Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 6.4
Acacia caven
savanna in the Central Valley of central Chile, in some parts replacing
degraded matorral. (Photo by Jon Keeley.)
The northernmost occurrence of conifers in the Chilean Andes are pockets of
Austrocedrus chilensis
, which include remnant stands just north of Santiago to
more extensive stands in south-central Chile. More extensive are the forests of
deciduous species of
Nothofagus
which cover large areas of the southern MTC
region of Chile.
Nothofagus obliqua
var.
macrocarpa
reaches its northern limit in
small stands around Cerro Campana and Cerro Roble in the Coastal Cordillera
(Regio´ n V), and forms relatively pure forests at elevations of about 1000-2000 m
on moist south-facing slopes of the Andes from about 34
30
0
to 36
50
0
S
(Hinojosa
et al.
2006
). Similar forests exist in both the Coastal Cordillera and
Andean Cordillera in a transition from the traditional mediterranean region of
central Chile to the Valdivian forests to the south (Regiones VI and VII), with
typical rainfall levels around 700-1200 mm or more (San Martin
2005
). Forest
dominants here include
Nothofagus glauca
,
N. allessandri
,
N. alpina
and
N. leonii
,
along with evergreen trees such as
Beilschmiedia berteroana
,
Eucryphia glutinosa
,
Myrceugenia obtusa
and the rare endemic
Gomortega keule
(
Table 6.1
; Hoffmann
et al.
2001
).
High-elevation forests dominated by deciduous
Nothofagus pumilio
typically
form the Andean tree line extent in south-central and southern Chile, extending
from about 36
S latitude in the mediterranean region to as far as 56
Sin
Patagonia. These forests are little affected by fire (Veblen
et al.
1979
; Lara
et al.
2005
), although seedlings of
Nothofagus alpina
do become established following
fire (Palfner
et al
2008
).
