Dr. Contreras-Quintana, Sergio

Fog is an important component of the coastal climate of northern Chile and southern Peru. Moisture and nutrients from fog maintain highly endemic vegetation (lomas) as well as unique Tillandsia landbeckii ecosystems that thrive at elevations of ca. 900–1200 m asl. Although this epiphytic CAM bromeliad is well adapted to the extreme climate, declining Tillandsia stocks observed over the past decades question the long-term survival with ongoing climate change. Here, we aim at better understanding the hydroclimatic signal encoded in the leaf organic compounds of Tillandsia landbeckii across the Atacama Desert’s coastal mountain range (ca. 18–21◦S). First, we investigate spatiotemporal patterns of fog occurrence and related moisture sources available for the plants applying a new satellite-based fog-detection approach. We then use stable carbon, oxygen and hydrogen (δ13C, δ18O, δD) isotope analysis of leaf wax n-alkanes and cellulose to identify photosynthetic pathway as well as environmental and physiological processes that shape the isotopic composition in Tillandsia landbeckii. We find that leaf wax n-alkanes and cellulose reflect the balance of climatic and physiological drivers differently. While nalkane δD values more closely follow changes in precipitation δD, evaporative enrichment seems to have a dominant influence on cellulose δ18O values. Cellulose δD values are highly enriched compared to n-alkane δD values, likely reflecting a predominant metabolic imprint on δD. δ13C signatures in the organic compounds are valid proxies for CAM activity. Our results prove the general applicability of the isotopic biomarkers for reconstructing environmental change in the coastal Atacama Desert. This approach can be extended globally to west-coast deserts that share fog as a major source of moisture.

The n-alkyl leaf waxes of the temperate forest of South America are poorly studied, despite being a bio-geographically isolated forest spanning wide environmental conditions. To evaluate whether local species adaptation and environmental changes influence the n-alkyl leaf wax composition, we measured the molecular abundance and distribution of n-alkyl leaf waxes (n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanes and n-alka-nols) of three dominant native species from southern temperate forest in South America. We surveyed Araucaria araucana (n = 9), Nothofagus dombeyi (n = 17) and Chusquea sp. (n = 21) at different elevations. The relationship of n-alkyl leaf wax abundance and distribution with elevation is not significant in any species, except for n-alkane ACL (average chain length) in Chusquea sp. Significant correlations are found for n-alkanoic acid abundance with precipitation and aridity in Chusquea sp. and n-alkane abundance and ACL with temperature in A. araucana. These data suggest a species-specific response to environmental variables. The main similarity in the three species is a higher abundance of n-alkanoic acids (>60%) relative to other n-alkyl leaf waxes. Only n-alkanols are not correlated to any environmental variable, and neither ACL nor C max overlap among species. These results suggest n-alkanols as a potential chemotaxo-nomic indicator at a lower taxonomic level in the region.

The study of fatty acid biomarkers in trophic structures at sub-polar latitudes is fundamental in describing energy fluxes across ecosystems characterized by complex inter-specific interactions. Due to the presence of certain essential fatty acids obtained exclusively from predator–prey interactions, fatty acid biomarkers are widely used to identify trophic interactions. This study analyzed fatty acid compositions in three species inhabiting a relatively pristine Patagonian fjord. This fjord is geographically difficult to access, so there are very little sampling opportunities, biological and oceanographic information. In the three species collected (Ctenodiscus australis (Loven in Lütken 1871) (Echinodermata, Asteroidea, Ctenodiscidae); Munida gregaria (Fabricius 1793) (Arthropoda, Malacostraca, Munididae); Eleginops maclovinus (Cuvier 1830) (Chordata, Actinopterygii, Eleginopsidae)) along this remote area were evaluated their fatty acid trophic markers as a tool to differentiate dietary components and dietary habits. The study reported significant differences in the amount of saturated fatty acids (SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), with the highest concentrations of all fatty acids in M. gregaria. The last suggests that M. gregaria is considered as a good quality food source or biological component that might support the fjord trophic web in the Southern Hemisphere. The results describe diet compositions in sampled species, and differences among species for fatty acid compositions and proportions. This provides an initial basis for future modeling or projecting how benthic ecosystems of fjords and Patagonian channels respond to food intake, particularly in environments associated with glacial systems characterized by a low phytoplankton biomass and greater sensitivity to climate variability.

