The Galapagos National Park (GNP) made a thorough job of eradicating these species were introduced into the archipelago of Ecuador, in their struggle to maintain the unique richness of a fragile ecosystem, which is guarded carefully by the rangers.

The conservation institution maintains an exhaustive control of all organic material entering the archipelago, as well as working hard in combat, non-invasive techniques for the environment against these species.

Victor Carrion, head of Animal Control and Eradication of Introduced in the National Park, told a group of reporters that his work is a painstaking work that requires a preliminary study and the commitment of the authorities of the Galapagos and the country.

The eradication of these species, whose presence challenges the original ecosystem conservation in Galapagos aims to achieve the ecological restoration of the islands and maintain their evolutionary cycle, 150 years ago, inspired Charles Darwin in the creation of his theory of natural evolution species.

On the island of Santa Cruz, near “The Twins”, a curious volcanic geological formation consisting of two nearly identical large circular depressions, stands a leafy mulberry plantation that, contrary to what a tourist uninitiated might think, is not a manifestation of the richness of the Galapagos vegetation.

In fact, poses a threat to the balance of the ecosystem of the area, and thus the PNG deforestation makes a plant while repopulated the area with endemic species of flora unique to the archipelago. The mission is headed by four workers of the institution, which destroy machete base about half a hectare per day.

Another meticulous work is being done to ensure the eradication of rats, possibly landed on the islands after traveling in the hold of some ships.

Floreana Island in the south of the archipelago, lies Punta Cormorant, one of the places to visit restricted and tightly controlled by the PNG because of the fragility of its ecosystem and the purity of its conservation.

At Punta Cormorant live flamingos and blue-footed Finches, in its crystalline waters and sharks swim in its beaches of sand “flour”, well known for being very thin and white, sea turtles bury their eggs.

However, the rats that arrived from the continent created a population that threatens the purity and stability of that ecosystem.

For its eradication, the rangers make use of a trap-cage made of metal that contains a bait made from peanuts (groundnuts), which attracts rodents and secures it once they have entered in search of food.

A special control effort is being done to deal definitively with the remaining goats remaining in protected areas of some islands, after a mass removal process took place some years ago.

For this project, PNG has a helicopter which receives signals from radiometry collar of a goat, which the rangers called “Judas” and was taken to the area some time ago to form around a herd.

They also use packs of trained dogs after rangers located the flock, are released for the catch.

These procedures require a particular effort of staff of the conservation organization even have to watch your diet and hygiene when they go to the monitoring and control operations in protected areas.

Therefore, the PNG realized simultaneously raise awareness among the population and stringent controls of tourists and visiting areas because only a few seeds of tomato or some ant hidden between the cracks of the sole of the boots can make a risk to the natural balance of these beautiful islands.

The study, published in the journal ‘PNAS’, has been outlined in the latest issue of Science. The research was led by the CSIC researcher Isabel Sanmartin, who works at the Royal Botanical Garden (CSIC) in Madrid, in collaboration with Alexander Anton Elli, University of Gothenburg (Sweden),.

Sanmartín clarifies the reasons that prompted the work: “The Neotropical region, covering South America, includes the largest tropical rain forest on the planet. For example, one third of all flowering plants are in the region, testifies to its importance as a biodiversity reserve. However, we still do not know exactly what were the processes responsible for such extraordinary diversity. ”

Traditionally, the scientific community has blamed the rich neotropical ecological factors, such as a higher rate of light, temperature and humidity. “The environmental scenarios do not address the possibility that current environmental conditions are the same that were given millions of years ago and also assumes that not all species react to such conditions as the environment. Therefore, in recent years, there have been more inclusive hypotheses that attempt to explain the wealth of the region in historical or evolutionary terms, “says the researcher.

These theories, explains Sanmartin, aimed at first to the Amazon River as a catalyst for the region and, in recent years have begun to recognize the influence of the Andes, although as a single event focused exclusively on diversification high mountain plants.

The hypothesis Samaritan and his companions defend claims a role for the mountain. Their conclusions were based on the evolutionary study of the plant family Rubiaceae, from which the coffee plant, widespread in the region. The authors analyzed DNA sequences of plants, combining the results with geological evidence, pale ontological or weather by using a new method of biogeographical analysis.

Data from the research suggest that the Rubiaceae migrated from Laurasia (Europe, North America and Asia) to South America in the mid-Tertiary, about 40 million years. To do this they used the uprising of the Northern Andes. There, these plants would remain until the Miocene, about 23 million years.

New evidence

Also, the study provides new evidence about the existence, in prehistoric times, of two geographic whose presence in the area is disputed by geologists and pale geographers. They are the West Portal of the Andes, a geographic barrier to the height of southern Ecuador, and Lake Pebas, a large lake system with an area of around a million square kilometers located in the western Amazon basin.

The fact that the Rubiaceae not disperse southward from the Andes to the Miocene seem to support the existence of the doorway, a lowland region between the Northern Andes and Central Andes that was often invaded by the waters of the Pacific . Confirmed its existence, the portal would have prevented the passage of animals and plants between the two sectors of the range until the middle Miocene, there was the lifting of the Cordillera Oriental of the Andes, a phenomenon that opened the way species mountains to the south.

