Maulino forest ( es, Bosque Maulino) is a forest type naturally growing in the

Chilean Coast 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, ...

Central Chile Central Chile (''Zona central'') is one of the five natural regions into which CORFO divided continental Chile in 1950. It is home to a majority of the Chilean population and includes the three largest metropolitan areas—Santiago, Valparaís ...

from latitude 35°55 to 36°20 S. The chief tree species is ''

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 ''L ...

''. Other tree species include '' Nothofagus leonii'', ''

Nothofagus alessandri ''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 ''

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 ...

''. The forest grows at a transition zone 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 ...

humid temperate climate The humid temperate climate is a temperate climate sub-type mainly located at mid latitudes. It is characterized by humidity and rain throughout the year from oceanic influence. Although the term ''humid temperate climate'' is not used in the Kö ...

. Precipitations vary from 1000 to 700 mm/a and are concentrated in winter. According to geographers

Humberto Fuenzalida Humberto Fuenzalida Villegas (1904–1966) was a Chilean geologist, paleontologist and geographer. Fuenzalida headed in turn the geography and geology departments of the University of Chile,Recordando a Don Humberto, Estanislao Godoy. being also f ...

and

Edmundo Pisano Edmundo Pisano Valdés (19 May 1919 – 29 March 1997) was a Chilean plant ecologist, botanist and agronomist. Born in Punta Arenas in Chile's far south Pisano studied agronomy at the University of Chile. In the late 1960s he return ...

the forest is one of

mesophyte Mesophytes are terrestrial plants which are neither adapted to particularly dry nor particularly wet environments. An example of a mesophytic habitat would be a rural temperate meadow, which might contain goldenrod, clover, oxeye daisy, and ''Rosa m ...

s on the transition zone of

temperate rain forests Temperate rainforests are coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rain forests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rain forests of North American Pa ...

. José San Martín and

Claudio Donoso Claudio Donoso Zegers (died 22 March 2021) was a Chilean forester, teacher and professor emeritus at the Austral University of Chile in Valdivia. Donoso was among the first to define the different forest types of Chile when he released the book ''T ...

identify three forest subtypes: *''Nothofagus glauca'' forests *''

Nothofagus antarctica ''Nothofagus antarctica'' (''Antarctic beech''; in Spanish ''Ñire'' or ''Ñirre'') is a deciduous tree or shrub native to southern Chile and Argentina from about 36°S to Tierra del Fuego (56° S), where it grows mainly in the diminishing tempe ...

'' forests *''Nothofagus alessandri'' forest Maulino forest stand out for its high degree of

endemism Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

Fragmentation and degradation

Large swathes of former Maulino forest were cleared for agriculture. This led to significant

soil erosion Soil erosion is the denudation or wearing away of the upper layer of soil. It is a form of soil degradation. This natural process is caused by the dynamic activity of erosive agents, that is, water, ice (glaciers), snow, air (wind), plants, and ...

before the areas were planted with ''

Eucalyptus globulus ''Eucalyptus globulus'', commonly known as southern blue gum or blue gum, is a species of tall, evergreen tree endemic to southeastern Australia. This ''Eucalyptus'' species has mostly smooth bark, juvenile leaves that are whitish and waxy on ...

'' and ''

Pinus radiata ''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 ...

''. Fragmentation by plantations have had limited or no apparent effect on the native fauna of understory birds (

tapaculo The tapaculos or tapacolos are a family, Rhinocryptidae, of small suboscine passerine birds, found mainly in South America and with the highest diversity in the Andean regions. Three species ( Chocó, Tacarcuna, and the silvery-fronted) are ...

s) and

epigeic Epigeal, epigean, epigeic and epigeous are biological terms describing an organism's activity above the soil surface. In botany, a seed is described as showing epigeal germination when the cotyledons of the germinating seed expand, throw off th ...

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

s. It has been suggested the fragmentation by plantations do not have any major impact if the plantations contain an adequate

understory In forestry and ecology, understory (American English), or understorey (Commonwealth English), also known as underbrush or undergrowth, includes plant life growing beneath the forest canopy without penetrating it to any great extent, but abov ...

. However, the diversity of small mammals has been reduced by fragmentation. By unit area the tree species richness is greater in small Maulino forest fragments than in the larger fragment protected in

Los Queules National Reserve Los Queules National Reserve is a national reserve of Chile. It covers an area of 1.47 km2 in the Chilean Coastal Range. The reserve ranges from 400 to 500 meters in elevation.Hinojosa, L. F., Armesto, J. J., & Villagrán, C. (2006). Are Chilean C ...

. While fragmented Maulino forest have been to some degree invaded by exotic species these fragments are still valuable for their native species diversity. In view of this researchers Pablo I. Becerra and Javier A. Simonetti fragmentation is a lesser evil compared with the replacement of Maulino forest.

References

{{reflist Geography of Biobío Region Geography of Maule Region Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests Valdivian temperate rainforest * *