What is the significance of el nino to the galapagos islands

Article writen by Brian Bayer January What happened in the and ? Increased sea levels affect animals living in the intertidal zone. Fishing pressure remains the same, so capture is taken from further down the food web. Marine birds such as the blue-footed booby, petrels, noddys, brown pelicans, albatross and magnificent frigatebirds cannot feed their offspring.

They have less resources and number of eggs are reduced. Primary production from phytoplankton bringing food to the Islands grinds to a halt. Ecosystems starve from the bottom up affecting first the top end predators like sea-lions. Corals are stressed by the sustained higher temperatures bleaching as the symbiotic zooxanthellae are expelled. Mobile species such as sharks probably move offshore in the search of food in deeper water.

Species like Galapagos penguins and flightless cormorants forage close to their colonies and are heavily affected by the lack of food. High above in the upper atmosphere, the air circulates east and then sinks into the cooler high pressure area over the west coast of South America. The dry conditions caused by this air flow were instrumental in creating the Atacama Desert in Peru.

Low pressure systems form over the area, drawing in westerly winds from across the Pacific. Warm, moist air rises, creating heavy rainfall over the Eastern Pacific region around Peru. The air circulates west in the upper atmosphere.

Around northern Australia and Indonesia the descending air gives drier conditions than usual and can cause drought. The Californian coast is also affected by this current, which brings torrential rains that often causes flooding and landslides.

Almost every animal is affected somehow. The increased rainfall leads to more lush vegetation and more food and seeds to eat. Species such as finches thrive.

On land, there is drought, which results in less vegetation. Animals such as land iguanas and tortoises will find they have less food. In the ocean, most fish thrive, but some warm-water reef fish suffer when low temperatures linger.

These climate cycles are natural and no cause for alarm. Life in Galapagos is harsh, and animals die naturally there all the time.

Some animals may be protected, however. The Isabela Pink Iguana, for example, consists of only a very small population on one corner of Isabela Island.