A before-and-after study led by Yale biologists, of the effects of 1997 El Niño on the genetic diversity of marine iguanas on the Galápagos Islands, emphasizes the importance of studying populations over time and the need to determine which environmental and biological factors make specific populations more vulnerable than others.

For some female iguanas, snaring a prince comes at a price. A team led by Princeton scientists has found that among the marine iguanas of the Galápagos Islands, females spend a great deal of energy picking a mate from their many suitors -- sapping strength the females might have used for finding food, escaping predators or producing eggs.

Picking a mate isn’t easy—if you are a female iguana. In a study published in the June 27th issue of the online, open-access journal PLoS ONE, Maren Vitousek of Princeton University and colleagues found that female Galбpagos marine iguanas spend a lot of energy picking a mate from a wide range of suitors – energy they could otherwise spend foraging, producing eggs, or avoiding predators.