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Capitulo 8. Flora Y Vegetación De Turberas De Sphagnum En La Región

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Capitulo 8. Flora Y Vegetación De Turberas De Sphagnum En La Región CAPÍTULO 8 FLORA Y VEGETACIÓN DE TURBERAS DE SPHAGNUM EN LA REGIÓN DE AYSÉN, CHILE Erwin Domínguez1 & Fernán Silva2 1 Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias - INIA - Kampenaike. Casilla 277, Punta Arenas, Chile. 2 Servicio Agrícola y Ganadero - SAG, Casilla 2960, Coyhaique, Chile. E-mail: [email protected] RESUMEN Las turberas de Sphagnum se caracterizan por almacenar agua, ser sumideros de carbono y por ser hábitat para una biodiversidad singular. Estos humedales se han convertido en un recurso económico a través de la cosecha de la cubierta vegetal de musgo Sphagnum, desde el año 2016 en la región de Aysén, generando impactos sobre el paisaje, la hidrología y la cubierta vegetal de estos ecosistemas. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar y comparar los efectos de la cosecha de musgo Sphagnum sobre la vegetación en turberas no intervenidas e intervenidas. Se estudiaron 13 turberas de Sphagnum en un gradiente latitudinal. Se establecieron 10 subparcelas de 1 m2 en una superficie de 1.000 m2 (50 x 20 m) a fin de determinar diferencias en la composición y cobertura de especies. Se registraron 67especies nativas, de las cuales 26 son endémicas para América del Sur. Sólo una especie exótica fue hallada (Carex canescens). La mayor riqueza de especies (S) = 17,78±6,49 e índice exponencial de entropía de Shannon (exp H’) = 7,14±2,53 fue hallada en las turberas mixtas de Sphagnum y pulvinadas no intervenidas. Las turberas de Sphagnum no intervenidas fueron las que presentaron mayor cobertura vegetal (%=91,36±5,14), pero menor riqueza y menor diversidad. Las plantas que estructuran las turberas en la región de Aysén son: Sphagnum magellanicum y Empetrum rubrum. Es necesario profundizar el conocimiento de la biodiversidad de las turberas, especialmente de los grupos poco estudiados como son las criptógamas. Palabras clave: riqueza de especies, diversidad, turberas de Sphagnum. Capítulo 8: Flora y vegetación de turberas de Sphagnum en la región de Aysén, Chile [193] INTRODUCCIÓN Las turberas de Sphagnum en Patagonia son un tipo de humedal, del cual se obtienen funciones ecosistémicas, tales como: regulación del ciclo del agua, constituyendo verdaderos reservorios hídricos (Iturraspe & Roig, 2000; Iturraspe, 2015); también regulan el clima a través del secuestro y almacenamiento de carbono (Loisel & Yu, 2013; Loisel, 2015; Hoyos-Santillan et al. 2019), y son el soporte para una biodiversidad representada por especies únicas adaptadas a un medio saturado de agua, ácido y carente de oxígeno (RAMSAR, 2004; Díaz et al. 2008; Kleinebecker et al. 2010; León et al. 2014; Larraín, 2015). Por otra parte, entre los servicios ambientales se reconoce la provisión de fibra vegetal de musgo Sphagnum, la cual es cosechada en las turberas (Díaz & Silva, 2012; Domínguez, 2014). Esta actividad se caracteriza por la extracción irracional, que se ha desarrollado por más de 20 años en el sur de Chile, desde la región de Los Ríos hasta la región de Magallanes. Por lo anterior, se hace necesario estudiar los componentes y atributos de este tipo de humedal, junto con evaluar el impacto que puede estar provocando la actividad comercial de la cosecha de musgo, sobre la composición y estructura de la vegetación de las turberas de Sphagnum. Las turberas corresponden a humedales de zonas de clima frío a frío- templado, dominados por plantas hidrófilas que producen y acumulan materia orgánica (i.e. turba) (RAMSAR, 2004). Se distribuyen principalmente en el hemisferio norte, mientras que en el hemisferio sur adquieren importancia en término de superficie en Sudamérica, especialmente en Chile y Argentina (Gunnarsson, 2005; Díaz et al. 2008). Las turberas en Chile han sido intervenidas principalmente en la región de Magallanes, por la extracción minera de turba primero, para hacer funcionar las dragas en la extracción de oro entre 1883 a 1909 en Tierra del Fuego. Luego, como sustrato para cultivos y como material de embalaje, afectando una superficie de 444 ha en la región de Magallanes (Vega- Valdés & Domínguez, 2015). Por otra parte, el año 2013 viajan desde Chiloé los recolectores y empresarios exportadores de musgo Sphagnum a la provincia de Última Esperanza, trabajando hasta el año 2015. Entre los años 2016 y 2017 se trasladan, los recolectores y empresas cosechadoras de musgo, a la región de Aysén por presentar ésta ventajas comparativas respecto a Magallanes, debido a que aquella posee una red de caminos que facilita el acceso a las turberas. Es por ello que, particularmente la región de Aysén, se ha convertido en un nuevo polo de desarrollo para la agroindustria relacionada a la cosecha de musgo Sphagnum, la cual aumentará la presión sobre este recurso. [194] COLECCIÓN LIBROS INIA - 41 Las turberas de Aysén han recibido la atención en la literatura científica, por numerosos naturalistas que visitaron dicha zona a principio del siglo XX. El primer botánico en estudiar las turberas fue Karl Reiche entre 1894 y 1911, a través de la descripción de la