Week One:

Research on the Galapagos Ecosystem

During the first week of research, in which the team tried to gain a basic understanding of the problems on San Cristobal, I focused on the ecosystem issues of the island. More specifically, I researched information on the oceans and their health.

The Charles Darwin Research Station divided the ocean around the Galapagos into zones, and performed an intense two-year study on these zones. The findings from this project are recorded in the 500-page document, Biodiversity Baseline.

Information on this project was found at the following locations:

General Study/Book Information: http://www.darwinfoundation.org/news/news02150303.html

Information on the zoning: http://www.darwinfoundation.org/marine/zoning.html

The oil spill: http://www.galapagos.org/whatsnew/ecosystem.html

I also looked into more general issues of conservation:

Population growth and introduction of aggressive alien species: http://forests.org/archive/samerica/galnearc.htm

In addition, I found an overview picture of the island: http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/GalapagosWWW/SanCristobal.jpg

My last action was to familiarize myself with the online database search engine. Although the articles I found were too specific for general use, I bookmarked a few searches for later reference.