Summer Program at Universidad de Magallanes and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

The course is focused on the development of competencies for the forests study and their relationships to the climate in two opposed ecosystems and the high sensibility to Climate Change in South America: the sclerophyllous forests of Mediterranean Climate and the Sub-Antartic Forests of Cold Template Climate of Patagonia. The main tool applied during the course is the Dendrology, which is the study of growing rings of the trees. Students can analyze the case studies in central Chile and the Chilean Patagonia.

In addition, students will be able to learn the different kind of forests in South America and to about tree selections and places where dendrological studies can be used. Also the students will gain information on how to use the tools and the methodology to obtain the sample. In the lab they will learn to process these samples and gather their information. The practice exercises about the effect to the weather variations in the forests and their relevance in obtaining records to understand the weather in the past will have special focus during the program.