Ecology of the Fuegian Archipelago

Abstract

Ecology is the science that studies interactions between living creatures and their environment and how these processes influence species patterns of distribution and abundance. In the Fuegian Archipelago, many ecological patterns and processes respond to the influence of climate (temperature, wind, precipitation). The weather of the southern tip of South America is temperate/cold and oceanic, presenting short, cool summers (mean temperature: 9ºC) and long, but not extremely cold winters (mean temperature 0ºC). The most frequent winds are from southwest to northeast, coming from the Antarctic waters of the Southern Pacific Ocean. These climatic patterns combine with the topography of the Andes Mountain Range, which in Tierra del Fuego is called the Darwin Range and runs parallel to the Beagle Channel in a west-east direction, that reaches its highest summits towards the west in Chilean territory. The interaction between weather and geography generates sharp gradients in abiotic factors. Between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, for example, the precipitation varies from 2,000 mm along the southwestern islands to less than 200 mm along the northeast coast (see Chapter I). As a result of these marked environmental gradients, it is possible to observe a great variety of landscapes, conformed of different habitats and associated species, all over relatively short distances.