Please excuse this quick and dirty diary regarding a live online event via Conservation International. I'm sorry I can't flesh this out more, but I'm at work and need to be quick. They are taking questions now for the online chat scheduled at 1:00 EDT. I'm sorry for the short notice, but I only just joined CI and got the email today. Click on the title link below to go to the question submission form, or just to learn more.
The Galapagos: A Laboratory for Studying Climate Change?
10 April 2007, 1:00 PM EDT
Every two to seven years, El Niño warms ocean waters surrounding the Galapagos Islands and prevents crucial nutrients from supplying the food chain. The phenomenon has prompted the loss of an estimated 95 percent of coral reefs around the islands. The Galapagos Damsel fish is now believed to be extinct, and countless sea lions and marine iguanas have been lost.
With climate change threatening to ignite more frequent and intense El Niño patterns, the Galapagos region is ideal for studying how Earth’s biodiversity responds to changing conditions.
The discussion will focus on climate change and its effect on El Nino patterns, i.e., the expectation that they'll be more frequent and intense ("good" if you live in a hurricane-prone region like I do, but elsewhere, eh, not so much.) Because Galapagos is such a sheltered ecosystem, it seems an ideal place to study the phenomenon in a microcosm and gain clues as to how the changes will affect larger regions.
If you can't participate in the live event, there's a related feature story on CI's front page, as well as some photos. I imagine they'll be updating the story with the results of this afternoon's live Q&A.