Forty years of paleoecology in the Galapagos

Bush, M.B., P.A. Colinvaux, M. Steinitz-Kannan, J.T. Overpeck, J. Sachs, J. Cole, A. Collins, J. Conroy, A. Restrepo, and Z. Zhang

2010 Galapagos Research 67: 55-61



ABSTRACT

The Galapagos Islands provided one of the first lowland paleoecological records from the Neotropics. Since the first cores were raised from the islands in 1966, there has been a substantial increase in knowledge of past systems, and development of the science of paleoclimatology. The study of fossil pollen, diatoms, corals and compound-specific isotopes on the Galapagos has contributed to the maturation of this discipline. As research has moved from questions about ice-age conditions and mean states of the Holocene to past frequency of El Niño Southern Oscillation, the resolution of fossil records has shifted from millennial to sub-decadal. Understanding the vulnerability of the Galapagos to climate change will be enhanced by knowledge of past climate change and responses in the islands.