The breathtaking temperate forests of Chile

I have just returned from a week in the Valdivia region of Chile, as part of a collaboration with the Universidad Austral de Chile funded by the Chilean Government funding agency CONCYT. This is a collaboration led by my host Antonio Lara (professor at the Universidad Austral), with a key part played by Rocío Urrutia, who is in the final months of her DPhil at Oxxford working on the carbon dynamics and historical responses of growth in the unique Fitzroya forests of this region. Southern Chile is a spectacular and lush green land , washed by frequent rains that roll in from the Pacific and into the coastal and Andean mountain ranges (though I have been blessed by perfect blue skies and bright sunshine on both my visits here). And everywhere you go you get the occasional and unexpected glimpse of perfect volcanic cones, that line up neatly along the length of this region. Here are a selection of photos of this landscape and this project (from both last week and from my previous visit in March 2012).