Abstract

We review in this article the 2004-2014 scientific information on the Rio Cruces wetland ecosystem, Valdivia, Chile. This information is used in the generation of a conceptual ecosystem model, which is used in turn to generate a synthetic hypothesis about the regime shift during 2004/2005. The model is based on the concentration of suspended solids in the wetland as controlling variable, affected by watershed processes (e.g., clear-cut forestry) and re-suspension of sediments in the wetland affected by the presence or absence of macrophytes.