Plant leaf waxes are used as vegetation biomarkers in several archives (i.e. soils, lake and marine sediments), study of these compounds in modern plants is needed to makes their application and interpretation more robust. However, in the South American Temperate Forest (STF), few species have been studied. The main goal of this research was to characterize twelve dominant modern species of the STF using three classes of leaf wax compounds, n-alkanoic acids, n-alkanes and n-alkanols. In addition, we evaluate the potential of leaf waxes as a vegetation and chemotaxonomic biomarker in the region, considering species that were found in different sampling sites and therefore environmental conditions. Clear differences among leaf wax abundance (μg/g) and ACL (average chain length) within and among the twelve species were found. Only the ACL of n-alkanoic acids and n-alkanols allows differentiation between leaf habit species (i.e. evergreen vs. deciduous), with high values associated with evergreen and low values with deciduous plants. This study differentiates the five species found in more than one site (i.e. different environmental condition) using different combinations of leaf waxes and in addition using only n-alkanes. It was not possible to differentiate among all sites with any combination of leaf waxes. The differences in the distribution of leaf waxes among species is an expected pattern in the study area, and it seems reliable to use the ACL as a vegetation biomarker differentiating between evergreen and deciduous species. The clear chemotaxonomic differences among the five species exposed to different and natural environmental conditions and the high preservation potential of the study area allow us to suggest that leaf waxes are likely a reliable tool to be incorporated in quantitative models to track vegetation and may be useful as a chemotaxonomic biomarker at the species level.

Leaf cuticular waxes are one of the most important environment-plant interaction structural systems that enable desert plants to withstand extreme climatic conditions. We present a long chain n-alkyl lipids study in fresh plant leaves and rodent palaeomiddens collected along an elevational gradient in the south-central Atacama Desert of Chile, covering six different vegetation belts: Steppe (4500-4000 m asl), Puna (4000-3300 m asl), pre-Puna (3300-2400 m asl), Absolute Desert (2400-1000 m asl) and Coastal Desert (1000-0 m asl). The 28 rodent palaeomiddens analyzed from Quebrada Incahuasi (25.6 °S, 3600 m asl) span the last 17,000 years. Modern-day distribution of long-chain n-alkanes and n-alkanoic acids varies among the dominant plant associations of the Atacama Desert. These plants show a species-specific chemotaxonomy linked to the climatic conditions. Furthermore, differences in average chain length (ACL) and carbon preference index (CPI) suggest that these plant communities are highly adapted to extreme environmental conditions. The sum of leaf wax n-alkanes was highest under wet conditions, while n-alkanoic acids (between n-C24 and n-C28) increased with hyperaridity. Similarly, analysis of n-alkane time series from palaeomiddens showed that the greatest changes in leaf wax n-alkane distributions (ACL and CPI) corresponded to the greatest increases in moisture during the Central Andean Pluvial Event (CAPE; between 18 and 9 ka cal BP) and the Late Holocene. The shift in the palaeomidden n-alkane distributions is corroborated by the relative abundance of rainfall-dependent extra-local taxa. This is the first study to report leaf wax content obtained from ancient rodent middens, and shows promising results as a robust hydroclimate proxy for the Atacama Desert region.

African climate is generally considered to have evolved towards progressively drier conditions over the past few million years, with increased variability as glacial–interglacial change intensified worldwide1,2,3. Palaeoclimate records derived mainly from northern Africa exhibit a 100,000-year (eccentricity) cycle overprinted on a pronounced 20,000-year (precession) beat, driven by orbital forcing of summer insolation, global ice volume and long-lived atmospheric greenhouse gases4. Here we present a 1.3-million-year-long climate history from the Lake Malawi basin (10°–14° S in eastern Africa), which displays strong 100,000-year (eccentricity) cycles of temperature and rainfall following the Mid-Pleistocene Transition around 900,000 years ago. Interglacial periods were relatively warm and moist, while ice ages were cool and dry. The Malawi record shows limited evidence for precessional variability, which we attribute to the opposing effects of austral summer insolation and the temporal/spatial pattern of sea surface temperature in the Indian Ocean. The temperature history of the Malawi basin, at least for the past 500,000 years, strongly resembles past changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and terrigenous dust flux in the tropical Pacific Ocean, but not in global ice volume. Climate in this sector of eastern Africa (unlike northern Africa) evolved from a predominantly arid environment with high-frequency variability to generally wetter conditions with more prolonged wet and dry intervals.

