Galapagos El Niño Events

The environment around us carries the scar caused by global warming. Precipitation has increased across the globe, which has consequently caused more frequent floods, an increase in sea levels, and a higher frequency of strong storms. Lakes are drying up, islands are virtually dropping into the ocean, and the polar ice caps are disappearing. The planet is truly in peril. This paper will focus on three regions of the Earth in particular: Antarctica, the Amazon Rainforest, and the Great Barrier Reef. More specifically, it will examine the extent of the impact that global warming has had on each region..

Over the last several years, evolution has been playing an increasingly important role in determining how various species are evolving. This is because ecology will have an impact on how quickly a particular organism is able to adapt (with: the unique challenges for a particular environment). To determine the effect that this is having requires carefully examining different species over the course of many years. This will be accomplished by comparing these changes on Darwin and Wallace Islands. Once this occurs, is when specific insights will be provided that are highlighting the underlying challenges affecting the development of organisms. This is the point that these transformations will be evident among the various life forms. (Fasolo, 2011, pp. 53 68)

Adaptive radiation of different organisms have occurred throughout geological time through the filling of ecological niches. Organisms different from one another are capable of radiating greatly, as they evolve traits that allow them to thrive better in their environment. The Anolis lizards of the Caribbean islands are a great example of a single genus to have radiated not once, but multiple times through very similar mechanisms. Different populations of the Anolis phenotypically vary in their morphological traits to facilitate adaptation to particular niches. These phenotypic variations have evolved in convergence in more than one occasion, as recently discovered fossil specimens show similar patterns in morphology to modern Anolis.

In the article “Climate change in Hawaii and U.S Tropical islands” written by EPA, informs the audience that island communities and ecosystems face uncertainty as a result of the negative effects brought on by one of the most controversial topics debated today. Climate change. Islands, like Hawaii, Guam, and the Caribbean, are most vulnerable to the harsh effects of climate change. The reason for this is because islands are small and the way their infrastructures are set up make communities almost directly affected. One of the most important things that are affected is the weather. In areas where precipitation was generous, rainfall is actually decreasing while drier areas see an increase in rainfall. Less precipitation also means less available water resources because

The poop of the Galapagos Penguin fertilizes the land allowing for the healthy growth of plants which are consumed by other animals that live on the islands. If the Galapagos Penguin became extinct, it could possibly cause the extermination of local plants such as the “Ulva” leading to the extinction of the animals which rely on them. These include the “Parrot Fish”, Sally Lightfoot Crabs, “Five-Spotted Anthia” as well as many more species of land and sea

Climatic changes are expected to change species distributions, phenologies, interspecific interactions, community composition, and ecosystem function (Schneider & Root 2002). Many of these impacts have already been observed (Parmesan 2006). In California’s San Joaquin Valley, temperatures are projected to be warmer in both winter and summer, with a mean annual increase of 1.4–2.0°C by 2070 (PRBO Conservation Science 2011). Additionally, precipitation is projected to decrease (-9% to -30%), although there is a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the magnitude of the precipitation changes (PRBO Conservation Science 2011). Summer heat waves are projected to become longer and hotter, and droughts more severe (Garfin et al. 2012).

The Galapagos Islands consists of thirteen major islands and over a hundred smaller islands located along the Ecuadorian coast. The islands are home to a variety of unique species such as sea lions, sharks, rays, and 26 different species of native birds. Thirteen of these birds are Darwin’s finches. These finches are known to be the “world’s fastest-evolving vertebrates” due to their bodies quickly adapting to the rapidly changing environment (Robertson, N.D. , para.1). Their DNA chemical makeup causes these adaptations to occur. The finch’s most noticeable feature is their evolutionary adaptations, due to the briskly changing environments.

“Penguin responses to climate change in the Southern Ocean” by Jaume Forcada and Philip N. Trathan (2009) was a study conducted to analyze and predict the migrating patterns of different species of penguins due to changes in climate. (p. 1618) Also, Forcada and Trathan investigate whether or not certain species of penguins possess phenotypic plasticity (the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to changes in the environment) (p. 1618).

