Viaje a terreno la Region de Coquimbo
We flew to La Serena on the Tuesday the 12th of August and hooked up with Bernardo who had rented a 4×4 pickup for the field trip. On Wednesday (13.08.2008) we drove down to the first sampling site at Caleta Chigualoco (CHI, 31°45′24.7″S, 071°30′33.8″W). This was one of the most accessible sites on this trip being right next to the Ruta 5. The site is a wide bay with an intermediate beach with a significant admixture of pebbles. The rocky platform was at the southern end of the beach. It was a patchwork of musselbeds (Perumytilus purpuratus) and algae. It was also notable for a diverse assemblage of chitons.
The platform at Caleta Chigualoco (CHI).
We stayed in Los Villos overnight and on Thursday went to sample at Caleta Oscuro (OSC, 31°25′22.7″S, 071°35′35.0″W). The entrance to Caleta Oscuro is not obvious but we found it eventually. Caleta Oscuro is a protected bay with a reflective beach consisting mainly of cobbles and pebbles, but with some sand. The rocky shore site, southern end of the beach, consists of large boulders and is dominated by algae. Musselbeds and barnacles were absent.
Beach and rocky shore at Caleta Oscuro (OSC).
We stayed a second night in Los Villos and on Friday headed north to sample at Caleta Sierra (SIE, 31°08′46.2″S, 071°39′46.2″W). This site was even harder to find than Caleta Oscuro and we spent a while driving backwards and forwards along Ruta 5 looking for the turn off. We eventually found it and set of along a dirt road which ended in a series of harpins down the side of a steep quebrada. The site was similar to Caleta Oscuro, but not as protected and with more cobbles and pebbles on the reflective beach. The rocky shore, northern end of the beach, was narrow and almost vertical, and again was dominated by algae with no musselbeds and only a few barnacles.
The beach and rocky shore at Caleta Sierra (SIE).
On Friday night we stayed in a cabaña in La Serena as Bernardo’s brother was in town and there was “no room at the inn”. Saturday confirmed my belief that I am a rain god. I’ve been to Coquimbo twice in the last three years and on both occasions it pissed with rain. In the end it turned out to be a good thing. Our next site was at Totoralillo (TOR, 30°04′23.6″S, 071°21′31.8″W) just to the south of Coquimbo. This is a major tourist beach and we were there on a Saturday of a long weekend, if it hadn’t been raining it would have be full of people. But the rain kept all but the most dedicated surfers away allowing us to work in peace. The sandy beach was intermediate-dissaptive. The rocky shore consisted almost entirely of cobbles and boulders, but was interesting none the less as it was a different kind of habitat to that normally sampled.
The beach at Totoralillo (TOR).
We were accompanied on the final two sites by Bernardo (Broitman, CEAZA). On Sunday we went to the mouth of the Río Limarí (LIM, 30°44′09.2″S, 071°42′03.2″W). The sandy beach is intermediate-dissapative in character with the river channel crossing the beach at the northern end. At the rocky shore we discovered that we were not the only researchers working that day and had to compete for transect space with phycologists from the Universidad Catolica in Santiago. The rocky site was a mixture of bedrock and boulders/cobbles, again dominated by algae with no musselbeds and few barnacles.
The beach at the Boca del Limarí (LIM).
Our final site of this trip was to Caleta Totoral (TOT, 30°21′52.9″S, 071°40′09.5″W). This site is located on the exposed coast between Punta Aldea and Punta Lengua de Vaca. To get there we had to get permission to cross a Navy firing range. Because this area has restricted access you can see how the local biome looks unmolested by development.
The terrain near Caleta Totoral (TOT).
The site itself was an exposed bay, the beach was extremely reflective consisting mainly of pebbles with sand present only in certain areas of the mid and low intertidal. The rocky shore was located at the north end of the beach and consisted mainly of bedrock with narrow channels filled with boulders and coarse sand. The site was again dominated by algae including the presence of Macrocystis integrifolia in the low intertidal.
The rocky shore at Caleta Totoral (TOT) with the beach beyond.
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