Assessing signals of selection and historical demography to develop conservation strategies in the Chilean emblematic Araucaria araucana.

Loss of genetic diversity reduces the ability of species to evolve and respond to environmental change. Araucaria araucana is an emblematic conifer species from southern South America, with important ethnic value for the Mapuche people (Pehuenche); the Chilean Government has catalogued its conservation status as vulnerable. Climatic fluctuations were potentially a major impact in the genetic variation within many tree species.

Aerobic and anaerobic metabolic scaling in the burrowing freshwater crayfish Parastacus pugnax.

Metabolic scaling is a well-known biological pattern. Theoretical scaling exponents near 0.67 and 0.

Evolving in islands of mud: old and structured hidden diversity in an endemic freshwater crayfish from the Chilean hotspot.

Parastacus is a genus of South American freshwater crayfishes disjunctively distributed in southern Chile, Northern Argentina, Uruguay and Southeastern Brazil. Parastacus pugnax is a Chilean endemic distributed along 700 km of latitude in central-southern Chile from the Pacific coast to the Andean piedmont, which is intensively captured for consumption for local communities. Considering the habitat (wet meadows) and natural history (primary burrower, non-migrant) of the species, we tested a hypothesis of highly structured genetic diversity using mtDNA of 465 specimens gathered at 56 localities across the species range.

First steps towards assessing the evolutionary history and phylogeography of a widely distributed Neotropical grassland bird (Motacillidae: ).

Grasslands in southern South America are extensive ecosystems which harbor a unique biodiversity; however, studies on the evolution of their taxa are scarce. Here we studied the phylogeography and population history of the Correndera Pipit (), a grassland specialist bird with a large breeding distribution in southern South America, with the goals of investigating its phylogeographic history and relate it to the historical development of South American grasslands. The mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit II gene (ND2) was sequenced in 66 individuals from 19 localities and the intron 9 of the sex-linked gene for aconitase (ACOI9) was sequenced from a subset of those individuals, including all five subspecies of , as well as the closely related .

Phylogenomic analysis of the Chilean clade of lizards (Squamata: Liolaemidae) based on sequence capture data.

The genus is one of the most ecologically diverse and species-rich genera of lizards worldwide. It currently includes more than 250 recognized species, which have been subject to many ecological and evolutionary studies. Nevertheless, lizards have a complex taxonomic history, mainly due to the incongruence between morphological and genetic data, incomplete taxon sampling, incomplete lineage sorting and hybridization.

Geography and past climate changes have shaped the evolution of a widespread lizard from the Chilean hotspot.

The complex orogenic history and structure of Southern South America, coupled with Pleistocene glacial cycles, have generated paleoclimatic and environmental changes that influenced the spatial distribution and genetic composition of natural populations. Despite the increased number of phylogeographic studies in this region and given the frequent idiosyncratic phylogeographic patterns, there is still the need to focus research especially on species that are currently distributed within a wide range of bioclimatic regimes, and that historically have been subject to contrasting scenarios. Liolaemus tenuis is a widely distributed lizard species inhabiting latitudinally in almost 1000km through central and southern Chile.

Low Genetic Diversity in , an Endemic and Endangered Catfish from South Chile.

Despite the fundamental importance of the family Diplomystidae for understanding catfish evolution, its species are poorly known and most of them endangered. , restricted to a single river basin in southern Chile, is perhaps the most vulnerable species due to its small geographic range and imminent habitat alterations by dam constructions. Using mitochondrial DNA sequences, we describe the genetic diversity across its entire distribution in the Valdivia basin and test hypotheses related to the impact of glacial cycles on the genetic diversity and structure.

Lizards on ice: evidence for multiple refugia in Liolaemus pictus (Liolaemidae) during the last glacial maximum in the Southern Andean beech forests.

Historical climate changes and orogenesis are two important factors that have shaped intraspecific biodiversity patterns worldwide. Although southern South America has experienced such complex events, there is a paucity of studies examining the effects on intraspecific diversification in this part of the world. Liolaemus pictus is the southernmost distributed lizard in the Chilean temperate forest, whose genetic structure has likely been influenced by Pleistocene glaciations.