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Marine
Iguanas are dying because of oil pollution (June 18, 2002)
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It
seemed that there were no serious consequences of the oil spill that
affected the Galapagos Islands one year ago.
But a study made by Dr. Martin Wikelsky from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, New Jersey wikelski@princeton.edu, tells us the opposite. |
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| After
3 million liters of diesel and bunker were spilled by the oil tanker
"JESSICA", on the 17th of January, 2001, the whole world
got seriously worried about the consequences and damage to the marvelous
paradise of the Galapagos Islands.
Nature was good with the archipelago, and sea currents were responsible for cleaning the oil spill, taking the black heavy scum out of the marine reserve in a couple of days. Few islands were reached by bunker, San Cristobal, were the tank ship crashed, Santa Cruz and Santa Fe islands. Santa Fe has one of the most important Marine Iguana colonies in the Galapagos. Marine Iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) are endemic, unique to the islands. The study says "population of marine iguanas on Santa Fe Island suffered a massive 62% mortality in the year after the accident, due to a small amount of residual oil contamination in the sea. Another population on the more remote island of Genovesa was unaffected." Genovesa island was not affected by the oil spill. The most probable cause of this mortality is that the oil residue affected the intestines of this reptiles, causing death. More investigation is on it's way to determine the real impact of the oil spill. |
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Source: www.elcomercio.com www.nature.com |
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| Related
Topics:
Oil spill in the Galapagos Islands GO2 |
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| Links:
A jpg archive of an article writen by Dr. Wikelsky regarding the first studies he made to marine iguanas, just after the january 2001 oil spill. http://www.princeton.edu/~wikelski/publications/Science%20oil1.JPG A very good site published by the University of Michigan, with general aspects about marine iguanas, taxonomy, natural history, habits and bilbiographic links. http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/amblyrhynchus/a._cristatus.html This page has got vey good information about marine iguana's biology and other related topics. http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/MarineIguana.html The Charles Darwin Research Station, reproduces Dr. Wikelsky article, you can also find detailed information on the january 2001 oil spill. You will have to register with them to access pdf documents. http://www.darwinfoundation.org/news/news06070201.html Here you will find the public document written by Dr. Martin Wikelsky. www.nature.com |
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