Native Forest Health in Chile: Toward a Strategy of Sustainable Management

Abstract

Natural forests comprise unique environments which, due to the variety of climates present in Chile, provide complex and diverse ecosystems with a moderate biological diversity and a high degree of endemism. These are important global resources that provide a wide range of environmental, economic, and social benefits. The strong anthropic pressure, as well as the changes in the temperature and precipitation regimes, has caused changes in the population dynamics of different biotic agents, generating population outbreaks of both native and introduced insects. Currently, the native forest has 82% of the forest area, but forest plantations have increased in the last decade, reaching just over three million ha. In this chapter, we deal with the most emblematic cases of agents of damage in native forest, as well as the management strategies used to confront them, in order to maintain the health, diversity, productivity, and sustainability of these forests.