Holocene palaeoecology of humid forest in the northern Patagonian Andes
lead by Dr. María Martha Bianchi, CONICET - Argentina; 2012-2014
CONICET - Argentina [mariamarthabianchi@gmail.com]
This project aims to disentangle the different forcing factors of vegetation change that operate on different time scales and understand the underlying mechanisms. The research is undertaken within the subantarctic forests of northern Patagonia, dominated by evergreen and deciduous Nothofagus species.
In January 2012, a field campaign took place at El Laguito del Morro, a small 6m deep lake located in a protected forest spot of the Lower Río Manso watershed. The site represents a small forest hollow of about 500 m2 within a closed-canopy forest of Nothofagus dombeyi. The 10 m long sequence recovered spans the complete Holocene period, yielding a radiocarbon age of 10,790 14C yr (12,700 cal. yr BP) at the base of the sequence. Pollen, charcoal and plant macrofossil analysis are in progress.
The record offers a unique opportunity to study stand-scale vegetation dynamics over thousands of years, including ecological processes such as species invasion (forest succession) and the effect of disturbance events on the vegetation (fire, volcanic ash deposition, human activities).