Figure 1. Study site, climate and sampling sites in northern Chile.

Regional context of northern Chile showing location of the Salar de Atacama and adjacent Andes (right inset) and a digital elevation model indicating where our sampling sites (lower inset, colored dots) are along the Talabre-Lejía Transect (TLT). Isohyets are in the same corresponding color as the respective sampling sites. The software used to create the map was QGIS 2.10 with Openlayer plugin, STRM30⁵³,⁵⁴ elevation model (Data: SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO) and Landsat 8 Satellite image (Data available from the U.S. Geological Survey).