Cape Horn Advanced Studies Institutes

Background

In 2008, Ellis and Ramankutty published a seminal paper on the influence of anthropogenic activities on natural ecosystems. They argued that the biomes of Earth have been fundamentally altered and that few pristine areas remained on the planet (Ellis and Ramanakutty 2008). The implications of this claim for the study of ecology are subtle but profound, when we study nature, we are actually studying an in situ response to an anthropogenic stressor.

This characterization of global ecology and diversity is the ecological context envisioned by Hobbs et al. (2006) on novel ecosystems as the new world order. These contexts are mirrored in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, which identified socio- ecological interactions as the dominant paradigm needed to address the global biodiversity conservation crisis (Carpenter et al. 2009). This same idea as been embraced by the United States National Science Foundation in the development of the Coupled Natural Human System, now Dynamics of Integrated Socio- Ecological Systems programs (see for example the NSF Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Ecological Systems program description, 2020). However, despite this push toward studying systems with significant human dimensions containing and driving the ecological attributes, there are still systems on Earth that are relatively pristine. Studying these systems in their near pristine condition can serve as a baseline to better understand the anthropogenic impact in severely human-intervened ecosystems.

Introduction to the Study Region, the Magellanic Sub-Antarctic Ecoregion
A Place like Nowhere Else on Earth; Ecological Uniqueness of the Region. The South American temperate forest biome (35-56oS) including its sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion is globally significant because it:

1. hosts the world’s southernmost forest ecosystems that reach 56oS in Cape Horn;

2. is the largest expanse (15.6 million ha) of native temperate forest remaining in the Southern Hemisphere; (3) hosts the world’s largest wetland ecosystems south of 42oS, including 4.4 million ha of peat bogs;

3. as a result of its isolation from other forested biomes, it presents a remarkably high percentage of endemic species (e.g., nearly 90% of woody species, ca. 60% of bryophyte species, and 45% of vertebrates); and

4. due to its remoteness from most populated and industrialized centers, today it has one of the least polluted rainwaters, and freshwaters in the globe offering a type of pre-industrial baseline for comparative research with Northern Hemisphere temperate and subpolar ecosystems (Rozzi et al. 2012).

In addition, the sub-Antarctic Magellanic ecoregion, south of 47oS, stands out because it harbors one of the lowest human population densities within temperate latitudes, conserving more than 70% of its pre-Columbian habitat extent; and is the home of the most threatened indigenous cultures and language families in southern South America, the Fuegian ethnic complex (Rozzi et al. 2006). Until the 20th century, high-latitude ecosystems in southwestern South America remained largely free of direct modern human impact due to their remote location, lack of terrestrial connectivity, and restricted access to areas under control by the Chilean navy. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, construction of new access roads through primeval forests has increased the connectivity of this region with the mainland, and the Chilean navy is significantly reducing its presence (Rozzi et al. 2012). Concomitantly, this region is now facing the impact of global climate change, and more broadly global change (Buma et al. 2019). The Cape Horn archipelagoes are one of the few sites in the world that have remained free of exotic invasive species until today, some islands (Rozzi et al. 2004, Buma et al. 2020). However, recent research has detected the rapid expansion of introduced exotic mammals within the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR) (Schüttler et al. 2019). Located south of Tierra del Fuego in the Chilean Antarctic Province (Moreira-Muñoz y Borsdorf, 2014), the CHBR comprises both marine (2,967,036 ha) and terrestrial (1,917,238 ha) environments (Fig. 1), and it includes Yendegaia, Alberto de Agostini and Cape Horn national parks, administered by the National Forestry Corporation of Chile (CONAF). The CHBR is dominated by sub-Antarctic Magellanic forests, which include evergreen and deciduous species of the genus Nothofagus. A priority in the management of the CHBR is to monitor these ecosystems under the context of global change (Rozzi et al. 2017).

