These 19 islands and the adjacent marine reserve, which are located in the Pacific Ocean around 1,000 km from South America, have been dubbed a special “living museum and a showcase of evolution.” The Galápagos Islands are a “melting pot” of marine species because they are situated where three ocean currents converge. The processes that created the islands are still visible in the ongoing seismic and volcanic activity. These processes, coupled with the island’s extreme isolation, contributed to the evolution of unusual animal life, including the land iguana, giant tortoise, and numerous species of finch, which, after Charles Darwin’s visit in 1835, served as inspiration for his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Overview
Around 1,000 kilometers from the coast of Ecuador, in the Pacific Ocean, are the Galapagos Islands. Its archipelago and its enormous marine reserve are referred to be a “living museum and exhibition of evolution” for their singularity. One of the richest marine ecosystems in the world, it is situated where three ocean currents converge. The processes that created the islands are still visible in the ongoing seismic and volcanic activity. These processes, combined with the island’s extreme isolation, led to the evolution of unusual plant and animal life, including marine iguanas, flightless cormorants, giant tortoises, enormous cacti, endemic trees, and numerous subspecies of mockingbirds and finches. After visiting the islands in 1835, Charles Darwin was inspired by these creatures to develop his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Ecology
Semi-desert vegetation, comprising shrublands, grasslands, and dry forests, covers the majority of the Galápagos Islands. A handful of the islands contain high-elevation regions with colder temperatures and heavier rainfall; these regions are home to humid-climate forests and shrublands, and the highest altitudes have montane grasslands (pampas). On the islands, there are over 500 kinds of native vascular plants, including 90 varieties of ferns. There are over 180 indigenous species of vascular plants.
The islands are well recognized for their unusual endemic species, which have adapted to the island habitats, such as giant tortoises, finches, flightless cormorants, Galápagos lava lizards, and marine iguanas.
Physical geography
The islands are situated 973 kilometers (605 miles) off the west coast of South America in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Moreover, the vast majority of islands are found in the South Pacific. They are located 926 kilometers (500 miles) to the east of mainland Ecuador, the nation to which they belong.
The geology of the archipelago starts at the ocean floor and emerges above the water, where biological processes still take place. At the bottom of the ocean, where three major tectonic plates—the Nazca, Cocos, and Pacific—meet, there is a great geological interest. The oldest islands, Espanola and San Cristóbal have been around for between three and five million years, while Isabela and Fernandina, the largest and youngest islands, have been around for less than a million years. This makes the Galapagos relatively young compared to most oceanic archipelagos. The location shows how the older islands in the east and the younger volcanic regions in the west have changed through time. Current geological and geomorphological processes, such as erosion, tiny seismic movements, and recent volcanic eruptions, offer crucial insights into the mystery surrounding the formation of the Galapagos Islands. The protection of such a comprehensive continuum of geological and geomorphological elements is provided by almost no other location in the world.
Galápagos Islands and marine life
Underwater biodiversity is in abundance in the Galapagos Marine Reserve, including corals, sharks, penguins, and marine mammals. No other location in the world can compare to the experience of diving with a variety of marine life that is so accustomed to humans that it follows divers. The variety of underwater geomorphological formations adds value to the location and creates a one-of-a-kind display that is unmatched worldwide.
Since Charles Darwin’s “Voyage of the Beagle” was published in 1839, people have been very interested in the origins of the flora and fauna of the Galapagos. The archipelago’s islands provide a unique illustration of how ecological, evolutionary, and biogeographic processes affect the flora and fauna on individual islands as well as throughout the entire group of islands. The mockingbirds, giant tortoises, land snails, Darwin’s finches, and many plant and insect species are only a few of the best examples of adaptive radiation that still occurs today. The Marine Reserve, which is positioned at the meeting point of three major eastern Pacific currents and is affected by climatic events like El Nio, has had significant evolutionary effects and offers crucial information about species evolution under variable conditions. It is abundantly clear that a large portion of the island’s species (such as seabirds, marine iguanas, and sea lions) directly depends on the sea, creating an unbreakable link between the terrestrial and marine realms.
