Iguanas for the environment
An oil spill off the Galapagos Islands in January 2001 has an ecologist battling in the Ecuadorian legal courts. Martin Wikelski had been researching the Galapagos marine iguana when an oil freighter,
the Jessica, ran aground of San Cristobal, one of the islands in the archipelago. His research on the evolution of the iguanas' physiological responses to weather and the environment suddenly took a new turn when one of his research sites was heavily polluted with the spilled oil. Now Martin is studying the survival of the species in response to the spill as compared to another group of iguanas that is located in an area that was not affected. It seems that since the spill took place more than 60% of the iguanas in polluted location have died. Next to none have died in the unpolluted location. Now in order to recoup some of the funding that was lost as a result of having his study destroyed, Martin has added a damages claim to a much larger claim made against the owner, insurer, and captain of
the Jessica by Galapagos National Park. Read more at
Nature Science Update.
current science news posted by Kirsten at 6/06/2002 06:19:00 PM
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