Blue-footed boobies, marine iguanas, gigantic land tortoises, penguins, and fur seals are just a few of the unusual and varied animals found on the Galapagos Islands. 

These species collectively comprise what has been referred to as "Darwin's living laboratory." 

The desert-like vegetation that greets tourists to the Galapagos Islands often surprises them because they expect to continue seeing the lush greenery they had seen on the Ecuadorian mainland. 

The drab and grey flora frequently found in deserts covers most of the archipelago's land area. 

The Pacific Dry Belt surrounds the Galapagos Islands, and on a yearly average, only the highest elevations of the bigger islands receive enough rainfall to sustain tropical plant life.

The plant life on the islands is primarily a reflection of how young they are; it is challenging to describe many species because they appear to be in the middle of the evolutionary process. 

More than 600 natural species of vascular plants are thought to live on the Islands, along with over 825 imported species, most of which were brought there by humans. 

More than 100 imported species have established themselves in the wild, many of which are invasive and cause serious worry. 

There are no longer any of the three introduced plant species. 

The Galapagos Islands are well known for the large variety of endemic species that can only be found there. 

Endemic means a species exclusively occurs in one location; an example is the Galapagos Giant Tortoise.

Due to the Islands' geographic isolation from other areas, endemism is very high in the Galapagos. To maintain the sustainability and continued biodiversity of the island, endemic and keystone species must be protected. On the entire ecosystem, keystone species are essential. Many other species in the same ecosystem would be immediately impacted if something changed the number of keystone species in a region. The Galapagos archipelago is young; it was created between 700,000 and 5,000,000 years ago when molten rock poured from the marine crust. The archipelago's original landscape was stony, desolate, and lifeless. Later, visitors from the Pacific Ocean brought spores and seeds with them when they flew over the islands.

Along the rocky shores and within the hardened lava, hardy sea plants and cacti forests started to take hold. 

Inland and at higher elevations, rich vegetation grew over time.

Living rafts from South America floated to the islands carrying vegetation and tiny reptiles. 

Only the most demanding species could make the arduous trek, and these invaders demonstrated extraordinary flexibility to sustain the severe conditions of their new home. 

In the Galapagos, a remarkable variety of living organisms has developed over time. Unique to the archipelago, marine iguanas live along the stony shores where there is little vegetation. 

They hunted in the ocean for sustenance and improved their swimming skills. They are the only lizard species that habitually forages in water.

To survive the lengthy intervals between rain events, the giant tortoises of the islands can retain enormous volumes of water in their bodies.

The study found that the upper water layers are more easily mixed in the Galápagos region when winds blow north along the meridian. 

This water upwelling caused by the wind increases the nutrition supply for the phytoplankton, or algae, found in the light-receiving top ocean layers by allowing the colder, nutrient-rich deep ocean water to ascend and displace the warmer, nutrient-deficient surface water.

This crucial upwelling mainly occurs near the western shore of the Galápagos archipelago, particularly during dry seasons. 

The study discovered that these wind-ocean interactions depend significantly on the form and position of the Galápagos islands;

The western beaches produce density fronts that make the region more susceptible to wind-driven upwelling by obstructing the south equatorial ocean current as it flows west.

Additionally, the Humboldt Current, which transports cold Antarctic waters to replace the warmer seas in the area, is propelled by the northward winds.

Numerous species living in and around the Galápagos Islands depend on the phytoplankton resulting from this upwelling as a food source. 

Due to this algae, numerous creatures have mainly migrated from the Ecuadorian mainland and surrounding seas to the Islands. 

Sea birds traveling from Ecuador's mainland consumed krill, fed mainly by algae.

While penguins from Antarctica and Argentina most likely traveled on the Humboldt current, krill-eating iguanas and other reptiles arrived in style by sailing on floating logs. 

The abundance of fish and crabs that feed algae attracted marine life from the adjacent waters.

Furthermore, many of these land and marine animals have evolved due to the harsh conditions on the Islands through natural selection, significantly diversifying the animal population. 

As a result, one of the planet's most biodiverse regions was formed and is still maintained by this western region of seasonal wind-driven upwelling.