Paleolimnological studies in western South America, where meteorological stations are scarce, are critical to obtain more realistic and reliable regional reconstructions of past climate and environmental changes, including vegetation and water budget variability. However, climate and environmental geochemical indicators must be tested before they can be applied with confidence. Here we present a survey of lacustrine surface sediment (core top, 0 to ~1 cm) biogeochemical proxies (total organic carbon [TOC], total nitrogen [TN], carbon/nitrogen ratio [C/N ratio] and bulk organic δ13C and total δ15N) from a suite of 72 lakes spanning the transition from a Mediterranean climate with a patchwork of cultivated vegetation, pastureland, and conifers in central Chile to a rainy temperate climate dominated by broadleaf deciduous and evergreen forest further south. Sedimentary data are compared to the latitudinal and orographic climatic trends of the region based on the climatology (precipitation and temperature) produced with Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data and the modern Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (SWW) location. The geochemical data show inflection points at ~42°S latitude and ~1500 m elevation that are likely related to the northern limit of influence of the SWW and elevation of the snow line, respectively. Overall the organic proxies were able to mimic climatic trends (Mean Annual Precipitation [MAP] and temperature [MAT]), indicating that they are a useful tool to be included in paleoclimatological reconstruction of the region.

Southern South America is the only large landmass that extends through the core of the Southern Westerly Winds (SWW), controlling hydrological and ecosystem variability in the region. In fact, the vegetation along the west coast changes from Temperate and Valdivian Rain Forest to the North Patagonian Evergreen Forest (ca. 42°S) due to the latitudinal influence of the SWW. Climate is an important driver of organic matter accumulation in lakes, hence changes in vegetation would be recorded in lacustrine sedimentary archives. This study evaluated leaf waxes contained in lake surface sediments as indicators of climate change along the west coast of southern South America, providing a biogeochemical dataset for ongoing and future (paleo)climate and environmental research. The fatty acid and n-alkane sediment leaf wax datasets are compared with latitudinal, orographic, and climatic (Mean Annual air Temperature [MAT] & Precipitation [MAP]) trends extracted from a monthly gridded reanalysis product of the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. Fatty acids are more abundant than n-alkanes, with high abundances characterizing the transition between seasonal and year-round precipitation along the coast (ca. 42°S). The abundance of both leaf wax groups increases with MAP, suggesting precipitation as the main control on sedimentary leaf wax delivery to the lake sediments in the study area. The Carbon Preference Index (CPI) of the two groups show opposite trends, but both highlight the climate transition at ca. 42°S, and have a linear relationship with MAP. The opposite significant trends between n-alkane CPI and fatty acid CPI with MAP are interpreted as higher n-alkane production at much higher precipitation because leaf wax fatty acids are the precursors of n-alkanes. Hence, past periods during which these leaf waxes show opposite trends in CPI might be interpreted as a precipitation change, especially if additional information such as pollen, diatoms, chironomids and stable isotopes is available.

PBDEs (10 congeners) were analyzed using GC–MS in superficial sediments and organisms of the Concepción Bay after the 2010 Tsunami. From all congeners analyzed PBDE-47, -99, -100 and -209 were the most frequently detected. Concentrations (ng g1 d.w.) in sediments for RPBDE-47, -99, -100 were low (0.02–0.09). However, PBDE-209 showed significantly higher values 20 ng g1 d.w. This result were 10 times lower than those reported in a previous study of the 2010 Tsunami. The high result might be influenced by the massive urban debris dragged by the 2010 Tsunami. In organisms, concentrations of PBDE-47, -99, -100 (0.4 ng g1 d.w.) were higher than those found in sediments (0.04 ng g1 d.w.). Differences in PBDE pattern were also observed between different levels of the trophic food chain (primary and secondary consumers). This is the first attempt to assess the current status of Concepción Bay after the 2010 Tsunami.

A. araucana is an endemic species of the temperate forests from Chile and Argentina; protected in both countries and categorized as in danger of extinction. Individuals of this species have begun to show foliar damage (i.e., discoloration) in branches and upper parts. The discoloration begins from the base to the top and from the trunk to the branches with necrotic rings appearing; in some cases causing death; and is currently attributed to an as yet unknown disease. This study focuses on the first protective layer of plants against environmental stress and pathogens; known as leaf waxes. The abundance and distribution of three classes of leaf waxes (long chain fatty acids; alkanes and alcohols) were measured in healthy individuals of A. araucana from different sites and individuals that present foliar damage (sick individuals). In the case of sick individuals; their leaf waxes were measured considering the level of leaf damage; that is; leaves without; medium and full foliar damage. The most abundant class of leaf wax in both sick and healthy individuals was fatty acids; followed by alkanes and then alcohols; with common dominant chains; C28 fatty acid; C29 alkane and C24 alcohol. Sick individuals have higher abundances of alkanes and alcohols than healthy individuals. The leaves of sick individuals have lower values of distribution indices (the carbon preference index of fatty acids and average chain length of alkanes) as foliar damage increases that are interpreted as a reduction of in vivo biosynthesis of waxes. This is the first evidence of A. araucana response to a still unknown disease that is killing individuals of this endemic species.