Humans in the Galápagos-

• John Merck and Fern Gookin
• 6-11-04
• 1926: Norwegians Norwegians try to colonize the Galápagos. They lured workers from Norway through advertisements promising a tropical paradise, may found this was far from the truth. They came to the islands and started a short lived fishing industry, some descendants can still be found living on Santa Cruz and San Cristóbal. Their lasting legacy is the town of Puerto Ayora on southern Santa Cruz.
• mammalian herbivores (ie goats) have higher metabolic rates than tortoises so eat a lot more
  • pigs root up native plants and animal eggs
• 475 introduced species of plants in 1999 (only 560 native)
  • rate of about 1-10 new species/ yr (10000 times the natural rate of arrival
  • 10 species present major threats, 30 currently cause some damage, 60 potentially threatening
  • on santa cruz main plant pests: guava (Psidium guayaba), the curse of India (Lantana camara), blackberry (Rubus niveus), and quinine (Cinchona pubesceris). Quinine is a major threat in the Micronia zone because it shades out other plants.
• wood, mined rock and gravel, arable land, freshwater are all limited natural resources
• 1934- A population of land iguanas form Baltra are seeded onto Seymour (by the American Hancock Foundation) to see if they could survive there: this actually saves a part of the otherwise-extinct Baltra population of Conolophus.
• current:
  • Conolophus was just reintroduced to Baltra! (see Land Iguanas Repatriated)
  • CDRS is in charge of basic and applied research; Galápagos National Park Service in charge of monitoring and protecting habitats; Charles Darwin Foundation, Galápagos Conservation Trust, and others in charge of finding resources to implement controls and education.
  • However, there are sometimes high costs of doing business: estimation is that to eliminate quinine in the islands would need 15 people, working for 15-20 years, at about $2M.
  • parks:
    • High Protection Zones (near pristine part of the Park, kept under very tight restrictions)
    • Primitive Zones (kept free from all but investigators and Park staff, allowing for recovery of native wildlife). Majority of area of the Park is Primitive Zone
    • Special Use Zone (places where park has been modified for human infrastructure or natural resource use)
    • Visitors Zones (the places people can visit)
    • External Zones (places of human habitation)
  • As of 1999, marine reserve extends 40 miles from the baseline of the islands.

News:

• Fishery Sector Protest Update:
  • On Saturday, June 5, more than 200 citizens of Puerto Ayora marched in a counter-demonstration, supporting the Park and Station, and calling for an end to the fishermens’ activities.
• Land Iguanas Repatriated:
  • Thanks to the support of the Ecuadorian Air Force, the Galapagos National Park Service (GNP) and the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) were able to repatriate 64 land iguanas to their original island, Baltra, on June 12, 2003.
  • minimum age of 5 years and a minimum weight of 400 grams.
  • 1930s- 70 transfered by american researchers to north seymour
  • 1940s- iguanas on baltra die out
  • 1980 and 85- 8 total iguanas transfered to breeding center on santa cruz to reproduce and get dna

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This web page created by Jill A. Rowehl

Email the author at ig3@mit.edu

Last Edited on Saturday, 23-Oct-2004