{"id":557124,"date":"2026-07-24T09:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/557124\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T09:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:14:12","slug":"what-can-the-galapagos-islands-animals-teach-us-about-the-threats-of-el-nino-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/557124\/","title":{"rendered":"What can the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands\u2019 animals teach us about the threats of El Ni\u00f1o? | Environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ocean waters around the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands<\/a> are hot. Very hot. Observed for centuries in the Pacific by fishers, the El Ni\u00f1o weather phenomenon begins when the prevailing trade winds slow, allowing warm water to spread east along the coast of South America. Right now, the pattern is in full flow and will build from this year into next, likely bringing record temperatures to an already overheating world.<\/p>\n

If 2026 is not the hottest year on record, 2027 surely will be \u2013 and the Gal\u00e1pagos archipelago is in the centre of this climate crisis.<\/p>\n

More on the consequences of this, after this week\u2019s most important reads.<\/p>\n

Essential readsIn focusCan\u2019t beat the heat \u2026 the population of Gal\u00e1pagos penguins falls sharply during El Ni\u00f1o years. Photograph: Gareth Codd\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

In normal conditions, the water in the eastern Pacific is cold: Gal\u00e1pagos penguins and fur seals live on the islands, species more commonly associated with ecosystems closer to the poles. The archipelago is the only place in the world where you can see penguins swimming next to coral reefs.<\/p>\n

The arrival of El Ni\u00f1o always signals an abrupt change, effectively giving the marine ecosystem a hot bath: water temperatures rise from around 18C to above 30C<\/a>, causing a population crash in many fish species as nutrients disappear from the water. The populations of sea birds such as Nazca boobies, penguins and blue-footed boobies also go into freefall, while marine iguanas starve en masse. When temperatures drop in a La Ni\u00f1a year, marine life explodes once again.<\/p>\n

This pattern has played out for so long that many species on the islands have adapted to such oscillations. Iguanas in the Gal\u00e1pagos can shrink their body skeletons in El Ni\u00f1o years to increase their chances of survival, and regrow them when normal conditions return. But climate change presents a fresh evolutionary challenge as El Ni\u00f1os become more frequent and more extreme in a warming climate. There are fears among scientists that these extremes will drive some species into extinction in the coming decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gal\u00e1pagos Islands has some of the highest temperature variability of any ecosystem in the world,\u201d says Jon Witman, a professor emeritus of ecology at Brown University, who has been studying the cycles in the Gal\u00e1pagos for years. \u201cThings are always going up and down with the El Ni\u00f1o-La Ni\u00f1a cycle. There\u2019s an almost total collapse of the marine system during El Ni\u00f1o, and it comes roaring back during La Ni\u00f1a<\/a>. But how much stress can an ecosystem take?\u201d<\/p>\n

In the face of future climate extremes, the ecosystem that inspired the theory of evolution has a key role in helping researchers understand how plants and animals will respond. Witman was part of a team that recorded an ulcerative skin disease outbreak in many fish species during the 2015-16 El Ni\u00f1o, with knock-on effects across the food network. During the severe 1982-83 El Ni\u00f1o, several endemic species on the Gal\u00e1pagos went extinct, including the Gal\u00e1pagos damselfish. Witman and his team are bracing themselves for what the 2026-27 El Ni\u00f1o will bring.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe main question I have is if these climate shocks become so frequent that the ecosystem passes a tipping point and switches to another state of perhaps low productivity and biodiversity,\u201d says Witman. \u201cThat happens with ecosystems. They get pushed so far that they end up in an entirely new state. In that sense, it\u2019s kind of a natural laboratory for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It is not all doom and gloom. These islands have long proved resilient to extremes, and Witman says he is quietly optimistic about what they will be able to withstand, even as the Earth continues to heat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a new zone. It\u2019s worrisome, but studying the ecosystem gives me hope,\u201d he says. \u201cIn my work studying corals, I have definitely seen changes in the composition of reefs. But they have been towards more resilient species that can recover after extreme El Ni\u00f1os.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/p>\n

\u2018Super El Ni\u00f1o\u2019 is officially here, scientists say. What can we expect?<\/a>
El Ni\u00f1o is back with a vengeance \u2013 and fears of \u2018Godzilla\u2019 strength may be the least of our worries<\/a>
\u2018We are waiting with bated breath\u2019: experts alarmed as BoM says gathering El Ni\u00f1o could be strongest on record<\/a><\/p>\n

To read the complete version of this newsletter \u2013 subscribe to receive Down to Earth<\/a> in your inbox every Thursday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ocean waters around the Gal\u00e1pagos Islands are hot. Very hot. Observed for centuries in the Pacific by…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[242,85,46,141],"class_list":["post-557124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}