Recently in Issues Category

On 28 January the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF) presented its 2009 Annual Report and Flagship Initiatives for 2010 at Quito's Botanical Garden. Representatives from major local, national and international institutions were in attendance.

Environment Minister, Marcela Aguinaga, and Dr Lopez

During the event, Dr. J. Gabriel Lopez, CDF's Executive Director, highlighted the foundation's achievements during 2009, as well as the new conservation and development challenges facing Galapagos.

Dr. Lopez reported that as an integral part of facing these challenges, in 2010 the Foundation will further strengthen its three flagship programmes launched in 2009. These include measuring the "human footprint" in the archipelago, better understanding the impacts of climate change in Galapagos to inform decision-making on adaptation, and furthering its comprehensive restoration of Floreana Island at the southern end of the island chain.  Dr Lopez also emphasised the importance of "working in a coordinated manner with Ecuadorean government agencies, academic centres of excellence, local actors, and the private sector for the conservation and sustainable development of Galapagos."

In his address, CDF Board President Pablo Iturralde Barba, brought attention to the importance of the Foundation's volunteer and scholarship programme, through which more than 1,100 young people from Galapagos and continental Ecuador have been trained at different stages of their careers. Many have continued their education, graduating with master's degrees and doctorates, and are now working in high-level positions in Ecuador and abroad.

CDF also launched a new "Partners for Galapagos" campaign that aims to bring together public and private enterprise in support of the organization's vital conservation efforts in the Galapagos archipelago.

In the early hours of Sunday 28 February, following the previous day's massive Chilean earthquake, the Ecuadorian authorities advised people to evacuate Puerto Ayora because of a fears of a tsunami.

According to the Charles Darwin Foundation's Executive Director, Dr. J. Gabriel Lopez: "We assembled all staff, volunteers and becarios who live on the station within 10 minutes and drove to Bellavista as advised by the authorities.

"We were among the first evacuees to arrive in Bellevista but eventually the vast majority of the population of Puerto Ayora made their way there. Shops quickly ran out of water, other liquids and breads and snacks. Upon receiving the all clear we returned to the Station at 0830".

As of Monday morning, UK time,  the sea is reported to be behaving oddly with quickly rising and receding tides of about one metre every 15 minutes. However there is not thought to be any serious risk.

An Australian ladybird on the Galapagos Islands is succeeding in controlling the invasive cottony cushion scale (Icerya purchasi). This is according to results of work carried out by scientists Mark and Christina Hoddle of the University of California, Riverside, and Roy Van Driesche of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in cooperation with Charlotte Causton, adjunct at the Charles Darwin Foundation, CDF staff, the Galapagos National Park Service, and the Galapagos Inspection and Quarantine System (SICGAL) during the last three months of 2009.

While work is still ongoing, data collected during the first phase of the study suggest that the mariquita or Vedalia beetle, an Australian ladybird (Rodolia cardinalis) has survived and spread, while suppressing the cottony cushion scale on many native Galapagos plants, including the white mangrove, Acacias, and Scalesia. However, there are several plant species still being affected by the cottony cushion scale, and further study is required to determine why the mariquita is not effective on these host plants. In addition to being effective, the project has been safe, as no evidence from field observations or the large cage studies was found of attack by R. cardinalis on non-target insects.

According  to the Charles Darwin Foundation's Stuart Banks, one in five of the 43 threatened Galapagos marine species may already be extinct.

In a landmark article published today by respected science journal, Global Change Biology, Stuart Banks, Senior Marine Scientist with the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), headquartered in Galapagos, teams with the world´s leading marine researchers in calling for increased focus on the forces of climate change.

CDF scientists researching coral reefs. Photo © CDF

Banks asserts that: "Galapagos is well-known for being unique, but what is less apparent is how tenuous the archipelago's unique status really is."  He reveals that of the 43 threatened Galapagos marine species, one in five may already be extinct.

The article provides an in-depth analysis of major studies charting changes in Galapagos biodiversity and marine ecosystems over the past 30 years.  Former CDF Marine Sciences Director and ongoing CDF collaborator Graham Edgar of the University of Tasmania led the development of the paper bringing together such luminaries as Sylvia Earle; National Geographic Society, and Peter Glynn, University of Miami, Les Kaufmann, Boston University, and CDF´s Stuart Banks.

In a sobering snapshot, Banks explains that:  "The unpredictable mix of El Niño, increased human presence, and global climate change is a recipe for the breakdown of natural ecological functions with serious impact on the recovery potential of species and habitats."
The article cites the Galapagos Marine Reserve as being "a near ideal environment for quantifying effects of oceanographic anomalies and fisheries on marine biodiversity, and for modeling future impacts of climate change," areas of study currently being addressed by CDF's Galapagos Climate Change Initiative.

This major new body of investigation takes a much-needed step in understanding the ties between climate, biodiversity, and the human impact, and will combine new and historical data to increase understanding of these relationships.


 

Ocean warming and human activity have devastated the coastal wildlife of the Galapagos Islands, say scientists.

Several species of marine plants and animals are believed to have become extinct and many others are seriously threatened, a new report reveals. Researchers blame the impact of rising ocean temperatures coupled with fishing and tourism.

Once abundant coral reefs and kelp beds had been wiped out in just a few decades, said the scientists from US-based Conservation International. Species that were previously plentiful such as the Galapagos black-spotted damselfish, the 24-rayed sunstar and the Galapagos stringweed were now thought to have vanished. Dozens of others, including the Galapagos penguin, were within ''a hairsbreadth of annihilation''.

Based on criteria laid down by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List, two species were ''probably'' extinct, another seven ''possibly'' extinct, and a further 36 ''vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered''. Over-fishing had led to an expansion of sea urchin populations, which in turn had upset the delicate web of marine life in the islands, said the scientists.

The researchers warned the Galapagos was a ''canary in a coalmine'' indicating what the world could expect from global warming.

Daily Telegraph