Limnological characterization of 16 lentic water bodies belonging to the territory of the ‘Fundación San Ignacio Del Huinay’, X region de Los Lagos, Chile

Abstract

Huinay is a territory covering about 34,000 hectares in the Commune of Hualaihué (Xth region of Chile) and belonging to the San Ignacio del Huinay Foundation (HF). Its location (42° 22´ S; 72° 24´ W) corresponds to the bio-geographical Province of Magallanes and specifi cally to an area which is highly representative of the continental Northern Patagonia. Based on an aerial prospecting conducted during 2008, we identifi ed more than 30 water bodies of different size and morphology, occurring at different heights and in different landscapes. Among these, 16 water bodies were selected to be studied at the end of the summer, in February 2009. In each water body, longitudinal and transversal bathymetric profi les were generated from echo-sound data. Vertical profi les of some physical and chemical variables (temperature, oxygen concentration, pH, conductivity and chlorophyll-a concentration) were measured, from surface to bottom, at the deepest section of the lakes using a multiparameter probe model YSI 6920 V2. Furthermore, water samples were collected at different depths for further chemical analysis ex situ. Qualitative (bottom-surface) and integrated (40-0 m) zooplankton and phytoplankton samples were then collected with appropriate plankton nets. Water transparency was measured as Secchi Depth. The results of this study are considered of bio-geographic importance for the Chilean territory given that both Huinay and the bordering territories completely lack of any limnological information. Eventually, data from the lakes of Huinay, will allow us to contrast various hypotheses about the distribution of plankton assemblages and species richness formerly reported to change according to latitude increases along the Chilean territory and the Patagonian area specifically.