Cecilia Smith Ramírez • Address
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Contact Information for Principal Investigator • Name: Cecilia Smith Ramírez • Address: Comercio 393, Río Bueno, XIV Región • Country: Chile • Telephone: 56-63-247975 • Fax: 56 63 247975 • Email: [email protected] • Website: http://www.ieb-chile.cl/focus/people_focus2/CeciliaSmith.php • C. Contact information for Managing Institution • Institution Name: Instituto de Ecología y Biodiversidad (IEB), Universidad de Chile • Address: Las Palmeras 3425, Ñuñoa, Santiago, Chile • Institutional Contact Person: Director, PhD. Mary Kalin Arroyo • Name: Administrative Contact, Benjamín Vera • Telephone: 56-2-2727363 • Fax: 56-2-2727363 • Email:[email protected] • Website: http://www.ieb-chile.cl/ 1 Resumen Chile es un país que posee una biota filogenéticamente muy antigua, posee climas contrastantes y una geografía variada. En Chile se encuentra el desierto mas seco del mundo, unos de los cinco bosques secos mediterráneos, la mayor parte del bosque templado del hemisferio sur de América, tundras, vegetación alto-andina e islas oceánicas con biota polinésica. Chile posee uno de los mayores índices de endemismo a nivel mundial. Lamentablemente, desde mediados del siglo XX, ha sufrido una de las más rápidas tasas de deforestación a nivel mundial. En Chile existen colecciones de insectos que abarcan cerca de un millón de especimenes. La información presente en los insectarios no ha sido digitalizada en nuestro país. Además, se han hecho variados estudios sobre interacciones planta- polinizador El objetivo de este proyecto es realizar una exhaustiva sistematización de la información bibliográfica sobre interacciones planta-polinizador y digitalizar información de especimenes presentes en las principales colecciones entomológicas del país. En este estudio se revisara toda la literatura sobre polinizadores. Supondremos que si un género es mencionado en la literatura de ser polinizador, las otras especies de ese mismo género pueden ser potenciales polinizadores. Se visitarán las diez principales colecciones, desde el extremo norte a sur del país. Además, se visitarán dos o tres de las principales colecciones entomológicas en Argentina. Abstract Chile possesses an ancient biota, contrasting climates, a varied geography, and one of the world’s highest endemism rates. The world’s driest desert, one of Earth’s five Mediterranean dry forests, old-growth southern temperate forests, moorlands, highlands, as well as oceanic islands with Polynesian biota are all found in Chile. Sadly, during the middle of the 20th century Chile’s deforestation rate was one of the fastest in the world. Chile has large insect collections with approximately one million specimens, however, the information in these entomological collections is not digitalized; and the study of plant-pollinator interactions is well advanced. The objective of this project is to exhaustively systematize the information on insect pollinators present in entomological collections and plant-pollinator interactions for all Chilean biomes. This study will review all the literature available on pollinators, supposing that when a genus is mentioned in the literature as pollinator, then other species of the same genus can be potential pollinators. The research includes visits to the main collections in the country, covering the extreme north to south. Additionally, we will include two or three of Argentina’s main entomological collections, hoping to systemize information for over 3.000 species of insect pollinators. 2 Digital database of plant-pollinator interactions in Chile Context and importance of the Chilean biota Chile possesses rich, varied, and ancient biota along its 4,200 km, including sharply contrasting climates. Its varied geography gives rise to the world’s driest desert, one of Earth’s five Mediterranean dry forests, old-growth southern temperate forest, extensive moorlands, highland communities in the Andes mountains, as well as oceanic islands with Polynesian biota. A great part of the Chilean territory has been considered one of the 25 priorities areas for global conservation, not just for species richness, but also for the ancient phylogenetic relationships. In terms of vascular flora, which has undergone the most exhaustive studies, very few species can be found per genus or family. Some families have only one or two representants in the world, evidence of the enormous extinction event that happened during the Terciary period in the Andean uplands and that ultimately produced the isolation of Chilean biota. In the Chilean temperate forest and its Andean counterpart in Argentina, it is possible to find Gondwanic flora and fauna, the former of which represents 36% of its biogeographic component. The nearest relatives of Gondwanic Chilean