Charles Darwin Foundation

After a short illness, David Snow, a leading ornithologist, one of the founders and the first director of the Charles Darwin Research Station, died on the 4th February aged 84.

David was instrumental in introducing conservation programs to protect the islands’ remaining giant tortoises from further decline.  With his wife, Barbara (who died in 2007), he made a huge contribution to our understanding of the evolutionary consequences of fruit-eating in birds.

The Daily Telegraph’s obituary described David Snow as “a kindly but diffident man whose interests lay in field observation rather than administration.”  Yet in the Galapagos he organized enforcement of a ‘strict tortoise reserve’ for the Santa Cruz tortoise and a survey which revealed that members of two other species, thought to be extinct, were still alive.  This included one tortoise which, Snow reported, had been found on Espanola, “feeding on a fallen Opuntia in company, and in competition, with 15 goats.”  Among his parting recommendations was the eradication of goats on Espanola and Santa Fe islands.

David will be remembered for the major contribution he made to our understanding of the importance of Galapagos and the measures necessary to conserve the archipelago.  His autobiography, Birds in Our Life, was published in 2008.

 Sources:  The Galapagos Conservation Trust and The Guardian

Pink iguanas, first discovered by Galapagos National Park rangers in 1986, are now thought to be a unique species of land iguana following the analysis of genetic tests on the species.  The pink - or “rosada” - iguanas also differ from other land iguanas in striking ways:  they have a pink and black-striped coloring, flat head scales, and a thick fatty crest on the back of the neck with small conical scales.  Rosada also exhibits slightly different social behaviors than yellow or pallidus land iguanas.

The pink iguana (Conolophus subcristatus, rosada) population is thought to be incredibly small, existing entirely on the flanks of Volcan Wolf, perhaps small enough to put its survival in danger.

“Our studies would indicate that the population size is very small,” stated Dr. Gabriele Gentile, who led the new analysis.  “We only collected 36 in two years; and last year a large research team hiked up Wolf and only found 10, and most of those were ones that we’d marked earlier,” he added.

A BBC News article reports that “these numbers are low enough to make rosada a Critically Endangered species - if, indeed, it is a separate species from its yellow relatives.”  Dr. Gentile’s team is now preparing a formal description of the animal, and will be asking the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN) to rule that it is separate and distinct.

Source:  The Telegraph and the BBC

For the first time in more than 130 years, the critically endangered Floreana mockingbird will again live and breed on the island of Floreana if reintroduction efforts are carried out as planned in 2009.  Floreana mockingbirds were prevalent on the island during Darwin’s time, but introduced species, primarily rats and goats, caused their extirpation from the island within 50 years of the visit by the HMS Beagle.  The species managed to find refuge on two tiny islands near Floreana, Gardner-by-Floreana and Champion, though these isles currently support fewer than 150 of the birds.

This spring, five males and five females will be transported from the isles to Floreana.  The mockingbirds will be released into the wild after they become adapted to their environment, and invasive species in their vicinity can be eradicated. The release program will be carried out by conservationists from Durrell, set up by the naturalist and author Gerald Durrell 50 years ago and formerly known as Jersey Zoo.  They will work with conservationists from the Charles Darwin Foundation, Galápagos National Park, Zurich University, and the University of Missouri.

What better way to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth than to reintroduce the Floreana mockingbird?  Professor John Fa, of Durrell, said of the mockingbird: “It is an iconic species for our understanding of evolution. It was the bird that made Darwin think about the origin of species.”

Source: Times Online

Yesterday, July 1st, the Galapagos National Park announced that the parasite causing avian malaria was found in several Galapagos penguins by researchers studying the presence and distribution of diseases in Galapagos birds.  

Immediate follow-up studies are needed to document the prevalence (proportion of birds infected) of the parasite throughout the four-island distribution of the penguin, and to begin to estimate the impact of this parasite and consider approaches to disease control to prevent spread across the penguin population and transmission to other bird species. 

The Charles Darwin Foundation and the Galapagos National Park are very concerned about these preliminary findings and they are actively working  to immediately take action to learn more about the status of the parasite in the penguin population. 

The Galapagos National Park will be posting a press release in the next hours.We will keep you informed as more information becomes available. 

Source: Charles Darwin Foundation 

The House Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Research and Science Education Chairman Brian Baird with a Congressional Delegation visited the Galapagos last week to learn more about climate change, invasive species, Management of Parks, and Fisheries and Marine Reserve Management.Scientists believe the islands will experience early and extreme impacts of climate change,” said Baird. 

“The Islands have served as the world’s living laboratory since Charles Darwin based his theory of evolution on his work there.”The Galapagos Islands isolation, small size and high diversity make them ideal for the study of climate change, invasive species management, impacts of tourism on park and wilderness area management, and fisheries and marine reserve management. The committee met with the Galapagos National Park director, and the Charles Darwin Research Station staff.

For more information, please visit: 

http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?NewsID=2231