Distribution and conservation of coastal wetlands: A geographic perspective

Abstract

This chapter provides a synoptic view of the distribution, conservation and importance of the connectivity of coastal wetlands of central Chile. For this, a methodology was developed to identify coastal wetlands present in central Chile (30 °S and 41 °40’S), through the analysis of 13 multispectral images Landsat ETM + for the spring-summer seasons of 2000 and 2001. Furthermore, we analyzed the degree in which the identified wetlands are contained within the Chilean protected area network, and carried out a connectivity analysis using graph theory. This analysis, despite being preliminary, allow us to draw a number of simple conclusions, of great importance for the management and protection of these ecosystems. On one hand, the latitudinal tendencies in distribution and area of these ecosystems suggest that their average number and extension increase in the north-south direction, and that the degree of protection these sites have is relatively acceptable, but that this would greatly increase if the Priority Sites were included in the analysis. On the other hand, the connectivity analysis suggests that those organisms whose movement distances are below 10-20 km, perceive the landscape as highly fragmented and slightly heterogeneous. Finally, the analysis of the contribution of different coastal wetlands to the connectivity of the system allows us to highlight that, in general, most of the wetlands are important for maintaining connectivity of species with movement capacity below the critical limit of 10-20 km.