Wild Patagonia: Fire and Ice

This course will provide two lines of interfacing with Patagonia, connecting you with the language and culture in Patagonia, learning some of the linguistic variety at the Southern edge of the Americas, exploring the historical‐cultural contexts of that vocabulary, and learning about the cultural shifts that have defined the region, from before Magellan’s voyage through the Strait in 1520 through to voting for a new Constitution.

With the examination of today’s society through its language and culture through transversal themes, you will have a chance to reflect on various social contexts. This can help you develop a well‐rounded understanding of Patagonia as a cultural space, which simultaneously overlies, intermingles, and undergirds the physical, ecological, and political processes covered in the other courses.

This is a very transformative time in Chilean conservation management. During 2022, the Chilean Constitutional Convention developed a draft new constitution, which includes a serious focus on environmental and natural resource conservation. On September 4th, 2022 the plebiscite decided to reject it. So, many local researchers, and practitioners in different conservation areas are concerned about the implications of it an effective conservation process. In another hand, many media outlets, such as CNN, the New York Times, and The Economist have had recent profiles on the influence of foreign private entities largely shaping the conservation scene in Chile. This course explores the decision-making apparatus within Chile and delves into the complexity of what societies decide to conserve, why societies decide to conserve or not, which places/things we choose to conserve or not, what the cost is (in human capital, economic capital, and to ecosystem services) when we choose to conserve or not, and who ultimately are the power brokers of the conservation movement in Patagonia (corporations, government entities, NGOs, foreigners, etc.), and by extension, how do the Chilean conservation management objectives and operations map onto the broader world stage? This course will stimulate debate and exploration and send students home with unprecedented insight.

This course provides an overview of the Earth Systems – geosphere, cryosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere – the dynamic interactions between them, and the unique characteristics that these components display in Patagonia. The course covers Systems Theory, the overall characteristics of each system, and why we should think of the Earth as a system that is more than the sum of its parts. We will examine all systems in detail and find the relationship between them and switch the different time scale over which they operate. The course emphasizes the cryosphere and climate science and how these components interact in Patagonia and what will happen with them under climate change scenarios.

This course focuses on ecology as a discipline, biodiversity, and the Patagonian ecoregions and habitats that have evolved with short growing seasons, tenacious southwesterly winds, and fierce winters. We will examine the ecology and evolution of faunal species such as guanaco (related to the llama), Magellanic and king penguins, and the Andean condor, all native to the region. We will explore ecological succession, including primary succession, which is how life recruits into new environments, such as bare rock after glacial retreat or after volcanic eruptions. We will explore a remarkable climatological gradient from Magellanic rainforests to semi-arid pampa. Thematically, we will traverse alpine ecology, exposed terrestrial ecology, freshwater ecology, fire ecology, and climate change ecology. From the central focus on the theory and practice of ecology, we will expand to investigate relationships between people and nature in conservation, resilience, and environmental challenges. We will explore the role of protected areas in conservation, invasive species, and human-landscape interactions. The course is constructed so that the role of climate in shaping ecosystems and ecological relations are central to discussions and observations.

This course prepares students to distinguish hidden assumptions in scientific approaches and separate fact from interpretation, cause from correlation, and advocacy from objectivity. Students learn specific tools including: experimental design; field techniques; basic descriptive statistics; and parametric and non-parametric quantitative analysis. Emphasis is placed on succinct scientific writing, graphic and tabular presentation of results, and effective delivery of oral presentations.