flora are found in the islands of New Zealand and Tasmania. Furthermore, nearly 45% of biogeographic components of Chilean flora occur in the Neotropics, mainly in Yungas sub-tropical forests (Argentina and Bolivia) and Matta Atlantica forests in Brazil. During the begining of the Quaternary, Chilean biota was highly isolated from other biota, causing numerous neo-endemisms to occur, especially in desert areas. Paleo-endemism and neo-endemism are very frequent in Chilean entomofauna, such as Ichneumonoidea (Hymenoptera), which has extraordinary endemism (80%) to Chilean forests. Many of the genus of this group have only one or two species. By example, the family Apozygidae (Ichneumonoidea) exists exclusively in Chile, with one genus and two species. In Diptera, 53% of the species are endemic to Chile. Human presence in Chile dates back to 12,500 years ago. From 1850 to 1900, the most extensive deforestation activities of the dryland forests took place, with the most extensive deforestation activities of the central and southern forests occurring from 1930 to 1960, relying heavily on the use of fire. It has been reported that the Chilean deforestation process was one of the fastest in the world. In present day, many of the Chilean biota are threatened; for example, 20% of the flora found in Administrative Region VI’s Mediterranean forest is threatened. Chile has five major entomological collections at universities and natural history museums. There are five other important collections at universities and in private hands, as well as minor collections at National Parks and in the possession of individuals. Futhermore, there are important Chilean collections in Paris, Londres, Ottawa, Chicago and San Francisco. The number of specimens in Chilean collections varies from 50.000 to 1 million. We estimate the number of species of pollinators in Chile to be 3000, but probably would be more. There are three published community studies about pollinators in central, southern and patagonian- andean highland in Chile. Based on these studies, it is possible to establish that pollinator richness is high, and that while there are many plants, there are no specialized flowers; Eucryphia cordifolia , for example, attracted approximately 100 pollinator species in one study site (Smith-Ramírez et al. unpublished). But there several studies on pollinators at species level in herbs, cactaceae, vines and trees that contribute to understanding of Chilean pollinator fauna (Smith-Ramírez et al. 2004). Based on these studies and visit frequency, it is possible to establish that diptera, which are concentrated mainly in coastal forests have the highest richness among Chilean pollinators (Smith-Ramírez et al. 2004)1. While no bat pollinators 1 Smith-Ramírez C, P Martínez, M Nuñez, C González & J Armesto 2005. Diversity and preferences of pollinators in second-growth forests of Chiloé Island, Chile. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 147: 3 are present in Chile, there are seven hummingbirds and some Passeriforms have been described as pollinators (Smith-Ramírez & Armesto 2003) 2. Innovation: In Chile, no institution possesses a digital database of entomological collections. In 2002, the head researcher for this project, in collaboration with Argentinean colleagues, partially systematized information on plant-pollinators and plant-dispersers in temperate forests of Chile and its margin in Argentina (Aizen et al. 2002) 3, but no similar effort has been made for other ecosystems of the country. As such, this project represents an innovative initiative that would make an enormous contribution in bringing together all Chilean knowledge on biodiversity of insect pollinators and their interactions with plants. The researchers of IEB (the sponsor institution) have been working in pollinator-plant interactions since 1976, and more recent studies by researchers from different universities have targeted different ecosystems in the country, incorporating in recent years the effect of fragmentation on mutualistic relationships. Furthermore, last year, with the help of a doctoral student from IEB (L. Suarez), we began to look for information about plant-pollinator in Mediterranean ecosystems, but the analysis of that information is still in underway. In both efforts, there was a lack of information about the distribution of pollinators and their conservation status. It is necessary to interview entomological specialists to know more about the insects, taxonomic problems and the probability of finding these species at the present. Many of the collections are from middle of the XX century, before or during the bigger deforestation in the country. The focus of these studies has been plant-pollinator interactions, but due to the rapid change in land use in Chile, the extinction of pollinator