Changes have been recently detected in these ecosystems is the presence of haemosporidian parasites in the blood of passerines inhabiting the world's southernmost forests (Cuevas et al. 2020). Bird monitoring and protection are fundamental for monitoring environmental quality and conserving the functioning of ecosystems. Therefore, it is essential to know the health status of the bird populations and assign correct conservation and management measures. The CHBR protects a total of 157 bird species, several of them with conservation problems in Chile, such as the Magellanic woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus) and worldwide such as the black browed albatross (Thalassarche melanophris) (Rozzi et al., 2007; Rozzi y Jiménez, 2014).

During the last decade, it has been detected that the CHBR ornitho-fauna is threatened by the arrival of avian malaria, a group of vector-borne parasites that infect birds via blood-sucking dipterans. Studies of haemosporidian parasites on the most abundant bird species in the CHBR, the Thorn-tailed Rayadito (Aphrastutra spinicauda), have demonstrated the importance of habitat and climatic variables explaining their distribution and diversity along latitudinal and altitudinal gradients (Cuevas et al. 2020). Today, understanding ecological factors driving distribution, prevalence and diversity of vector-borne diseases, including habitat modification, is a priority for disease ecology research under rapid climate change. The conservation approach of biosphere reserves is particularly suited to integrate scientific research, policy development, and conservation strategies.

Overview

This IRES project will introduce a systemic approach to investigate for the first time the birds, insects, and protozoa involved in Avian Malaria at the world’s southernmost forests.
Omora Park researchers have also demonstrated the impact of climate and habitat factors on the prevalence, diversity and distribution of Leucocytozoon parasites with colder temperatures and higher rainfall (Cuevas et al. 2020, Hussing, 2020).

 
In the Cape Horn-IRES Track II ASIs participants will gain:

• Experience as part of an international collaborative team to conduct research at the southernmost ecosystems of the Americas. These subpolar ecosystems have been understudied and are markedly different from ecosystems of North America, in terms of climate patterns and biogeography.

• Proficiency planning and implementing field research involving wildlife and baseline disease ecology in pristine remote areas, including wildlife handling protocols and accepted standards for data quality control procedures.

• Hands-on experience with modern molecular genetics and laboratory techniques associated with the detection and characterization of wildlife diseases in sub-Antarctic Magellanic biotic communities that have bird, insect, and protozoa taxa that have been poorly studied.

• Competence with quantitative reasoning and statistical programming with R, QGIS, and Python; all while simultaneously improving their scientific communications skills through the development and publication of multi-authored peer-reviewed research derived from international collaborative research and data collected during their ASI experience.

• Experience working in a country with a different spoken language embedded in a diverse “human and cultural” context involving cross-cultural exchanges in ecological knowledge and research, and appreciation of international collaborations that add reciprocal exchanges among US and Chilean students and researchers, as well as members of local communities and other stakeholders, to solve complex socio-ecological problems associated with global change, such as Avian Malaria.
  
  

This IRES Track II program will offer six to seven 21-day ASI programs over three to four years. The organizing committee, composed of a diverse and international panel of researchers, has  designed the ASIs to develop a wide variety of professional skills that advanced graduate students need to transition to careers.

Research objectives for this IRES Track II program aim to assess whether there are any environmental, climatic, elevational, or temporal trends in disease presence or prevalence. As this is a pristine system, baseline data are lacking; therefore, the ASIs will provide critical baseline data needed to develop hypotheses about the impacts of disease on ecological systems.

Research will be organized around three core objectives related to the study of sub-Antarctic Magellanic avian disease ecology and environmental interactions at three different altitudinal zones (from the coast to the tree line), and two contrasting seasons (austral summer [reproductive season] and fall [non-reproductive season] in the CHBR.

Objective 1: Sample the prevalence of haemosporidian infection in forest bird species

Objective 2: Sample the diversity, abundance, degree of activity and the prevalence of infection of Plasmodium [potential or actual] vector mosquitoes (e.g., Aedes, Anopheles and Culex).
Objective 3: Assess forest diversity and stand structure to use as covariate data in understanding infectious diseases density and spread.