger and Dra. Tania Zaviezo, both from the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; and Dr. Wouter van Dongen and Dr. Rodrigo Vásquez, from IEB and Universidad de Chile.

The financial support of IEB, Millennium Initiative (Network funds), and the Southern Cone Office of the International Cooperation of the French Government, allowed offering 14 travel scholarships to students from other countries of South America, including Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Perú and Uruguay. Furthermore, 8 Chilean students from different regions within Chile (including Antofagasta, Concepción, La Serena, and Valdivia) and 10 students from Santiago participated in the course, including 9 students from the Universidad de Chile, 5 of them belonging to the graduate program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology of Facultad de Ciencias.

In spite of the long-lasting daily teaching and discussion sessions, student attendance and participation were highly enthusiastic. Students took advantage of the course by expanding their research interests and knowledge, talking more personally with prestigious researchers, and discussing and debating about different themes in behavioral ecology and related areas. Professor as well as students had an extremely good assessment of the course, and they urged for a continuation of this type of courses in the future.

With a highly attended conference in the Central House of University of Chile, IEB international course and workshop came to a close

Organized by the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), the Omora Foundation and the Senda Darwin Foundation (FSD), the course and workshop were carried out at the University of Chile, Santiago, and at the Senda Darwin Foundation, Chiloé, in March 2007.

Between the 5th and 18th of March, the IEB carried out its first International Course entitled “Conservation and Society: Biocultural Diversity and Environmental Ethics”, which was carried out in the city of Santiago (Science Faculty, University of Chile) and Chiloé (Senda Darwin Biological Station). During the event more than 40 students from Germany, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the United States, France, Mexico and Peru participated, all joined by the same goal: the understanding of the interface between environmental ethics and biocultural conservation, concentrating in the reality of Latin America.

During the course, taught by Drs. Ricardo Rozzi and Juan Armesto, the participants could acquire greater comprehension of our relationship with our habitat, which from the environmental ethics point of view, invites us to observe, act, live together and respect our surroundings. Similarly, it invites us to create habits that allow us to become inhabitants of a place, so to avoid the permanence of a strictly economic relationship with the land.

The course was divided in three parts: Part I “Fundaments of environmental ethics for biocultural conservation” was taught in Santiago in the Faculty of Science at the University of Chile between the 5th and 9th of March 2007.  Saturday the 10th, the class participated in a concert offered in the Master’s Hall at the University of Chile Radio with the participation of the Matta 365 Music Group and the Mapuche Birdman (Uñumche) Lorenzo Aillapan.

Part II “Ecological approximations for biocultural conservation” was carried out at the Send Darwin Biological Station on Chiloé from the 11th to 15th of March. Finally, Part III corresponded to the International Workshop “Integrating environmental ethics and ecological approximations to conserve frontier ecosystems of southern South America”, which was conducted with leading international researchers in the fields of ecology and philosophy. The first part of the workshop was held at Senda Darwin between the 16th and 18th of March. The discussion sessions continued while sailing through the channels and fjords between Puerto Montt and Puerto Natales from the 19th to the 22nd, a trip which culminated with a visit to the Torres del Paine Biosphere Reserve.

Finally, on the 27th of March the closing conference was held on "Integrating Ecology and Environmental Philosophy for Biocultural Conservation". The event was presided over by Dr. Mary Kalin, Director of the IEB; Dr. Juan Armesto, Deputy Director of the IEB and President of the Senda Darwin Foundation (Chiloé); and Dr. Ricardo Rozzi, IEB researcher and President of the Omora Foundation (Cape Horn).

The presentations during this conference were done by Dr. Robert Frodeman, of the University of North  Texas (USA); Dr. Kurt Jax, of the UFZ Environmental Research Center in Leipzig (Germany); Dr. Eugene Hargrove, of the University of North  Texas and Dr. Ricardo Rozzi.

Course “Tracing Darwin’s Path” in the Omora Park demonstrates interest piqued by the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve

Between December 2006 and January 2007, students from the Department of Philosophy and Religion Studies of the University of North Texas (UNT) and the Ecotourism Program at the Andrés Bello National University (UNAB) participated in a course called “Tracing Darwin’s Path”, which was offered at the Omora Ethnobotanical Park – University of Magallanes.

