Abstract

Along the central Chilean shore, from 33°55’S to 31°14’S, there are close to 100 coastal wetlands associated to estuary and river mouths, salt marshes, lagoons, swamps, reservoirs and temporary pools formed during the rainy season. This part of the country has been identified as one of those most potentially affected by contemporary climate change. Several of these changes, reinforced by anthropic pressure, seem to already be happening in the coastal wetlands and typical dunes. Due to their fragile state, these environments quickly lose the unstable ecological that sustain them. The shrinkage of bodies of water in central Chilean coastal wetlands was estimated based on satellite imagery interpretation, for later discussion of the threats faced by and vulnerability of three sites under a certain degree of protection, sites that have been identified as important representatives of central Chilean endemic biodiversity.