Summer Study in the Galapagos Islands
“Tensions between conservation and development in the
Galapagos Islands were explored by three dozen students and affiliates of
Stanford’s Master of Liberal Arts Program in a summer study adventure to the
archipelago. Professor Bill Durham led the expedition, his 34th to the islands
that have served as a focal point for his research in ecological and
evolutionary anthropology, conservation, and community development and resource
management. In nine stops over six days, the group witnessed how the Galapagos
Islands have been heavily impacted by humans and analyzed efforts under way to
both preserve and restore endangered flora and fauna.
The Stanford MLA group learned about efforts by the
Galapagos National Park and the Ecuadoran government to curtail population
growth, manage tourist visitation and repopulate endangered species in visits
to locales that included the Cerro Colorado Tortoise Reserve and Breeding
Center on San Cristobal Island, the Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa
Cruz Island and Punta Suarez on Española Island—where they witnessed the peak
breeding activity of the rare waved albatross.
Throughout the intellectual journey, Durham conducted
lectures on evolutionary issues and current conservation strategies in
Galapagos. He noted that while Darwin’s finches are well known for their beak
adaptations, Darwin was actually more interested in the variation among
Galapagos mockingbirds. As with most Galapagos species, the mockingbirds vary
by island in their beak and wing configurations that adapted to available food
sources.
Durham’s favorite island flora is a daisy variety, Scalesia,
endemic only to the Galapagos and thus evolved to become a tree as tall as 15
meters. It has evolved through adaptive radiation and is found in 15 different
species at various climates and elevations on the islands. As with many island
plants, Scalesia is threatened by development and invasive plant species.
Durham noted that on many islands, almost all of the visible vegetation is
non-native.
Travel for the group was dictated and restricted by the
Galapagos National Park, which has implemented new measures within the past
year to limit visitation to key sites. At each location, a park guide
accompanied every 12 people to minimize impact to wildlife, the majority of
which still has not developed a fear of people. Boats and ships, the only way
to travel between the islands that dot the ocean over hundreds of miles, cannot
visit any location twice within two weeks, limiting itineraries. Only about
2,000 tourists at a time can be present on the islands, and curbs have been
instated for permanent inhabitants—marriage and birth are the only paths to
official residency.
Prior to the expedition, students had enrolled in Durham’s small
MLA seminars, Conservation and Development Issues in Latin America: Galapagos
as a Microcosm and Evolution and Conservation in Galapagos, and had read
extensively from published research on conservation and writings on evolution.”
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