IGUANA BE ALONE!
Eighteen months ago, a grounded tanker spilled 150,000 gallons of
diesel and bunker fuel into the waters around the famed Galapagos
Islands.  Luckily, shifting winds sent most of the fuel out to sea
rather than into shore, so sea lion and bird deaths numbered in the
dozens rather than the hundreds.  At the time, biologists and
conservationists breathed a sigh of relief, believing the islands and
their inhabitants had been largely spared.  Now, though, a long-term
study of the unique Galapagos marine iguana has found that the small
amount of oil that did reach the islands wrought a disproportionately
large amount of havoc.  On the island of Santa Fe, where the spill
left about a quart of oil per each yard of the windward shore, the
iguana population declined from 25,000 to 10,000.  Scientists
theorize that the oil killed the bacteria naturally present in
iguanas' guts that allows them to digest seaweed; in the absence of
the bacteria, the animals starved to death.  The findings provide new
evidence that even small spills can have subtle yet far-reaching
environmental effects.

straight to the source:  New York Times, Andrew C. Revkin, 06 Jun 2002
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/forward.pl?forward_id=180>

only in Grist: A week in the life of Roslyn Cameron, Charles Darwin
Research Station in the Galapagos
<http://www.gristmagazine.com/week/cameron043001.stm?source=daily>