By: Patrick Grabowski , Alfredo Avila & Rudy Echeverria Galapagos Islands By: Patrick Grabowski , Alfredo Avila & Rudy Echeverria

Galapagos Islands Has 13 major islands about 600 miles west of Ecuador in South America The oldest of the islands are about 4 million years old and the youngest are still in the process of being formed

Plants 560 native plants Most of them are endemic (Macraea)-needle-leaf daisy (Scalesia)-daisy tree (Lecocarpus)-cut-leaf daisy

Animals Frigatebird (Fregatidae) Land Iguanas (Iguanidae) Boobies (Sulidae) All turtles found on the islands belong to the group Geochelone elephantopus. They are divided into 14 sub-species (three of which are extinct), differentiated by the form and size of their shell as well as neck and extremities.

Animals Con. Frigate birds attack other sea. birdssometimes called Man of War birds or Pirate birds The land iguanas are typically divided into two species, Conolophus subcristatus and Conolophus pallidus The bird family Sulidae comprises the gannets and boobies. Both groups are medium-large coastal seabirds that plunge-dive for fish. The species in this family are often considered congeneric, placing all in the genus Sula

People the Galapagos never had a "native" tribe like you find on Easter Islands or Papua New Guinea. The people who live on the islands now are those who came over after the islands were discovered, the majority coming from Ecuador The official language of the islands is Spanish, though you can find practically every language there from English to Hebrew. The majority of the people are Roman Catholic, though the islands do have other churches

People

Endangered Environment Population is too big Pollution is killing many plants and animals People are over using the plants, ect.

Endangered Animals Marine iguana Giant tortoise Frigatbrid

Endangered Animals Con. Threats Hunting, poisoning, reduction of prey species, human encroachment Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands there was 250,000 tortoise's now there’s 15,000 Oil spills killed many marine animals

Man Impacting the environment The islands have more than 20,000 inhabitants, a motley crew of nationalities ranging from German to Ecuadorean, who call the Gal pagos both a refuge and a home. Predictably, these inhabitants bring inevitable dangers to the idyllic nature of the region-poaching, pollution, overfishing, crowding, ecotourism and the political warfare that will define the islands' future. With rich, witty prose as colorful as the characters he describes. Pollutution population

Man Vs. Environment

Facts And Information The Galapagos Islands were discovered by the Incas in 1,400 Capital city is Puerto Baquerizo Moreno Catholic (95%), others

Saving the environment World Heritage Committee Decrease population and pollution Reduction in threats, hunting, fishing, poison

Organizations On The Environment A organization is IGTOA- they save marine animals Another organization is CDF- they save plants (mostly trees) Last organization is FOGO- they save birds

Awareness On The Environment Recycle Walk or ride your bike Conserve electricity Don’t leave water running

Future Environment ecosystems are continually threatened by population pressures, tourism, introduced species, poaching and illegal fishing Last year 126,000 people visited the Galapagos. And most of the destruction is caused by tourism Pollution and population is increasing J

Bibliography http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gal%C3%A1pagos_Islands http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/AboutGalapagos.html http://www.darwinfoundation.org http://whc.unesco.org/pg.cfm?cid=31&id_site=1