The islands feature a very high species richness for such young marine islands and are home to iconic species like the Galapagos mockingbird and Darwin’s finch, the world’s most northern species of penguin, giant tortoises, and land iguanas. The huge daisy trees Scalesia spp. are examples of endemism. and numerous more genera, which are a part of the natural flora of the islands that include around 500 species of vascular plants, of which about 180 are indigenous, have also spread. Many endemic and endangered species include the only sea iguana in the world as well as 12 native terrestrial mammal species (11 indigenous, with 10 vulnerable or extinct), and 36 reptile species (all endemic and most considered threatened or extinct). With 2,909 marine species identified and 18.2% endemism, the marine fauna also exhibits an extraordinarily high level of diversity and endemism. Sharks, whale sharks, rays, and cetaceans are a few prominent marine species. Sea lions, marine and terrestrial iguanas, and seabird interactions between marine and terrestrial biotas are only a few examples of remarkable interconnections. Deep sea community exploration recently has added more knowledge to the scientific community.
- Marine Iguana: The world’s only sea iguana is one of the most well-known endemic species found in the Galapagos. Land iguanas are thought to have traveled across the ocean on South American logs millions of years ago. The iguanas developed a taste for the red and green algae that grew on the rocky Galapagos shores when they couldn’t locate other sources of food. Galapagos iguanas can now stay submerged for ten minutes. Because of this, they have unique glands that remove salt from their blood after diving. Visitors may see the salt “wigs” that form on their noses as a result.
The marine iguana population is in danger of going extinct. This is so that their eggs and young won’t be eaten by non-native predators like rats, cats, and dogs. Marine iguanas are therefore a protected species.
- Scalloped Hammerhead Shark: The most typical hammerhead shark is the scalloped hammerhead. Despite being a migratory species, they spend the entire year swimming in the waters of the Galapagos Islands. It’s exciting to note that the GMR is one of the few locations where divers can observe scalloped hammerhead sharks congregating in massive schools, often numbering over 100 at once. Why do people behave in this way? That solution is still a mystery, which is exciting. Shark Point is where you can watch the schooling sharks.
Scalloped hammerheads are caught both intentionally and incidentally during commercial and illegal fisheries operations. As a result, they are considered endangered. The GMR is not allowed to catch scalloped hammerhead sharks, though.
- Galapagos Penguin: One of the world’s tiniest penguins, the Galapagos penguin is native to the Galapagos Islands. With some colonies residing on the northern tip of Isabela in the Northern Hemisphere, it is the most northerly existing penguin species, breeding exclusively in the tropics. They are closely related to the burrow-dwelling African, Humboldt, and Magellanic penguins. Galapagos penguins reside in caves and cracks in the coastal lava since there is no soft peat on the islands for them to burrow in.
- Galapagos Fur Seals: The Galapagos Fur Seal is a marine mammal that is unique to the Galapagos Islands. They differ from sea lions in that they have a thicker coat of fur. Fur seals dive at night to depths between 10 and 50 meters to hunt (164 ft). Although occasionally they go far deeper. The island’s fur seals are the tiniest members of the ear-seal family, much like the Galapagos penguins.
Indivisibility
The 127 islands, islets, and rocks that make up the Galapagos archipelago—of which 19 are major and 4 are inhabited—are located roughly 1,000 kilometers from the Ecuadorian mainland. 7 665 100 ha, or 97% of the entire emerging surface, were designated as national parks in 1959. The remaining 3% of the land is designated as agricultural and urban, with only four islands having human settlements (a fifth island only has an airport, tourism dock, fuel containment, and military facilities). The Galapagos Marine Reserve, one of the world’s largest marine reserves, was established in 1986 and originally covered 70,000 km2. It was later expanded to its current size of 133,000 km2 around the islands. The marine reserve covers the waters within 40 nautical miles of the furthest coastline islands as well as the inland waters of the archipelago (50,100 km2). Baltra and San Cristobal airports both receive flights from Ecuador’s mainland, with Isabela’s airport mostly serving intra-island travel. There are ports on every populated island where goods can be delivered. Visitors to the other deserted islands are rigorously limited by carefully thought-out tourism routes. The islands are home to 30,000 residents, and 170,000 tourists travel there annually.
Invasive species invasion, rising tourism, population growth, illicit fishing, and problems with governance are the greatest threats to the Galapagos (i.e. who takes responsibility for decisions given a large number of stakeholders with conflicting interests involved in managing the islands). To effectively manage these problems and strengthen the measures for reducing their impact, they are continuously assessed and monitored.
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Writer
Atika Afia Broty
Intern, Content Writing Department,
YSSE