Climate change is triggering ecological responses all over the world as a result of frequent, prolonged droughts. It could also affect ecological interactions, particularly pollination and seed dispersal, which play a key role in plant reproduction. We used a tripartite interaction with a mistletoe, its pollinator and its disperser animals to gain insight into this issue. We studied flower and fruit production, and visitation rates during average (2012) and dry (2015) austral summers. Drought in our study area affected precipitation and soil water availability. Although pollinator visits did not significantly differ in these summers, during the dry summer flower and fruit production experienced an important decline, as did seed disperser visits. Also, mistletoe mortality increased from 12% in 2012 to 23% in 2015. This empirical evidence suggests that the cascade effects of climate change may indirectly be hindering ecological interactions in the Valdivian temperate rainforest ecosystem we studied. Long‐term research is essential to provide the knowledge necessary to understand how key ecological processes may be affected in a changing world.
The forestry industry is known for negatively affecting stream quality when proper management is not applied.Nutrient retention by soils and streamside vegetation buffer strips could attenuate these impacts. We tested the response of different streams to the nutrients and sediments released by a) fertilization and b) clear-cutting of Eucalyptus globulus plantations growing on volcanic soils in southern Chile. We expected the exports to decrease as the remnant streamside native forest width (SNFW) increased. The response to fertilization was restricted to the days immediately after the nutrient addition. On the contrary, most of the nutrients analysed (nitrate, ammonium, dissolved organic nitrogen, phosphate, and total phosphorus) showed a long-term response to clear-cutting. The observed trends were not affected by the SNFWs included in this study (2.5-22 m). Regarding sediments, there were no differences compared to the control watershed, probably due to improvements in the implemented management practices. We conclude that a SNFW < 22 m is not sufficient to avoid the loss of nutrients released by clear-cutting, as it is for sediments. The analysed SNFWs were smaller than those established by Chilean regulations (maximum 30 m) and our results support claims for wider riparian widths in order to effectively filter the nutrients and sediments that influence streams.
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