The Galapagos Islands have an iconic status in the history of evolutionary study, now new research shows that the islands' own geological past may have influenced the evolution of the chain's native species.
Writing in the Journal of Biogeography, Jason Ali and Jonathan Aitchison explore how fluctuating sea-level changes over thousands of years impacted the island chain's ecology. They estimate that when the sea retreated, most recently 20,000 years ago, the water would have been 144m below its current level.
As a result, Santa Cruz, the island in the center of the archipelago, would have expanded, enveloping many of the smaller islands while creating a series of shallow 'land bridges' between the volcanic outcroppings. Such bridges explain the range and diversity of the islands' species, such as snakes, geckos and iguanas, which appear landlocked to modern eyes.
link.
No comments:
Post a Comment