vegetación asociada a Sphagnum en las cuencas de los ríos Aysén y Baker. Este autor, si bien describe especies, no hace una clasificación de las asociaciones vegetales de turberas. Por otra parte, Gotschlich en 1913 describe la flora de Llanquihue, para esos años el territorio de Aysén era parte de esa provincia. El autor menciona la existencia de al menos 56 especies de criptógamas de las 200 que se conocían para la fecha en Chile, según lo descrito en el tomo VII de la obra de Claudio Gay. Posteriormente, Holdgate en 1961 hace una detallada descripción de la vegetación de turberas de Sphagnum y pulvinadas. En 1974, se hace una representación cartográfica de la vegetación chilena, describiéndose las turberas y sus especies típicas (Quintanilla, 1974), pero este autor no hace una separación fisonómica ni geomorfológica clara de los tipos de turberas y menos una referencia a la presencia de Sphagnum magellanicum sino a S. acutifolium. Posteriormente, Gajardo (1994) hace referencia explícita a cinco formaciones vegetales relacionadas a turberas, ellas son: 1) Turbera y matorral siempreverde, 2) Bosque siempreverde con turberas, 3) Matorral mixto y brezal turboso, 4) Turbera y estepa pantanosa archipelágica y 5) Bosque siempreverde. Esta clasificación, sin embargo, es a una escala sólo referencial y potencial para la región de Aysén. Dos años después, se realiza una importante descripción de los depósitos de turba en Chile y menciona que para la región de Aysén dominan las turberas bajas tipo “fen peat”, las cuales según la denominación inglesa son turberas que se desarrollan sobre terrazas fluvioaluviales y son alimentadas por aguas subterráneas o topogénicas. Este tipo de turberas se encuentran situadas al margen de los ríos Yelcho, Palena, La Zaranda, Laguna Pedro Aguirre Cerda, valles Río Huemules, Cajón, Cofré, Baker, Murta, Vargas, Ñadis, Bravo y Pascua (Hauser, 1996). Otro estudio que caracteriza la flora de las turberas de Tortel, específicamente de las cuencas de los ríos Vagabundo, Barrancoso y el desagüe del lago Quetru, reporta 28 especies: 1 liquen, 2 musgos, 2 helechos, 1 dicotiledónea primitiva, 14 Magnoliopsidas y 8 Liliopsidas; siendo los musgos (Sphagnum) y las Liliopsidas, los grupos de cobertura más dominante. Todas las Capítulo 8: Flora y vegetación de turberas de Sphagnum en la región de Aysén, Chile [195] especies reportadas fueron nativas y se menciona que la explotación del musgo, favorecería la recolonización del tipo forestal original, que desplazaría a la comunidad secundaria de Sphagnum magellanicum (Ramírez et al. 2007). Otro estudio realizado el 2008, hace un exhaustivo levantamiento de las turberas en las cuencas de los ríos Baker y Pascua, identificando 28 plantas vasculares, tres de ellas en categoría de conservación: Schizaea fistulosa (rara), Pilgerodendron uviferum y Lepidothamnus fonkii (vulnerable) (Rodríguez et al. 2008). El mismo año se realiza un estudio que describe la vegetación de dos turberas, localizadas en las inmediaciones de: 1) Laguna Pedro Aguirre Cerda al norte de Mañihuales y 2) Lago Vargas al sur de Cochrane. Mientras que en la primera se encontró sólo 18 plantas vasculares, en la segunda fueron identificadas 23, todas nativas. Las diferencias florísticas halladas entre ambas turberas podrían deberse a gradientes de precipitación y a variables físico-químicas, dadas por el origen geológico y la antigüedad de los valles, así como por el horizonte de acumulación de turba y el pH del sustrato de acuerdo a Teneb et al. 2008. Por otra parte, en el río Mosco, al oriente de Villa O’Higgins, García y Luebert (2008) describen la flora y vegetación incluyendo algunos pequeños ambientes de turberas, pero no especifican a que tipo de turberas pertenecen. Álvarez et al. (2010) reportaron una riqueza florística de 31 especies para una turbera de Sphagnum en un estudio en el archipiélago de los Chonos. Otro estudio realiza una descripción de las turberas de Sphagnum, pulvinadas y graminosas en la comuna de Tortel, describiendo la presencia de especies leñosas subarbustivas, dominadas por el ciprés enano (L. fonkii), las que presentan una gran afinidad florística y ecológica con las turberas esfagnosas y, al parecer, representarían una fase terminal de las turberas de Sphagnum magellanicum, según San Martín et al. 2014. Sandoval y colaboradores (2016) describen y comparan atributos de la diversidad vegetal en las cuencas de los ríos Baker y Pascua, reportando 66 especies y un índice de diversidad de Shannon de (H’= 2,038) para las turberas de Sphagnum. Todos estos trabajos entregan diversos y complejos tipos de clasificaciones, listas parciales de plantas, así como descripciones de las unidades vegetales en términos cualitativos a diferentes escalas espaciales. Sin embargo, no todos evalúan específicamente las turberas de Sphagnum, en términos de su diversidad florística y cómo ésta es afectada por la cosecha de musgo. Por esta razón, el objetivo de este capítulo es analizar la composición y estructura de las turberas de Sphagnum en la región de Aysén, a lo largo de un gradiente latitudinal que representa la heterogeneidad ambiental y perturbación generada por la cosecha de musgo Sphagnum en esta región.
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