Comparison of the zooplankton community structure of two lagoons in an urban park in the city of Santiago de Chile, before and after the period of visitor restriction due to the Covid19 pandemic. ; Comparación en la estructura de la comunidad de zooplancton de dos lagunas de un parque urbano de la ciudad de Santiago de Chile, antes y después del período de restricción de visitantes, producto de la pandemia por Covid19. ; Comparação da estrutura da comunidade zooplanctónica de duas lagoas de um parque urbano na cidade de Santiago do Chile, antes e depois do período de restrição de visitantes devido à pandemia de Covid-19.

This research began in 2019 in two lagoons of an urban park in the city of Santiago, with the purpose of quantifying the change in the zooplankton community over a period of time. With the closure of the park during the pandemic in 2021, we asked the following question: How does the closure of the lagoons to visitors affect the structure of the zooplankton community? These two ecosystems are subject to seasonal conditions and the anthropic impact typical of an urban park. With a group of students, we took water samples before and after the pandemic and compared them. For each plankton species, we measured population density, calculated diversity indicators, recorded temperature, and measured transparency. Finally, we compared the seasonal dynamics with the Plankton Ecologists Model (PEG Model, by Ulrich Sommer). In both lagoons, plankton abundance increased post-pandemic, but diversity only partially increased as predicted, and the community behavior only partially matched the PEG model. Quantifying and analyzing plankton dynamics allows us to understand how an ecosystem responds to environmental factors, such as climate change. The projections are to use these lagoons as an ecological model to understand other limnetic systems in central Chile. Finally, it should be emphasized that understanding how global climate change affects different ecosystems is an ethical imperative in the context of science education in our schools. ; Esta investigación se inició el año 2019, en dos lagunas de un parque urbano de la ciudad de Santiago, con el propósito de cuantificar el cambio de la comunidad de zooplancton durante un período de tiempo. Frente al cierre del parque durante la pandemia, el año 2021 nos surgió la siguiente pregunta ¿Cómo el cierre de las lagunas a los visitantes afecta la estructura de la comunidad zooplanctónica? Estos dos ecosistemas están sometidos a condiciones estacionales y al impacto antrópico propio de un parque urbano. Con un grupo de estudiantes tomamos muestras de agua en prepandemia y post ...