Abstract

The coastal mountains of Región de los Ríos (Chile) match within the center of one of the greatest biodiversity and endemism of the world (Myers et al., 2000). Besides, it is marked as a world biodiversity “hotspot” (Mittermeier et al., 2011). However, this zone (35° and 41° south latitude) is suffering the biggest landscape transformation due to the native forest substitution with the forest plantations and for agricultural uses. This habitat management produces a biodiversity loss because of the high destruction rate for degradation and fragmentation of the native forest (Lara et al., 1997). Further, it may became worse if it’s considered a probable temperature increase (variable depending of the model type used) and an alteration related to quantity and precipitation distribution (CEPAL, 2009; IPCC, 2014). The result of the combination of both factors is a clear threat to the water resources, and consequently to natural vegetation, especially those that need water availability in the environment to maintain their metabolism system activated. In this context, the following doctoral thesis has considered a global study that reports the diversity, ecological requirements and physiological response to the environmental conditions of macrolichens species in a temperate rainforest of the Coastal Mountains of Los Ríos Region, within a protected natural area. These objectives can be summarized in four main questions: 1. Does the diversity of species vary at local and microclimate levels? 2. What is the tolerance limit to a simulation that changes the water relations and increases radiation? 3. Do they explain the functional traits (STM and WHC) and anatomical patterns of adaptation and / or habitat preference among different species? 4. Does the photosynthetic response reflect the habitat preference of the species using the parameters evaluated in this study?