Diversity and Beauty

Diversity and beauty are both in the eye of the observer and in the biophysical world. Often, very small and large objects are overlooked by humans. This section guides readers to appreciate the diversity of small organisms that form the microcosm in the biosphere, and very large and distant objects in the macrocosm of outer space.

Switch between the microcosm and macrocosm perspectives by clicking on the circles below.

The original virtual exhibition includes the option to switch between the microcosm and macrocosm within the individual chapters (see screenshot below).

Here we present the subchapters one after the other.

Small Is Beautiful

In the northwest arm of the Beagle Channel, we find subantarctic rainforests dominated primarily by the evergreen beech (Nothofagus betuloides) and accompanied by the winter’s bark (Drimys winteri) and low deciduous beech (Nothofagus antarctica). The trunks of these trees are covered by thick carpets of liverworts, mosses, and lichens. The floor of these forests is often covered by the devil’s strawberry (Gunnera magellanica), a small vascular plant that plays a critical ecological role in nitrogen fixation. If we use a hand lens to look closer at these luscious living carpets, we will marvel at the variety of textures, forms, and colors of the foliage of the diverse and beautiful mosses, liverworts, and lichens.

This picture, taken at the southeast peninsula of Horn Island, shows how at the extreme south of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve, subantarctic forests grow only on slopes or cliffs that are protected from the strong winds. Photograph by Ricardo Rozzi, n.d..

Inside the forests, the floor is covered by liverworts of genera like Schistochila (green) and Gackstroemia (brunette) that have beautiful foliage and unique reproductive structures such as the gemma cups on a thallus of Marchantia berteroana. Photograph by Kristin Hoelting, n.d.

Small Is Essential

Lichens receive the nickname of “ecosystem pioneers” due to their ability to colonize bare rocks and produce fertile soil. This process is critical in the glaciers of the Cape Horn Biosphere Reserve (CHBR). Lichens that contain cyanobacteria have the capacity to fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. In this manner they act as natural fertilizers for the soils. These processes facilitate the ecological succession that begins with the colonization of bare rocks by some mosses and lichens, which penetrate the rocks and form the first soil, thereby promoting the ecological succession followed by the colonization of grasses. In turn, these small plants generate the necessary substrate for the establishment of shrubs and trees. In this way, the little mosses and lichens have been ecologically essential for the establishment of the subantarctic forests in the archipelagoes of Cape Horn after the retreat of glaciers.

Processes of colonization and soil formation are extremely slow, requiring tens or hundreds of years. However, these processes begin immediately when rocks are uncovered, even when they are still semi-submerged in glacier ponds. Photograph by Ricardo Rozzi, n.d.

When we walk outwards from the glacier front, we can notice rocks that have been free of ice cover for a longer period of time. These rocks are covered by more lichens and mosses and are higher in species richness. Photograph by Ricardo Rozzi, n.d.

Small Is Diverse

In Cape Horn, the forests are very different from the rest of the world. The diversity of trees is very low. We find only six species: three low trees (winter’s bark [Drimys winteri], pickwood [Maytenus magellanica], and the firebush [Embothrium coccineum]) and three tall tree species of beeches (the evergreen beech [Nothofagus betuloides], high deciduous beech [N. pumilio], and low deciduous beech [N. antarctica]. However, if we use a hand lens and look at the little flora, we will discover that on a single tree we can find over a hundred species of liverworts, mosses, and lichens growing on its trunk and branches.

If we examine the trunk and branches of the old tree with a hand lens, we are able to distinguish the luscious and rich diversity of the “miniature forests” formed by foliose liverworts, smooth velvet-like mosses (Lepyrodon lagurus), “hairy” mosses (Dicranoloma sp.), branchy mosses (Acrocladium auriculatum), foliose lichens (Pseudocyphellaria spp., Peltigera sp.), fruticose lichens (Cladonia spp.), and crustose lichens (Calicium sp., Chrysothrix sp.). Photograph by Oliver Vogel, n.d.

On the interpretive trail of the Omora Ethnobotanical Park, we find this large high deciduous beech (Nothofagus pumilio), which is a one-hundred-year-old tree with a large lateral branch. Photograph by Ricardo Rozzi, n.d.

The evergreen Magellanic rainforest in the subantarctic Magellanic ecoregion harbors at least 450 species of mosses and 368 species of liverworts. Hence, at least 818 bryophyte species of the 15,000 species that were known to science until 2008 grow at the southern extreme of South America. This ecoregion represents less than 0.01 percent of the terrestrial surface of the planet but contains more than 5 percent of all the little plants or bryophytes of the world. For this reason, the region of Cape Horn has been identified as a world “biodiversity hotspot.”

Switch between the microcosm and macrocosm perspectives by clicking on the circles above.