It's easy to be a pessimist in a world full of calamities. But for those worried about the continuing availability of natural resources, data from the ocean makes a good case for optimism, says economic geologist Lawrence ...

Space & Earth - Earth Sciences

Oct 07, 2010 4.7 / 5 (13) 18 |

Although the magnificent frigatebird may be the least likely animal on the Galapagos Islands to be unique to the area, it turns out the Galapagos population of this tropical seabird may be its own genetically ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Sep 28, 2010 not rated yet 0 |

Florida's Everglades and Madagascar's tropical forest were added Friday to a list of imperiled world heritage sites by UNESCO officials who also registered lesser threats to Peru's Machu Picchu ruins and the ...

Biology - Ecology

Jul 31, 2010 5 / 5 (2) 1

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee said Wednesday it has removed Ecuador's Galapagos Islands from its list of endangered sites, due to Quito's protective efforts in the Pacific archipelago.

Biology - Ecology

Jul 29, 2010 not rated yet 0

Long before TV's campy Fantasy Island, the isolation of island communities has touched an exotic and magical core in us. Darwin's fascination with the Galapagos island chain and the evolution of its plant ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Jul 08, 2010 4.6 / 5 (5) 0

Japan has donated 10 million dollars to Ecuador to help fund a solar energy project in the Galapagos Islands, a UN-designated World Heritage site, Ecuador's Electricity Ministry said Friday.

Technology - Energy & Green Tech

Jul 03, 2010 3.2 / 5 (6) 0

For marine iguanas living in the Galapagos Islands, an El Nino can be deadly. Some die from starvation while others survive. Scientists have long believed that the difference between life and death for the iguana depended ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

May 25, 2010 not rated yet 0

The Galapagos Islands, made famous by Charles Darwin, have a unique biota now highly threatened by invasive species because of increased tourism and population growth. Indeed, alien or exotic insects today ...

Biology - Ecology

Apr 22, 2010 5 / 5 (2) 0

There's been a rich debate in marine ecological circles about what happens to a key food source along rocky coastlines dominated by upwelling. The literature is filled with studies suggesting that the larvae ...

Biology - Ecology

Mar 02, 2010 5 / 5 (1) 0

The iguanas of the Galapagos Islands have evolved many unique characteristics due to their isolation from mainland iguanas. Because they can't swim long distances, biologists believe that the first Galapagos ...

Space & Earth - Space Exploration

Feb 15, 2010 5 / 5 (6) 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- Thanks to genetic data gleaned from the bones found in a several museum collections, an international team of researchers led by scientists from Yale believes it may be possible to resurrect ...

Biology - Biotechnology

Jan 18, 2010 4.9 / 5 (9) 5 |

Scientists have long puzzled over how iguanas, a group of lizards mostly found in the Americas, came to inhabit the isolated Pacific islands of Fiji and Tonga. For years, the leading explanation has been that progenitors ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Jan 11, 2010 5 / 5 (6) 2 |

(PhysOrg.com) -- Unlike Hawaii and other island groups, no native bird has gone extinct in the Galapagos Islands, although some are in danger. But University of Utah biologists found that finches - the birds ...

Biology - Plants & Animals

Jan 06, 2010 4.5 / 5 (2) 0 |

Sally Hall, a PhD student at the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science (SOES) at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (NOCS) has formally described four new species of king ...

Biology - Ecology

Dec 02, 2009 3.5 / 5 (4) 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research could help protect the future of a rare bird in the Galapagos Islands that was an inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, scientists report in a paper ...

Biology - Evolution

Nov 18, 2009 4 / 5 (1) 0