Climate change is one of the most important challenges of humankind in this century. The ability to adapt, mitigate and reduce carbon emissions will be decisive to preserve the world for future generations. The last IPCC report has provided more evidence regarding the rise in temperature and sea level. Apparently, additional 2°C above the pre-industrial average temperature levels is unavoidable, and it will continue at that level due the accumulation of gases in the atmosphere (Solomon 2009). Climate change will affect people all around the world in different ways, though the capacity to cope with it is different among regions and countries. The Latin America region is notably susceptible to climate change, due its geographical position, population location and its economy relying in natural resources (Vergara et. al. 2013a). The withdrawal of the coral biome, glaciers melting, jungles & forest savannization and strongest climate events are only some of the threats that will affect their inhabitants.

Steno received a large shark and he observed that his shark had hundreds of teeth and the new teeth formed continually as old teeth wore down and fell out. The number of glossopetrae from malta no longer foreclosed to an origin in the shark’s mouth even under Mosaic chronology. Steno came to the conclusion that glossopetrae are fossil shark teeth because he made better observations. In July of 1981 a ship was going to the Galapagos Islands. Louis Agassiz was a naturalist in the nineteenth century America. He was Darwin’s contemporary and died in 1873. Agassiz visited the Galapagos Island a year before he died. On December 1871 in Boston the Hassler left and moved down the eastern coast of South America. On July 12, 1872 Darwin reached the

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words” (Anna Sewell). There is undeniable evidence that animals are being affected by climate change. Even though the effects are difficult to measure, there are many different ways animals are being affected. With the loss of predator and prey species it affects the life cycles in the food chain. The earth’s climate change causes habitats such as snow, ice, or forest areas to alter, resulting in loss of habitat and food accessibility as well as causing extinction.

The Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean at 960 km to the west of mainland South America. The total area of the ecoregion is 7,882 km2 and encompasses 13 islands larger than 10 km2, 19 larger than 1 km2, 42 islets smaller than 1 km2 and at least 26 emergent rocks. The water currents that surround the islands influence in the climate. From May to December prevails the Garúa (misty) or dry season as a result of the cool Humboldt Current influence. In this season the temperature is cool, there are mist and drizzling rain called garúa. The hot and wet season is in the rest of the year and are the result of the influence of the warm Panama current. Heavier rainfall and warmer temperatures appear in this season. The precipitations in

From causing erosion to threatening the survival of endemic flora and fauna, the effects of this invasion were deeply felt in the Galapagos Islands, a volcanic archipelago of nineteen islands situated in the Pacific Ocean, about one-thousand kilometers from the Ecuadorian coast. After they were first introduced in the archipelago, the conditions of the ecosystem unfortunately yielded a massive increase in reproduction rates for goats―up to 10-35% per year. Specifically, due to two factors: the lack of the main predators―such as coyotes, dogs, mountain lions, foxes, eagles, and bobcats―of domestic goats, and the presence of large areas of grasslands and abundant vegetation on the islands.

While on the Galápagos Islands, Darwin kept notebooks about all the species there, and he noticed the variety of tortoises on the island who were essential in explaining his theory of evolution. There are several species of tortoise present on the Galápagos Islands that are all very closely related, but slightly different. There are eleven presently surviving subspecies of Galápagos tortoises; furthermore, six of the eleven are found on different islands in the archipelago, and the other five are all found on a single island on five separate volcanoes with their own mini-ecosystems (PNAS). Although all of the species of Galápagos tortoise is different, they each have small differences that can include maximum adult size, shell shape, and the length of the neck and limbs. The tortoises of the islands are most closely related to the Chaco tortoises along the western coast of South America, and they most likely came to the Galápagos by “rafting” across the water (PNAS). Similar to the tortoises, Darwin observed that the Finches on the islands also had changed to match the environment. Spread among the islands were fourteen subspecies of finch whose

Global warming is a major problem when providing a suitable habitat and lifestyle for ample marine life. With sea levels rising there are consequences to plant life in coastal wetlands that can not handle the amount of water being provided. The wetlands are important in their job to protect the species they contain and for stabilizing coastlines. Storms are increasing in magnitude and severity, causing the transport of nutrients to marine life to be disturbed. As shores move further inland animals will have to move and adapt, history has shown how this can decrease populations. In the future both rare and abundant species could become locally extinct, with rare species on the verge of becoming totally extinct.