**6. Current threats and future perspective**

A serious problem to conserve the biodiversity of hypersaline lagoons in Salar de Atacama or Patagonia is to make it visible to policymakers, miners, ecotourists, birdwatchers, and even to people from the local communities controlling the access to lagoons, as it is the case in the north. However, a practical way of raising awareness on the relevance of these lagoons is aquatic birds' conservation [73]. That is why we have emphasized the relationship between hypersaline

**69**

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

lagoons dynamic, *Artemia*, and waterbird abundance. Indeed, particularly charismatic species like flamingos inhabit hypersaline wetlands in the Altiplano (**Figure 5**), some of which are considered endangered [74–76]. Three South American flamingo species occur associated with these wetlands: Puna flamingo (*Phoenicoparrus jamesi*), Andean flamingo (*Phoenicoparrus andinus*), and Chilean flamingo (*Phoenicopterus chilensis*), the latter species is also abundant in hypersa-

As mentioned in the previous sections, hypersaline lakes and lagoons produce commercial services like salt extraction and brine shrimp cysts, as in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, the major cyst producer for aquaculture in the world. The lake is an example of good management to combine economic and noneconomic services like waterbird habitat [18]. However, mining is the cause of water and brine diversion and, together with climate oscillations, is the main driver accounting for the actual shrinking of hypersaline ecosystems around the world [19]. Lagoons of the Atacama Desert are indeed highly sensitive to the water budget in such a way that little changes can result in significant and amplified response in the physicochemical, ionic, and biological properties of the lagoons [8]. These lagoons are an integral part of the world largest lithium exploitation from brine (**Figure 5D**) [18, 37] pumped from beneath the surface of Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile. The water and brine diversion associated with lithium exploitation represent a significant volume per day and is expected to increase as lithium demand has soared to support the growing fleet of electric cars. Because of this, we have alerted on the need to protect these highly fragile ecosystems [18]. In this chapter, the role as a bioindicator of the ecosystem health of the brine shrimp *Artemia* has been highlighted, as this crustacean is also a predictor of waterbirds abundance. *Artemia* abundance or fitness depends on the combined effect of the environment (salinity or brine quality) [8], the microbial diversity in the *Artemia* gut and in brines [30], and controllers like copepods [71, 72], depending on the salinity, parasites [68–70], and waterbird grazing pressure. This is a delicate cascade of events that need to be monitored regularly to be understood in order to advance

1.Hypersaline lagoons from north and south of Chile hold unique prokaryotic and eukaryotic biodiversity adapted to cope with extreme conditions. Microbiological studies are, however, biased to lagoons in the Salar de Atacama for various reasons. They provide a diversity of habitats, ideal for studies of microbial ecology. The fact that the Atacama Desert is considered a terrestrial

2.Chilean hypersaline lagoons are a natural heritage as they contain a unique halophile biodiversity and provide waterbird habitat, a relevant noneconomic service, to local aquatic birds and some endangered long-distance, migratory species like flamingos and so are a matter of global concern and a flagship to raise awareness on the need to protect these ecosystems. Several Ramsar sites exist in the north, and Laguna Cisnes in Patagonia has been declared a natural

3.Hypersaline lagoons have relatively simple food web and so are kind of natural laboratories to understand how the ecosystem functions to attract waterbirds.

analog of Mars makes it a target area for astrobiologists.

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

line lagoons from the Chilean Patagonia [77].

science-based management decisions.

monument to protect waterbirds.

**7. Conclusions**

*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*

Amarga lagoon are the Black-necked swan *Cygnus melancoryphus*, Coscoroba swan *Coscoroba coscoroba*, upland goose *Chloephaga picta*, white-tufted grebe *Rollandia rolland*, and silvery grebe *Podiceps occipitalis* and several species of dabbling ducks. Cisnes lagoon is used mainly as feeding places by sandpipers and plovers (Charadriiformes) such as the White-rumped sandpiper *Calidris fuscicollis*, the Baird's sandpiper, Two-banded plover *Charadrius falklandicus*, Rufous-chested plover *Charadrius modestus*, and the Magellanic plover *Pluvianellus socialis*, a species near threatened at a global scale. Both lagoons include representatives of Anseriformes, such as the shelducks (Tadorninae) *Chloephaga rubidiceps* and *C. picta* and dabbling ducks (Anatinae) such as *Speculanas specularis* (near threatened), *Anas georgica*, *Lophonetta specularioides*, *Tachyeres patachonicus*, and *Mareca sibilatrix* [78]. Among Phoenicopteridae, the Chilean flamingo is abundant in Patagonian saline lagoons, being one of the main *Artemia* predators, and such abundance is likely to explain the abundance of flamingo parasites recorded in the

*Saline lagoons in northern Chile (Salar de Atacama) provide waterbird habitat, a relevant noneconomic service. (A) Flamingos. (B) Nests. (C) Nestlings. (D) Salar de Atacama is the epicenter of the world's largest lithium exploitation from brine pumped from beneath the Salar. The challenge ahead is how will both services coexist in a scenario of soaring lithium demand, and hence brine diversion, to support electromobility.*

A serious problem to conserve the biodiversity of hypersaline lagoons in Salar de Atacama or Patagonia is to make it visible to policymakers, miners, ecotourists, birdwatchers, and even to people from the local communities controlling the access to lagoons, as it is the case in the north. However, a practical way of raising awareness on the relevance of these lagoons is aquatic birds' conservation [73]. That is why we have emphasized the relationship between hypersaline

*Artemia* population from Los Cisnes lagoon [28].

**6. Current threats and future perspective**

**68**

**Figure 5.**

lagoons dynamic, *Artemia*, and waterbird abundance. Indeed, particularly charismatic species like flamingos inhabit hypersaline wetlands in the Altiplano (**Figure 5**), some of which are considered endangered [74–76]. Three South American flamingo species occur associated with these wetlands: Puna flamingo (*Phoenicoparrus jamesi*), Andean flamingo (*Phoenicoparrus andinus*), and Chilean flamingo (*Phoenicopterus chilensis*), the latter species is also abundant in hypersaline lagoons from the Chilean Patagonia [77].

As mentioned in the previous sections, hypersaline lakes and lagoons produce commercial services like salt extraction and brine shrimp cysts, as in the Great Salt Lake in Utah, the major cyst producer for aquaculture in the world. The lake is an example of good management to combine economic and noneconomic services like waterbird habitat [18]. However, mining is the cause of water and brine diversion and, together with climate oscillations, is the main driver accounting for the actual shrinking of hypersaline ecosystems around the world [19]. Lagoons of the Atacama Desert are indeed highly sensitive to the water budget in such a way that little changes can result in significant and amplified response in the physicochemical, ionic, and biological properties of the lagoons [8]. These lagoons are an integral part of the world largest lithium exploitation from brine (**Figure 5D**) [18, 37] pumped from beneath the surface of Salar de Atacama, the largest salt flat in Chile. The water and brine diversion associated with lithium exploitation represent a significant volume per day and is expected to increase as lithium demand has soared to support the growing fleet of electric cars. Because of this, we have alerted on the need to protect these highly fragile ecosystems [18]. In this chapter, the role as a bioindicator of the ecosystem health of the brine shrimp *Artemia* has been highlighted, as this crustacean is also a predictor of waterbirds abundance. *Artemia* abundance or fitness depends on the combined effect of the environment (salinity or brine quality) [8], the microbial diversity in the *Artemia* gut and in brines [30], and controllers like copepods [71, 72], depending on the salinity, parasites [68–70], and waterbird grazing pressure. This is a delicate cascade of events that need to be monitored regularly to be understood in order to advance science-based management decisions.
