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Born of fire, the Gal pagos archipelago evokes 
visions of an ecological Eden.

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They are volcanic, isolated islands, so they 
are unique.

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This primordial world is home to some of the 
strangest creatures on earth from sea-going

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lizards to tortoises the size of rum barrels.

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This is a special place where so many strange 
animals are living together.

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Penguins, mantas, sea lions, sea iguanas.

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Altogether in one place.

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And this strange ecosystem has very interesting 
behaviors.

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The islands are engulfed in cold and warm 
ocean currents, resulting in this unique diversity

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of species.

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You get cold water organisms and warm water 
organisms all mixed.

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Corals are among the warm water species living 
in the islands and what is happening to them

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may be a harbinger of things to come.

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We know now that the ocean chemistry is changing 
dramatically and that s because of the industrial

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age and all of the carbon dioxide that has 
been put into the atmosphere.

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Corals are forecast to be impacted severely 
by these changes in ocean chemistry.

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The isolation of these islands makes them 
a perfect laboratory for studying climate change.

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The Gal pagos Islands acts as a natural laboratory 
because it s naturally exposed to high C02

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conditions that provide essentially a window 
into the future of what we can expect throughout

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the rest of the world s oceans, with the 
doubling and tripling of atmospheric CO2.

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The other added benefit is that it has experienced 
two very strong El Ni o events in the last

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three decades.

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During El Ni o warm seawater temperatures 
cause coral bleaching.

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And coral bleaching is one of the primary 
concerns of what coral reefs face with climate change.

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So by going into the Gal pagos and studying 
how these reefs respond to warmer temperatures

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under these naturally low pH conditions, we 
can gain a window into the future.

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What is in store for coral reefs?

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Can corals survive in more acidic oceans and 
cope with increased water temperatures?