Los Queules National Reserve is a national reserve of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It covers an area of 1.47 km² in the

Chilean Coastal Range The Chilean Coastal Range ( es, Cordillera de la Costa) is a mountain range that runs from north to south along the Pacific coast of South America parallel to the Andean Mountains, extending from Morro de Arica in the north to Taitao Peninsula, w ...

. The reserve ranges from 400 to 500 meters in elevation.Hinojosa, L. F., Armesto, J. J., & Villagrán, C. (2006). Are Chilean Coastal Forests Pre-Pleistocene Relicts? Evidence from Foliar Physiognomy, Palaeoclimate, and Phytogeography. Journal of Biogeography, 33(2), 331–341. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3554890>} The reserve contains one of the larger remaining patches of

Maulino forest Maulino forest ( es, Bosque Maulino) is a forest type naturally growing in the Chilean Coast Range of Central Chile from latitude 35°55 to 36°20 S. The chief tree species is ''Nothofagus glauca''. Other tree species include '' Nothofagus leonii'' ...

, a distinctive forest community at the transition between

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

central Chile and the cool and humid

Valdivian temperate forests The Valdivian temperate forests (NT0404) is an ecoregion on the west coast of southern South America, in Chile and Argentina. It is part of the Neotropical realm. The forests are named after the city of Valdivia. The Valdivian temperate rainforest ...

further south. The reserve is named after the queule tree (''

Gomortega keule ''Gomortega keule'' (syn. ''G. nitida''; Spanish language, Spanish names ''keule'', ''queule'', and ''hualhual'') is a tree native to Chile. It is the sole species of the genus ''Gomortega'' and, according to the APG IV system of 2016 (unchanged ...

''), a species native to the Maulino forest. Other characteristic Maulino forest species present in the reserve include ''

Pitavia punctata ''Pitavia punctata'' is a species of tree endemic to Chile in the family Rutaceae. It is endemic to Chile; an example habitat being the Chilean matorral.C. Michael Hogan & World Wildlife Fund. 2013 It is threatened by habitat loss. Distinctive c ...

Nothofagus alessandrii ''Nothofagus alessandrii'', the ruil, is a species of plant in the family Nothofagaceae, commonly known as the southern beeches. It is endemic to Chile, occurring chiefly in the Chilean matorral ecoregion. It is threatened by habitat loss. The s ...

'', and ''

Nothofagus glauca ''Nothofagus glauca'', commonly known as hualo or roble Maulino, is a species of plant in the family Nothofagaceae. It is a deciduous tree endemic to Chile. It grows from 34° to 37° South latitude. ''N. glauca'' was proposed to be renamed ''Lo ...

''. Outside the reserve the Maulino forests have been mostly extirpated and replaced with plantations of non-native

radiata pine ''Pinus radiata'' ( syn. ''Pinus insignis''), the Monterey pine, insignis pine or radiata pine, is a species of pine native to the Central Coast of California and Mexico (Guadalupe Island and Cedros island). It is an evergreen conifer in the fa ...

(''Pinus radiata'') or converted to agriculture or livestock pasture.

References

National reserves of Chile Protected areas of Maule Region Valdivian temperate forests {{Maule-geo-stub