A volcanic archipelago roughly 1,000 kilometers off the coast of Ecuador, straddling the equator at the meeting point of the cold Humboldt and Cromwell currents and the warm Panama current, a collision that produces an unusual mix of tropical and cold water species side by side. The extreme isolation of the islands produced marine iguanas found nowhere else, giant tortoises for which the archipelago is named, and the finches whose varied beaks helped lead the young naturalist Charles Darwin toward the theory of natural selection following his 1835 visit. Now an Ecuadorian national park and one of the largest marine reserves on Earth, the islands remain a living laboratory for evolutionary biology.
Facts
Classification
Biogeographic Realm Protected Status Area (sq km) Connections
Demonstrates
Strong El Nino events sharply warm the waters around the Galapagos, collapsing the cold-water upwelling the food web depends on; marine iguana and Galapagos penguin populations are documented to crash during major episodes (1982-83, 1997-98), making Galapagos one of the most closely studied real-world demonstrations of ENSO's ecological effect.
Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Source Encyclopaedia Britannica
Hosts
Source Belted kingfisher, Wikipedia
Source Black Rat (Wikipedia)
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source Brown Pelican (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Galapagos Penguin
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source Giant sunfish (Wikipedia)
Source Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Ardea herodias (Animal Diversity Web)
Source Lantana camara (Wikipedia)
Source Wikidata: Lava cactus
Additional Source Galápagos Islands (Wikipedia)Article text
Source Magnificent Frigatebird (Wikipedia)
Source World Wildlife Fund
Source Prickly shark (Wikipedia)
Source Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Animal Diversity Web: Grapsus grapsus
Source Sperm Whale (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Yellowfin Tuna
In Biome
In the Other Atlases
Found In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.
Sources
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.britannica.com/place/Galapagos-Islands, land area sentence
Their total land area of 3,093 square miles (8,010 square km) is scattered over 23,000 square miles (59,500 square km) of ocean.
- Biogeographic realm: neotropic (derived from location stated in entity description)
Protected status (stated plainly in the entity own recorded description)
Now an Ecuadorian national park and one of the largest marine reserves on Earth, the islands remain a living laboratory for evolutionary biology.
- Demonstrates: Natural Selection
View the Source National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationDemonstrates: El Nino-Southern OscillationView the Source World Wildlife Fund
World Wildlife Fund- In Biome: Marine
- Hosts: Galapagos Tortoise
- Hosts: Marine Iguana
- Hosts: Blue-footed Booby
View the Source Brown Pelican (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHosts: Brown Pelican, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279941, target E16326Quote, Hosts: Brown Pelican, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279941, target E16326
It is found on the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to the mouth of the Amazon River, and along the Pacific Coast from British Columbia to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands.
Magnificent Frigatebird (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Magnificent Frigatebird, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279925, target E16326Quote, Hosts: Magnificent Frigatebird, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 279925, target E16326
There are also populations on the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific and the Cape Verde islands in the Atlantic.
Wikipedia: Galapagos Penguin
WikipediaHosts: Galapagos Penguin, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 346042, target E16326Quote, Hosts: Galapagos Penguin, article text (ecosystem), EntityId 346042, target E16326
The Galápagos penguin (Spheniscus mendiculus) is a penguin endemic to the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador.
Sperm Whale (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHosts: Sperm Whale, Life cycleQuote, Hosts: Sperm Whale, Life cycle
As if to support this, aggression between male sperm whales is rare within breeding grounds; only one case of male-male aggression was recorded over 11 years in a 40-year study around the Galapagos Islands, and no aggression was reported in a similar 20-year study off the Dominican Republic.
Wikipedia: Yellowfin Tuna
WikipediaHosts: Yellowfin Tuna, Pole and lineQuote, Hosts: Yellowfin Tuna, Pole and line
The most well-known fleet of pole-and-line boats sailed from San Diego in California and exploited abundant stocks in Mexican waters, as well as further south to Panama, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands.
Belted kingfisher, Wikipedia
Hosts: Belted Kingfisher, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Belted Kingfisher, Distribution and habitat
The southernmost records of M. alcyon are from the Galapagos Archipelago, insular Ecuador, where it occurs as a migrant in small numbers but apparently not every year.
Black Rat (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHosts: Black Rat, Complex pestQuote, Hosts: Black Rat, Complex pest
This has led to the black rat completely displacing many native species in Madagascar, the Galapagos, and the Florida Keys.
Lantana camara (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHosts: Lantana Camara, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Lantana Camara, Distribution and habitat
The range of L. camara is still increasing, shown by the fact that it has invaded many islands on which it was not present in 1974, including the Galapagos Islands, Saipan and the Solomon Islands.
Giant sunfish (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Giant sunfish, Economic importance for humansQuote, Hosts: Giant sunfish, Economic importance for humans
In locations like the Galapagos Islands and the Alboran Coast in the Mediterranean, sunfish are spotted frequently enough to have sunfish tours.
Prickly shark (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Prickly shark, Distribution and habitatQuote, Hosts: Prickly shark, Distribution and habitat
In the eastern Pacific, it is known to occur from Oregon to El Salvador (including the Gulf of California), around the Cocos and Galapagos Islands, and off Peru and Chile.
Galápagos Islands (Wikipedia)
Hosts: Lava cactus, Article textQuote, Hosts: Lava cactus, Article text
Two endemic genera of cacti, each with a single species: Jasminocereus thouarsii, the candelabra cactus, and Brachycereus nesioticus, the lava cactus
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Ardea herodias (Animal Diversity Web)
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of ZoologyHosts: Great Blue Heron, Geographic RangeQuote, Hosts: Great Blue Heron, Geographic Range
During the spring and summer, they breed throughout North and Central America, the Caribbean, southern Canada and the Galapagos.
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of Zoology: Animal Diversity Web: Grapsus grapsus
Animal Diversity Web, University of Michigan Museum of ZoologyHosts: Sally Lightfoot Crab, Geographic RangeQuote, Hosts: Sally Lightfoot Crab, Geographic Range
They are most commonly found in coastal areas of Baja, California, from Mexico to Peru, Ecuador, the Caribbean, Brazil, Florida, and the Galapagos Islands.
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