Today, we took the speedboat to Isabela island. We went kayaking soon after the speedboat ride and then from kayaking, we went snorkeling. I was in a two person kayak with Moira and both of our arms got very tired after all of the rowing. While snorkeling, we were able to have close encounters with many animals. While we were kayaking back to shore, we were able to get close to the Galapagos Penguin. After this, we went biking to a flamingo area as well as to the tortoise breeding center. Later that day, we had a presentation from Jess and Julie. They talked about climate change in the Galapagos Islands. From the presentation, I thought that it was interesting to hear about how through climate change, there has been a decrease in breeding cycles, a decrease in abundance of nutrients, and a decrease in the abundance of algae, sardines, and other fish.
Expansion of knowledge
Climate change in Ecuador
A main topic of the presentation on January 4th was the issue of climate change on Ecuador. “Assessing local vulnerability to climate change in Ecuador” provided a detailed study about how climate change impacted different parts of the country. The researchers first determined the vulnerability that each part of the country would experience using a mathematical model and then broke that up into three main components. The vulnerability map can be seen in figure one. The three components of vulnerability can be seen in figure two.
Figure one: A map representation of the vulnerability of each part of Ecuador in association with increasing global warming.
Figure two: Three map representations of the vulnerability of climate change on Ecuador.
Climate change and breeding frequencies
A point that was mentioned in the presentation was that climate change can impact the breeding frequencies of some bird species. In the research article, "Climate change indirectly reduces breeding frequency of a mobile species through changes in food availability," talks about how the different food and resources that are available can impact how much or when the birds breed. Figure three shows the relationship between heatwaves and breeding events. The trend in the graph shows that as more heatwaves occur, breeding events decrease. The heatwaves are a product of the depletion of the ozone layer which then lessens the protection for earth against the reflecting sun rays.
Figure three: A line graph showing the relationship between breeding events and the amount of heatwaves that an area experiences.
Works Cited
Fernandez, M.A., Bucaram, S.J. & Renteria, W. Assessing local vulnerability to climate change in Ecuador. SpringerPlus 4, 738 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40064-015-1536-z
Mastrantonis, S., Craig, M. D., Renton, M., Kirkby, T., & Hobbs, R. J. (2019, April 8). Climate change indirectly reduces breeding frequency of a mobile species through changes in food availability. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.2656
Mastrantonis, S., Craig, M. D., Renton, M., Kirkby, T., & Hobbs, R. J. (2019, April 8). Climate change indirectly reduces breeding frequency of a mobile species through changes in food availability. Retrieved from https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ecs2.2656