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Mercy Borbor-CordovaSeeking human and environmental health solutions in a global context
A living laboratory of evolution—and pollutionThe unique flora and fauna of the Galapagos Islands drew 180,000 tourists in 2008, reports estimate, and the demand continues to grow. The permanent population of the islands has skyrocketed in a similar way, from about 3,000 in the 1960s to about 30,000 today. But the tourist boom threatens the very ecosystem that fuels it. The dangers of invasive species such as rats and mosquitoes are well known, but some of the human impacts are just starting to be studied. Borbor-Cordova is interested in the fluxes of water and nutrients on the islands. "I thought this would be one of the places that is more studied, but when we looked for surveys of the basic hydrology and aquifers of the island, we found little information." Borbor-Cordova and Alisha Fernandez (a student in UCAR's SOARS internship program) began their study by visiting the island of Santa Cruz in the summer of 2008. Their first step was to interview the researchers at the Charles Darwin Research Station. Then they gathered the available data on water quality, hydrology, and human activities to develop a preliminary budget of water and nutrients in the coastal area. "In land-ocean interactions, nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus are the starting point for all ecological systems—you go from algae, primary producers, to all the food web and its biodiversity," Borbor-Cordova explains. The team looked at nutrients that come from both anthropogenic sources and the ocean. They found that tourism and local population growth are increasing the fluxes of nutrients because waste is not well managed in the water system. They also found that the island's freshwater aquifers are being infiltrated by ocean water, compromising the water supply in a time of ever-increasing demand. "We would like to investigate how an increase in the nutrient fluxes may induce ecological changes such as eutrophication and algal blooms," says Borbor-Cordova. "This is the critical time for an integrated, holistic study of all the research that has been done on the coastal zone." However, with four other research projects on her plate, Borbor-Cordova admits, "This is one idea that probably we will have to save for the future."
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