One of the few practically virgin places left on the planet, the Cape Horn of Chile, which was declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco in 2005, has become the new sentinel of climate change.
In an area where there is almost no human activity, where there is no pollution and it is also far from industrial emissions, in this corner of the world the flora and fauna lived their lives without having to worry about anything, until now.
At the southern tip of the American continent we can find some of the cleanest waters and some of the most alive green forests in the world. An area that for now has managed to escape the rapid growth of the human population. Here, Ricardo Rozzi, biologist and director of the Biocultural Subantarctic conservation program, is where he has his laboratory.
A natural laboratory, because as he himself told a group of journalists who accompanied him to tour the Cabo de Hornos Biosphere Reserve, »this is a Jurasic Park for the Northern Hemisphere». However, these landscapes too have begun to suffer the effects of climate change.
Temperatures gradually exceed 6ºC on average in this region, causing the life cycle of aquatic insects, such as black flies, is advanced. As this place warms up, the metabolism of some species accelerates, causing a shortening of their life cycle. This in turn has effects on the ecosystem, especially migratory birds, who went there to feed during the hatching season of some insects and who now find that they have no food available.
On the other hand, although it is a protected area, researchers do not know if it will be able to resist the invasion of species that come from the north.