Chile is a land of great contrasts. The long, narrow country extends nearly 5000 km (over 3000 miles) along the Pacific margin of South America, going from extremely arid environments in the north - the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places in the world - to cool rainforests, wet moorlands and the frozen glaciers of the far south. The Andes Mountains rise to 7000 meters (23,000 feet) above the central valley, providing an equally dramatic elevation gradient. The striking contrasts in rainfall and topography make Chile a perfect place for comparative ecosystem research.
But doing such research requires collaborative efforts, which is one reason why Chilean ecologists - IES Adjunct Scientists Drs. Doris Soto and Juan Armesto - spend several weeks each year in residence at the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. While at the Institute, they discuss and plan collaborative research with their IES colleagues, give seminars, and talk with students. A major goal of this collaborative effort is to strengthen ecosystem science in Chile and elsewhere in South America.
Many successful programs have come from these visits. One is a pioneering long-term study of nutrient cycles in the cleanest environment in the world, the forested watersheds in the coastal mountains of Chiloé Island, by Dr. Armesto, Dr. Lars Hedin at Cornell University, and Drs. Kathleen Weathers, Gene Likens and Gary Lovett at IES. This project was inspired by the groundbreaking work in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. Another is a comparative ecological study of Chilean lakes and rivers led by Drs. Soto and Likens.
Collaborations with the Institute's colleagues in Chile have contributed to the development of ecology there in other ways as well. An international workshop held in January 1990 in Termas de Chillán, Chile, on "Comparative studies of temperate ecosystems in North and South America" was a key initiative. The meeting, organized by Dr. Armesto and IES scientist Dr. Steward Pickett, was attended by more than 50 scientists and students and led to the development of new research programs involving IES and many other researchers from around the world.
Two training workshops for South American graduate students have been held in Chile: "Principles of Landscape Ecology" (1995, with guest lecturer Dr. Pickett), and "Functional Diversity in Ecosystems" (2001, with guest lecturer Dr. Clive Jones, also of IES). These courses have been important in formal training and in generating new collaborations, and Chilean and Argentinean graduate students have come to IES to conduct research and attend courses.
Maintaining and expanding this fruitful partnership is a priority. Drs. Armesto and Jones are developing an exchange program for advanced ecology students from Chile and Argentina. They also are planning a joint research venture for understanding links between ecosystem processes and biological diversity across the dramatic dry-wet gradients found along the Pacific Coast of Chile. The recent growth of ecology as a scientific discipline in Chile, and the growing interactions with Argentinean ecologists - the Trans-Andean Connection - will contribute to and benefit from these IES-initiated efforts.
