Special Report: Climate Change and Galapagos
The Galapagos Islands are at the cutting edge of science again – this time as the unfortunate bellwether for global warming and its destructive effects on marine and coastal ecosystems.
A recent article in the journal, Global Change Biology, reports that the warming of waters in the Galapagos by El Niño events, compounded by the unrestrained harvesting of sea life, has brought about devastating changes. It has led to the disappearance or threat of extinction of 45 species in Galapagos, including five mammals, six birds, five reptiles, six fishes, and seven corals. Among those threatened are the Mangrove Finch, Galapagos Sea Lion, Marine Iguana, and Galapagos Penguin.
The report follows a major scientific meeting convened last year by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment, the Galapagos National Park Service, Conservation International, World Wildlife Fund and other organizations. The aim was to assess the Galapagos’ vulnerability to climate change.
It found that the 1982 El Niño event, in particular, warmed Galapagos’ waters by several degrees, wiping out large areas of coral and kelp beds. The Galapagos Damsel (Azurina eupalama), once common, was not sighted after 1983. Galapagos Penguins declined to a critical level and are now within ”a hairsbreadth of annihilation.”
Compounding the effects of the 1982 and subsequent El Niño’s has been the massive and unsustainable harvesting of lobsters, sea cucumbers, and large predatory fish. This overfishing increased the population of sea urchins, which overgrazed corals and prevented their recovery.
Sylvia Earle, a leading authority on the world’s oceans, and one of the report’s co-authors, wrote,
“Nowhere on Earth are the combined impacts of climate change and overfishing more clearly defined than in the Galapagos Islands where unique assemblages of wildlife live on the sharp edge of change. Decades of data link recent fishing pressures to disruption of the islands’ fine-tuned systems, making them more vulnerable to natural – and anthropogenic changes in climate.”
Gabriel Lopez, Executive Director of the Charles Darwin Foundation, states,
“It is almost certain El Nino events will be more frequent, more intense” and could have a “devastating impact on the island’s endemic species like sea lions and marine iguanas.”
The report emphasized that Galapagos is a canary in the coal mine, a preview of what will happen to the world’s marine and coastal ecosystems as sea temperatures rise.
Report co-author, Professor Les Kaufmann from Boston University said,
“The Galapagos, the Rosetta Stone of evolution, is now teaching us the far-reaching impacts of climate change on ocean ecosystems. Though too late to stop, we now know that the impacts of climate change can be softened by cutting back on fishing. The wildlife we eat today was part of the inner workings of an ecosystem which was under stress from global climate change and when these ecosystems are damaged, species and livelihoods can vanish in a heartbeat.”
See also:
Galapagos: the “Rosetta Stone of Evolution” faces devastation from climate change and fishing
Galapagos Islands are transformed
Wildlife of Galapagos Islands ‘devastated by ocean warming’