Samaritan explains the close of the Miocene Andean portal coincided with the formation in the western half of the Amazon basin (between the current Peru, Colombia and Brazil) Pebas Lake. The isolation of both the portal and the lake explained, according to the study, two areas currently two points coincide with one of the highest rates of accumulation of plants and animals native to South America, Huancabamba region, south of Ecuador and the western Amazon basin.

“Only the loss of snow and glaciers in the mountains of Asia would affect approximately 40% of world population,” says the report “Global Outlook for Snow and Ice ‘, presented at Nairobi, UNEP headquarters.

But other areas like the Pyrenees, the Alps or the Andes, will also be severely damaged by the impact, it added, which analyzes current trends and possible future development of ecosystems of ice and snow as glaciers, rivers and lakes ice cream.

“Climate change is a vicious circle in regard to these ecosystems: higher temperatures lead to less ice and snow and this causes the land and sea have to absorb more sunlight, further increasing temperatures,” said Christian Lambrechts, Division of UNEP early warning and one of the coordinators of the report.

The effects of global scope will include substantial changes in the availability of water for drinking and irrigation, as well as an increase in sea levels, changes in water circulation patterns in the oceans, and the threat to the survival of species flora and fauna that survive on such ecosystems, among others.

According to the scientific information already available, the Arctic is warming almost twice as fast as the rest of the world and in many areas, mountain areas are also recording increases in temperatures over land at low altitude.

The cover of Arctic sea ice is decreasing by 8.9% per decade in summer, and it is possible that by 2100 we have an Arctic Ocean completely free of ice in the summer season.

The document also confirms the trend towards decreasing the size of glaciers in the world in recent years, especially since the 80′s.

The three glaciers that exist in Africa, Mount Kenya, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and the Rwenzori Mountains of Uganda, have already lost 82% of its surface and it is likely that Kilimanjaro’s glaciers will disappear completely within the space of two decades.

In the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are to contain 98% of frozen fresh water on the planet and, as an estimate, if Greenland were to melt completely the rise in sea level would reach seven meters.

For now, the layers of these regions that have melted together with similar phenomena in glaciers and thermal expansion of the oceans has led to an increase in sea level of just under eight inches between 1870 and 2001, according to the report.

But the text points out that a one meter rise in sea level, if not take measures to adapt to it, would expose 145 million people of possible flooding, mostly in Asia.

The report shows that ice and snow on the planet are inextricably linked to life in the rest of the planet, so that the consequences of climate change on these ecosystems not only affect those living or working in polar and mountainous areas.

Small marine ecosystems that form around the ice blocks with melted water mixed with sea water, can serve to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and plunging into the ocean, since the algae absorb carbon -releasing oxygen through photosynthesis and then pass the food chain. They become a focal point for small fish, algae and even birds.

One of the main consequences of climate change has been the increase in temperature, which has led to multiply the appearance of icebergs in the southern waters, chunks of ice ranging from a few inches square that protrude from the surface to others as large as European countries.

To try to assess the influence of the open sea ecosystems of these icebergs, the team of scientists led by Kenneth Lawrence Smith, Marine Research Institute of Monterrey, studied various icebergs adrift in the Weddell Sea and the waters around him.

The findings, published this week the journal Science, has surprised the scientific community, because the waters near the icebergs have chlorophyll, krill and seabirds in much greater numbers than the water where no floating ice floes . This trend is visible in waters up to four miles from the icebergs.

In the study area the researchers detected 89 icebergs in a roughly similar size, and estimated that about 40% of the surface water had been influenced by the ice that was melting and drifting, so that, according to the authors of the study, these blocks of ice help increase production, capture and storage of organic carbon in these areas, and its effect extends as heating rates and increased production of icebergs.

The announcement of this project, called SMOS, has coincided with the launch of SMOS Barcelona Expert Centre, who will be dealing with process data from the mission and coordinate the scientific activity of the fifty participating Spanish.

The space mission, with a budget of 200 million euros, of which Spain contributed 70, aims to collect data to predict phenomena like El Niño, whose appearance depends on the salinity of the water, and study the relationship between moisture Land and sea salt level in the desertification and the greenhouse effect, as explained Francesco Torres and Jordi Font, responsible for the project.

The El Nico phenomenon, which is the main cause of climate change on our planet, and occurs with a frequency variable from 3 to 6 years, is the change in the location of the centers of high and low pressure between areas of the Pacific Ocean , causing an increase in water temperature in southern 2 to 8 degrees.

The measurements were made using a microwave interferometer radiometer, which is a pioneer in this type of study, developed the UPC, which is based on a scanning system of land through 73 antennas that collect data simultaneously.

For salinity measure the electrical conductivity of water and its temperature, which gives the level of salinity. In addition, measurements must be made in every sea with buoys, using the conventional system, to confirm that the data are accurate and the space system is faithful.

The radiometer called MIRAS, and operating at 1.4 GHz (gigahertz), a low frequency band that enables the best spatial resolution, will orbit about 750 kilometers from the earth at a satellite launched in July 2008 a Russian rocket into space.

Font Torres explained that moisture and salinity are measured with sensors connected to the 73 dual-polarized antennas, placed in a folding structure of three Y-shaped arms, which will open upon reaching orbit and serve as a antenna.

According to these scientists, if no unexpected problems arise, from six months to begin to research data, and an estimated life of the satellite will be about five years.