**Acknowledgements**

The authors are most grateful to the people of CONAF for their support during sampling campaigns in the north, in particular to Roberto Cruz, administrator of Los Flamencos Reserve. Kathy Dawson, Felipe González, Alejandro Cruz, and Marcos Cortés, also from CONAF, contributed in different ways. Manuel Silvestre shared his enthusiasm, experience, and knowledge of Chaxa lagoon. In Patagonia, Alejandra Silva, Administrator of the "Natural Monument Laguna de Los Cisnes," at the time we visited the place, facilitated activities in the lagoon. Dr. Pablo Gallardo, of the University of Magallanes, helped during our activities in the lagoons. Mauricio Quiroz (Universidad de Los Lagos) helped with several figures.

SR acknowledges the support from a Fondecyt (3170939) postdoctoral project of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile (CONICYT).

**71**

**Author details**

Gonzalo Gajardo\* and Stella Redón

Laboratory of Genetics, Aquaculture and Biodiversity, Department of Biological

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

Sciences and Biodiversity, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile

\*Address all correspondence to: ggajardo@ulagos.cl

provided the original work is properly cited.

*Hypersaline Lagoons from Chile, the Southern Edge of the World*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88438*

*Hypersaline Lagoons from Chile, the Southern Edge of the World DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.88438*

*Lagoon Environments around the World - A Scientific Perspective*

decisions in relation to these ecosystems.

monitoring.

**Acknowledgements**

This knowledge is useful for policymakers to take science-based management

4.The brine shrimp *Artemia,* a keystone taxon of hypersaline lagoons, is a model extremophile to study adaptation to critical life conditions, and some of these adaptations explain why the animal is an indicator of environmental quality and a predictor of waterbirds abundance. Thus, all the factors affecting *Artemia* fitness (gut microbiota, copepods, parasites, birds grazing pressure, and environmental quality) should be monitored. *Artemia* abundance depends on a delicate cascade of events that require careful long-term spatiotemporal

5.Two regionally endemic *Artemia* species occur in Chilean hypersaline lagoons separated by a latitudinal barrier, *A. franciscana* in Atacama Desert and *A. persimilis* in Patagonia. The former is widely distributed in the Americas (North, Central, South) and considered a species in expansion, whereas *A. persimilis* is restricted to southern latitudes in Chile and Argentina. Given the importance of *Artemia* as an indicator of environmental quality and a predictor of water-

6.Climatic oscillations in the hyperarid Atacama Desert along with water and brine diversion due to the large lithium exploitation based in Salar de Atacama are severe threats to hypersaline lagoons stability and hence to waterbird presence. Moreover, in a scenario of increased lithium demand to support electromobility how will Chile combine lithium exploitation with agreements

7.The Patagonian lagoons are yet less intervened but very sensitive to climatic conditions. They represent a special case of hypersaline lagoons where fresh-

The authors are most grateful to the people of CONAF for their support during sampling campaigns in the north, in particular to Roberto Cruz, administrator of Los Flamencos Reserve. Kathy Dawson, Felipe González, Alejandro Cruz, and Marcos Cortés, also from CONAF, contributed in different ways. Manuel Silvestre shared his enthusiasm, experience, and knowledge of Chaxa lagoon. In Patagonia, Alejandra Silva, Administrator of the "Natural Monument Laguna de Los Cisnes," at the time we visited the place, facilitated activities in the lagoon. Dr. Pablo Gallardo,

SR acknowledges the support from a Fondecyt (3170939) postdoctoral project of the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research of Chile

of the University of Magallanes, helped during our activities in the lagoons. Mauricio Quiroz (Universidad de Los Lagos) helped with several figures.

birds abundance, these species need further studies.

on biodiversity and wetlands conservation?

water lakes of glacier origin abound.

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(CONICYT).
