Universidad de Antofagasta

Vulnerable microbial communities in Atacama-Altiplano wetlands: modern analogs of ancient ecosystems with implications for sustainability and conservation

Abstract The Altiplano-Puna plateau lies at ∼4,000 m above sea level in the volcanic Andes cordillera. Together with the adjacent Atacama Desert, it forms one of the most hyperarid regions on the planet. Wetlands are rare, influenced by hydrothermalism and, due to high evaporatio...

Mitogenome-Informed Metabarcoding for Non-Invasive Identification of Sympatric Flamingos in Northern Chile

The Chilean flamingo (Phoenicopterus chilensis) is a widely distributed South American species inhabiting diverse wetland ecosystems from Ecuador and Peru south to Chile and Argentina, and east to Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay, ranging from sea level to high-altitude Andean salar...