| dc.description.abstracteng | Mountain forests in northern Patagonia are exposed to rapid climatic changes, with increasing
temperatures, changing precipitation regimes, and more frequent and severe extreme events
threatening their current structure and resilience. Understanding these short- and long-term
dynamics requires integrating climate information across scales: from macroclimatic datasets
that inform broad biogeographic analyses to microclimatic measurements that capture the
conditions organisms directly experience. This dissertation addresses how macroclimatic and
microclimatic modelling can be combined to improve ecological assessments in mountainous
forest landscapes, focusing on the Río Puelo watershed of northern Patagonia.
Three empirical studies form the core of this work. The first compares two widely used high-
resolution climate datasets (CHELSA v2.1 and WorldClim v2.1), showing substantial
differences in precipitation estimates and associated bioclimatic classifications, with direct
implications for how forest distribution may be projected under future climate scenarios. The
second develops spatial models of microclimatic variability based on a dense network of in-
situ sensors combined with remote sensing, as well as weather station and reanalysis data.
Results highlight the strong and dynamic influence of vegetation structure and topographic
position on forest microclimates, affecting both near-ground and sub-canopy (2 m) temperature
and moisture conditions, and demonstrate the feasibility of modelling these patterns at 30 m
resolution. The third study examines microclimatic buffering during summer heat extremes,
revealing that forest structure and elevation consistently reduce maximum temperatures and
moderate diurnal warming and cooling rates, while slope orientation exerts weaker and more
variable effects. Importantly, buffering strength increases under extreme heat, underscoring
the temperature-sensitive character of microclimatic regulation.
Taken together, the findings show that the regions of highest ecological sensitivity are also
those where climate representation is most uncertain, and where fine scale vegetation and
topographic features exert the greatest influence on local conditions. By integrating
macroclimatic uncertainty with microclimatic evidence, this dissertation advances conceptual
and methodological links between climate and ecosystem research across scales. The results
have direct implications for modelling species distributions, understanding forest regeneration
dynamics, and informing ecosystem-based management strategies in the fire prone temperate
forests of northern Patagonia. Beyond the case study region, the work shows how combining
climate data across scales supports more robust evaluations of climate–ecosystem
relationships in mountainous terrain. It also provides a framework that can be applied to other
forested landscapes where microclimatic processes are critical for resilience. Finally, it
highlights the need to account for both uncertainty in global climate products and the buffering
capacity of local ecosystems when assessing biodiversity responses to climate change. | de |