Fundación San Ignacio del Huinay gives access to both typical and rare marine, terrestrial and limnic habitats from 500 m water depth to 2000 m altitude.
The station gives access to two nearby fjords with very different features. Different use types like salmon farming, shellfish and finfish harvesting give the opportunity to study different human impacts.
Highlights: cold-water coral banks reaching into the euphotic zone, brachiopod banks, mussel banks, cold seeps with anaerobic microbial biocenosis, pH gradient 7.4 - 8.1, pronounced Low Salinity Layer, diverse benthic and infauna with numerous species new to science.
The station is surrounded by thousands of hectars of primary forest which hosts a diverse flora and fauna.
Highlights: highly diverse extratropical (Valdivian) rainforest, natural disturbance regime increasing diversity through successional stages, alerce forests with some trees older than 2000 years, complete coverage of andine altitude stratification, exceptionally rich rodent and entomofauna, geological and tectonic features such as fumaroles and active volcanoes.
The station gives access to a diverse set of freshwater bodies.
Highlights: glacial lakes, moor lakes, meltwater creeks and rivers, ephemeral and permanent rainwater creeks with different physical and chemical features, crater lakes and hot springs.
In addition to projects carried out by the Fundación Huinay team, more than 530 scientists have visited the station to carry out own or colaborative projects.
Topics include:
- Baseline research (e.g. biogeographic and taxonomic work, trophic ecology, terrestrial-marine coupling, oceanographic studies, terrestrial and marine primary production, etc.)
- Impacts and consequences of climate change and ocean acidification (historic climate reconstruction, carbon fixation pHpatterns, adaptations of cold-water corals to low pH, draught stress, etc.)
- Resource management and conservation (design and promotion of marine protected areas, monitoring of changes in biodiversity, marine spatial planning, human impacts assessments, etc.)
Years of research at Huinay have resulted in more than 150 peer-reviewed papers and more than 200 presentations on scientific meetings.
