Accordion Iguanas: How Marine Iguanas Shrink and Grow to Survive El Niño
Accordion Iguanas: How Marine Iguanas Shrink and Grow to Survive El Niño Charlotte Fowler, Biology Student at Christopher Newport University Marine Iguanas are actually shrinking in response to the extreme environmental effects caused by El Nino storms! El Nino is a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean. El Niño is the “warm phase” of a larger phenomenon called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) . La Niña, the “cool phase” of ENSO, is a pattern that describes the unusual cooling of the region’s surface waters. Marine Iguanas dwell in the Galapagos Islands which is located in the Pacific Ocean, close to South America. This image above shows clearly the effects of El Nino weather conditions on the water temperature and bordering land environments. Because of the warming of surface waters during the El Nino phase, marine nutrient levels drop significantly and the algae begin to die. This is the marine iguanas main food...