Peracarida of Bernardo O’Higgins National Park (S Chile)

Study Extent

Bernardo O’Higgins National Park (henceforward BONP) is placed in the Chilean geopolitical regions of Aysén and Magallanes, between 48.0–51.6°S and 73.3–75.8°W, in the central part of the the Chilean Fjords and Channels Ecoregion (Spalding et al., 2007), and adjacent to the Southern Ice Fields. The intricate geomorphology of the coastline, together with the freshwater inputs from the ice fields provide to the area very unique ecological characteristics and variety of habitats that favour a great marine biodiversity (Aravena et al., 2018).

Sampling

The rocky sublittoral bottoms of the Channels and fjords of the BONP were sampled between January and March 2010, in two cruises onboard the vessel MV Nueva Galicia with the objective of characterizing and mapping the benthic communities. The data pertaining the mollusc faunas were published in Aldea et al. (2011), and a taxonomic study of some of the Tanaidacea species can be found in Esquete et al. (2012). A total of 23 sites were sampled with SCUBA: Samples consisted in five replicate squares of 25×25 cm (0.063 m2) that were scrapped off all the organisms (in-cluding fauna and smaller algae), but not the kelps. Two samples were taken at both 5 and 15 m depth at each site (totalling 10 squares per site).

Method steps

1. Samples were fixed in 5% buffered formalin and subsequently sorted, preserved in 70% alcohol, and finally the organisms identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level.

The organisms identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level.

1. Arthropoda
   rank: phylum
2. Amphipoda
   rank: order
3. Isopoda
   rank: order
4. Tanaidacea
   rank: order
5. Crustacea
   rank: subphylum
6. Malacostraca
   rank: class
7. Amphilochidae
   rank: family
8. Ampithoidae
   rank: family
9. Aoridae
   rank: family
10. Atylidae
    rank: family
11. Calliopiidae
    rank: family
12. Chaetiliidae
    rank: family
13. Colomastigidae
    rank: family
14. Corophiidae
    rank: family
15. Dexaminidae
    rank: family
16. Eusiridae
    rank: family
17. Hyalidae
    rank: family
18. Iphimediidae
    rank: family
19. Ischyroceridae
    rank: family
20. Janiridae
    rank: family
21. Leptocheliidae
    rank: family
22. Leucothoidae
    rank: family
23. Liljeborgiidae
    rank: family
24. Lysianassidae
    rank: family
25. Nototaidae
    rank: family
26. Pardaliscidae
    rank: family
27. Photidae
    rank: family
28. Phoxocephalidae
    rank: family
29. Pontogeneiidae
    rank: family
30. Spaheromatidae
    rank: family
31. Stegocephalidae
    rank: family
32. Stenetriidae
    rank: family
33. Stenothoidae
    rank: family
34. Synopiidae
    rank: family
35. Talitridae
    rank: family
36. Tanaididae
    rank: family
37. Tryphosidae
    rank: family
38. Uristidae
    rank: family

Bernardo O’Higgins National Park is placed in the Chilean geopolitical regions of Aysén and Magallanes, between 48.0–51.6°S and 73.3–75.8°W, in the central part of the the Chilean Fjords and Channels Ecoregion, and adjacent to the Southern Ice Fields. The intricate geomorphology of the coastline, together with the freshwater inputs from the ice fields provide to the area very unique ecological characteristics and variety of habitats that favour a great marine biodiversity.