The course had the objective of linking the humanities and the sciences through the study of nature using writings from the place that inspired the imagination and theories of Charles Darwin. In addition of being a multidisciplinary course, the program allowed the students to have a direct encounter with nature.

The general philosophical premise of this workshop can be found in the following: “The discovery and observation of the ‘invisible’ beings feeds our consciousness about how little we know about our surroundings”, explains Dr. Ricardo Rozzi (ecologist and philosopher from UNT and the Omora Park – UMAG – IEB), and he also points to the fact that “these experiences in the field stimulate questions about how we want to live and co-live”.

The students got to know, through specific texts and direct experiences with nature, three of the central narratives of the Cape Horn Region: 1) reconstruct the adventures of Charles Darwin in the Beagle Channel area, 2) familiarize themselves with the culture and history of the Yaghan people, and 3) learn to “read” the natural landscape of the Magallanes Region, as “living texts” that exemplify the biological-cultural themes of the region.

Emilio García de la Huerta, an ecotourism student from the UNAB, affirms that “the appreciation of the Cape Horn landscapes that inspired our field journals are absolutely outside of the realm of normal. Without doubt, nature reveals to us truths that are compatible with scientific knowledge, but at the same time influence our deep sentiments of pertaining to a place and wanting to return to being humans created in the image of nature. Evolutionary theory complements very well the other narratives of creation, such as Yaghan knowledge, which we see, feel and hear in the birds, rivers and wind”.

In the photographs, Dr. Ricardo Rozzi explains the story of the hummingbird (Omora, in the Yaghan language) to students from UNT and Dr. Juan Armesto, Deputy Director of the IEB, explains the biological processes that occur in the Omora Park. The students observe in detail the Miniature Forests. (Photos: Emilio García de la Huerta)

July  27, 2006. “Biodiversity Dynamics Symposium” in XV Annual Meeting of the Sociedad de Ecología de Chile, La Serena.

Biodiversity at any level is dynamic in both time and space. One of ecology and evolutionary biology’s main aim’s today is to decipher the laws or first principles underlying biodiversity dynamic behavior. The approaches to achieve this goal are varied, ranging from descriptive to experimental and theoretical.

In this symposium, organized by the recently established Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), we illustrated different approaches for understanding the dynamics of biodiversity at different levels, from genes to the biosphere, with emphasis on the general principles, if any, that can be identified at the various levels of analysis.

Presentations:

1) Overview and presentation: “Biodiversity dynamics: it takes two to tango”. Pablo A. Marquet (PUC, IEB)

2) “Understanding biodiversity dynamics: the clue that genes hold”. Elie Poulin (IEB, UCh)

3) “Spatial dynamics in microbial communities”. Jessica Green (University of California, Merced)

4) “Individual and community level dynamics: Are there universal laws of change?” Fabio Labra (IEB)

5) “Plant/pollinator networks, from pattern to ecosystem functioning and evolutionary processes”. Mary T.K. Arroyo (IEB, UCh)

6) “Biodiversity during the Quaternary: What can Arid Regions tell us?” Claudio Latorre (IEB, PUC)

The symposium was extremely well attended (130 people, full room). The feedback we received was that the symposium was a great success. People seemed generally impressed by the quality and depth of the presentations.

June 20, 2006. "Interdisciplinary theoretic-practical course: Tourism with  magnifyng glass and conservation of the flora ".

This short course was held on June 20, 2006, at the Faculty of Sciences, Universidad de Chile (Santiago). It consisted of theoretical sessions during the morning and a practical session in the afternoon. Three talks were given; two by invited foreign professors:

“Tourism with  magnifying glass: the practice of ecological ethics for conservation”. Ricardo Rozzi, Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (IEB), Parque Etnobotánico Omora, Universidad de Magallanes, University of North Texas.

“Conservation of the miniature forest of Cape Horn”. Shaun Russell, Darwin Initiative, University of Wales , Bangor.

“Ecotourism and conservation in protected areas of Peru” Jorge Chávez. Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina, Perú.

The practical workshop: “Interpretation: a bridge between science and informal education for conservation – the case of Luis Cavieres Botanical Garden in Faculty of Sciences”, was coordinated by three professors.