“Effect on the biodiversity of freshwater insects of glacial melt and altitude in the context of climate change”, is the name of the project led by the academic of the Faculty of Sciences of the Catholic University of the Santísima Concepción (UCSC), Dr. Maribet Gamboa.
This is a scientific exchange initiative carried out by the Erasmus+KA171 project and is in collaboration with Dr. Dávid Murányi from Eszterházy Károly Catholic University, Hungary, which seeks to increase internationalization, through funding from the European State.
“Students will move between both countries, in this case it would be with Hungary. I have been working with David for several years, on different projects. He is a taxonomist and ecologist, and I contribute the genetics part to answer different types of questions in collaborative work,” explained Dr. Maribet Gamboa.
In different parts of the world, both have studied the subject. Insects are associated with altitude and climate change, they already have studies in the United States, Europe and Asia. Now it would be Chile’s turn, with the idea of achieving a global comparison.
“The idea of the project is for a UCSC student to travel to Hungary for a month and one from there to visit Concepción. The study location has yet to be determined, but it will probably be somewhere in the mountains, close to a river,” he added.
In this way, the project will extend until 2026. It is estimated that the research topic was destined for an undergraduate thesis.
Freshwater insects are indicators of climate change, hence their importance. “They are closely associated with environmental change, whether in temperature, humidity or some factor in the river. They are the first to give us an alert. We are studying whether the presence or absence of that individual is due to an increase in temperature due to climate change,” explained Dr. Gamboa regarding the objective of the study.
Insects are part of the salmon diet, which is why it also has an implication in the economy and human diet. Part of the indicators to study are atmospheric temperature, water temperature, and water components such as nitrite or nitrate, organic matter and even the amount of snow.
“We want to promote internationalization in the Faculty of Sciences. To achieve this, student exchange helps them get to know new places and work spaces, in addition to getting to know different realities. That also gives us a new vision, seeing how others work and complementing our work,” the researcher emphasized.
In this way, due to the collaboration of both academics, there is already data on freshwater insects in Hungary, Germany, the United States and Japan. Currently there are no studies linked to South America, so Chile would be the first Latin American country to be studied.
“It is the first step to apply the techniques learned in other similar projects. We want to compare what happens in the north, center and south of Chile,” concluded Dr. Maribet Gamboa.