The Galapagos Islands

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The Galapagos Islands, located about 600 miles west of continental Ecuador, contain a rich history of settlement and exploration and represent a living example of evolution that is still relevant today. For centuries, this chain of volcanic islands has been used uniquely by various cultures based off distinct needs. What has remained the same however is the fact that island isolation has forced many animal and plant species to adapt differently from one another based off their island’s environmental conditions, creating a living model of microevolution over time. Today, these models tend to be the primary resources used by biology professors when teaching their students evolutionary topics.
The Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean with a chain that stretches as far as 220 kilometers from the most northern to the most southern island. This archipelago of volcanic islands is positioned in a way where some islands are found north of the Equator and others are found south of the Equator. There is even one island, Volcan Wolf, which is positioned directly on the equatorial line. The Galapagos has absolutely no indigenous population, and those 25,000 citizens that do live there now speak primarily Spanish. There are a total of 18 main islands, 3 small islands, and 107 islets (very small islands).
Volcanism is a major part of the Galapagos and their formation. The island chain is positioned on the Nazca Plate, which is subducting beneath the South American Plate at a geologically rapid pace of 2.5 inches per year. In addition, this Nazca Plate is located directly on top of the Galapagos Hotspot. It is here that mantle plumes melt Earth’s crust, creating volcanoes as a product. The oldest island was first shaped by this ...

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...N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
"History of the Islands." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 23 Apr. 2014.
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Abzhanov, Arhat. "Darwin's Galápagos Finches in Modern Biology."Darwin's Galápagos Finches in Modern Biology. The Royal Society, 2010. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .
Baldwin, C. C. (2000). Galapagos: Islands of change. Science Scope, 23(4), 32. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/226020979?accountid=14585 The Galapagos Finches (Geospizinae) A Study in Variation by David Lack
Review by: J. T. Zimmer The Auk, Vol. 62, No. 4 (Oct., 1945), pp. 644-645
"Galapagos Conservancy Postcard." Galapagos Conservancy. Galapagos Conservancy, 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2014. .

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