Michelle Moorman (OSARA Board of Directors) recently published the results of her pioneering study on Cape Horn’s freshwater fish in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. The work, based on her master’s thesis research conducted in 2006, surveyed the native freshwater fish species in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve and determined the effect of multiple invasive species on this relatively unknown biodiversity. These surveys discovered two rare and threatened fish speices that were previously unknown south of the Beagle Channel (Aplochiton zebra and A. taenitus). In addition, it was not possible to confirm the previously reported presence of invasive brown trout in the CHBR, but introduced brook and rainbow trout were common in many catchments. The overall effect of invasive beavers on puye, the only common native fish species, was to actually increase abundance of this species, while predatory trout reduced these numbers. For more information visit the journal’s website.

Together with the Center for Environmental Philosophy, the UNT Program on Sub-Antarctic Biocultural Conservation launched a special fall edition of Environmental Ethics, the oldest and most respected journal in this field. This special edition is dedicated to the preceedings of the international workshop entitled “Integrating ecological sciences and environmental ethics in the southwestern archipelago wilderness area of southern South America.” The event, held in March 2007, was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Chilean Ministry of Planning and held in Santiago, Chiloé and Punta Arenas, Chile. This workshop and the resulting journal are unique in bringing together ecologists, philosopher and policy analysts to explore the implications and methods of bridging sciences and the humanities to achieve the creation of a transdiscipline of biocultural conservation. Now, this special edition is being published simultaneously in Spanish with the University of Magallanes, as part of UNT and UMAG’s efforts to create a binational program and dual master’s degree.

From 16-17 October, researchers from the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve will conduct a bird-banding workshop in Ushuaia, Argentina, to expand the Omora Park’s 8 year program to a new site across the Beagle Channel. After the June 2008 workshop on long-term socio-ecological research, held in Punta Arenas and Puerto Williams, researchers at the Centro Austral de Investigaciones Cientifícas, in Ushuaia requested training to implement a complementary and coordinated study in their own area. This effort is being supported, as well, by the visit and participation of Dr. Chris Elphick (U. of Connecticut), who has advised the Cape Horn bird banding program since 2001.

From 18-23 August in the Slovakian village of Stara Lesna in the High Tatras Biosphere Reserve, representatives from more than 30 countries will convene for the annual International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) Network meeting. In representation of the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity’s recently inaugurated “Chilean temperate and subantarctic forest long-term socio-ecological research (LTSER) network,” Dr. Christopher Anderson will attend the meetings to present the new Chilean initiative and begin the process of application for membership in the ILTER. The global network will provide important links for the efforts in the austral part of South America to articulate itself with this global program to enhance and consolidate the national program that the IEB is pioneering.

The journal Nature, the world’s leading scientific periodical, recently published a piece on the proposed control/eradication program for beavers in the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve. The article now has sparked broader interest, and currently the German magazine Der Spiegel is preparing an article. The articles cite OSARA President Christopher Anderson, who has advised and reviewed the projects and proposals. While acknowledging the challenges and difficulties of such an initiative, Dr. Anderson is quoted as saying “invasive species are an extremely important subject in Cape Horn, which is one of the world’s last wilderness areas. While it may not be feasible to eradicate beavers, it is certainly technically possible, as they were nearly exterminated in North American in the 1800s.” Anderson goes on to point out that “even if it is not possible to completely eliminate problem species in the archipelago, we will learn a great deal our our natural resources by working on binational (Chile and Argentina) conservation programs.” Click here to read the article in Nature.

The scientists and philosophers involved in the creation and implementation of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve are firmly committed to putting their research into practice. Part of this work involves the definition of the new trans-discipline of “biocultural conservation,” which requires overcoming significant challenges such as “translating” between academic disciplines, languages, cultures and ways of perceiving the world.

In this effort, Drs. Ricardo Rozzi and Francisca Massardo, as well as others from the CHBR, have been working for the past few years to create a seminal body of work that will serve as a foundation for environmental philosophy in Latin America and for biocultural conservation in general. Now a special edition of the journal Revista Ambiente y Desarrollo has publish these texts in Spanish and included commentaries from well-known thinkers from the realms of policy, ecology and philosophy from throughout the Americas and Europe. To learn more visit the CIPMA website, download the pdfs from the journal directly with the link above, or read the Introduction (in Spanish).