136 Results Found

The Galápagos Petrel (Pterodroma phaeopygia) is a long-lived Critically Endangered seabird endemic to the Galápagos Islands and faces severe threats from invasive species, particularly rodents. Until now, evidence of rat predation on Ga...

International esteem for Galápagos’ natural wonders and the democratization of travel have contributed to a 300% increase in annual tourist entries to the archipelago from 2000 (68,989) to 2018 (275,817). The attendant spike in tourism-r...

When we hear of the Galapagos Islands, we think of a place of natural conservation and biological diversity, with the archipelago having been a World Heritage Site since 1978 and a Biosphere Reserve since 1984, expanding its area in 2019. In this stu...

This paper analyses some aspects of the management of municipal solid waste in one of the islands of the Galapagos archipelago. The aim is to point out a few aspects of an interesting experience that could help decision managers faced with the organi...

Water scarcity and salinity pose significant challenges for agriculture in the Galapagos Islands, severely limiting crop yields needed to sustainably meet the growing demands of the human population in the archipelago. To address this issue, environm...

Agriculture is cultural heritage, and studies of agricultural spaces and practices help this heritage to be valued and protected. In the Galapagos Islands, little focus has been placed on local agricultural practices and agroforestry, despite their i...

Maritime passenger transport in the Galapagos Islands–Itabaca Channel is based on boats with combustion engines that consume an annual average of 4200 gallons of fuel and produce about 38 tons of CO2 per year. The operation of the solar catamar...

The Galapagos Islands are one of the most emblematic protected areas on the planet and also one of the most studied. Their main economic activity is tourism, which has grown rapidly in recent years. The increase in tourists is associated with the inc...

Real-time identification of wildlife is an upcoming and promising tool for the preservation of wildlife. In this research project, we aimed to use object detection and image classification for the racer snakes of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador...

This study explores sustainable housing solutions for urban areas in the Galapagos Islands, aiming to balance human needs with ecosystem preservation by fostering co-habitation between local communities and native species. Recognising the ecological...

Water is an essential element for agricultural sustainability. In volcanic islands, freshwater sources are limited, challenging the local farming water supply. Rainfall dependence in the Galapagos Islands limits continuous agriculture, and despite us...

This study investigates the species richness and distribution of ladybird beetles (Coccinellidae) across various habitats on San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos Archipelago, Ecuador. Through extensive field surveys, we catalogued nine...

Invasive species are one of the main threats to biodiversity worldwide, and the Galapagos Islands are no exception. With the need to control many invasive plant species, accurate distribution maps of invasive plant species are crucial for cost-effect...

The Galapagos Islands are a unique sanctuary for wildlife and have gone through a fluctuating process of urbanization in the three main inhabited islands. Despite being colonized since the 1800s, it is during the last 25 years that a dramatic increas...

Globally to date, established international standards for animal welfare, a priority of sustainable agriculture, have primarily focused on large-scale producers. However, across Latin America, including in Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands, sm...

Since 1984, the Galapagos Islands have been included in the program UNESCO—MAB (Man and Biosphere Programme) due to the increasing need to safeguard their outstanding natural ecosystems and promote economic progress based on principles of sustainable...

Water quality in Galápagos has been deteriorating by increased human impacts over the past few decades. Water quality is a key environmental component and issue in need to be evaluated in the Pelican Bay Watershed, the biggest urban and econom...

The levels of mercury (Hg) were examined in the leg muscle of the crab Grapsus grapsus from five sites on four islands within the Galápagos archipelago. Mercury values obtained using a Milestone DMA 80 evo direct mercury analyzer varied both w...

Punta Carola beach, located on San Cristóbal Island in the Galápagos Archipelago, exemplifies how island environments of recent human settlement can rapidly acquire cultural significance. Drawing on a survey of 201 residents, this study...

Dengue fever is an emerging infectious disease in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, with the first cases reported in 2002 and subsequent periodic outbreaks. We report results of a 2014 pilot study conducted in Puerto Ayora (PA) on Santa Cruz I...

Clouds play an important role in the climate system; nonetheless, the relationship between climate change in general and regional cloud occurrence is not yet well understood. This particularly holds for remote areas such as the iconic Galapagos archi...

Due to the biological uniqueness of the Galápagos Islands, ectoparasites of their avian fauna are relatively well-studied compared with other oceanic islands. However, in this study, quill mites (Acariformes: Prostigmata: Syringophilidae) were...

The fragile ecosystem of the Galapagos Islands is being affected by population growth, intensive tourism, the exploitation of local resources and the high consumption of imported fossil fuels. This unsustainable development model makes the provision...

Islands are particularly vulnerable to the effects of land cover change due to their limited size and remoteness. This study analyzes vegetation cover change in the agricultural area of Santa Cruz (Galapagos Archipelago) between 1961 and 2018. To rec...

The humid highlands of the Galapagos are the islands’ most biologically productive regions and a key habitat for endemic animal and plant species. These areas are crucial for the region’s food security and for the control of invasive plan...

Background: The emblematic Galapagos sea lion (GSL—Zalophus wollebaeki) has faced an important population decline over the last four decades. There are multiple environmental and biological factors that might be implied in this decrease. Recent...

The Galapagos Islands have been declared a World Heritage site due to their unique biodiversity, which makes them a living museum and a natural laboratory for humankind. However, to fulfill the energy needs of its habitants and foreign visitors, the...

In this study, the sizing problem of hybrid diesel–photovoltaic–battery systems was determined using a particle swarm optimization approach. The goal was to optimize the number of solar panels and batteries that could be installed to redu...

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted tourism systems worldwide, particularly ecologically sensitive and tourism-dependent regions such as the Galapagos Islands. This study investigated the impact of the pandemic on profiles of tourists visiting Santa Cruz...

Darwin’s finches are a classic example of adaptive radiation involving differential use of dietary resources among sympatric species. Here, we apply stable isotope (δ13C, δ15N, and δ2H) analyses of feathers to examine ecological segregation among eig...

In order to understand the effect of community-based tourism (CBT) on sustainability, bespoke instruments are required. This paper advocates the application of resilience thinking as a theoretical-methodological resource suited to this purpose. The m...

Oceanic islands harbor unique yet fragile marine ecosystems that require evidence-based environmental management. Among these islands, the Galapagos archipelago is well known for its fish diversity, but the factors that structure communities within a...

Tortoises belong to the taxonomic family Testudinidae, which is considered one of the most imperiled families of the order Testudines. Anesthesia is often required for the medical and surgical management of large tortoises. The objectives of this ret...

Bovine trypanosomoses, caused by Trypanosoma vivax, is a disease present in African and South American countries. This haemoflagellate protozoan parasite, as well as Anaplasma marginale and Babesia spp., are microorganisms that have a blood tropism,...

Salmonella Infantis, a common contaminant of poultry products, is known to harbor mobile genetic elements that confer multi-drug resistance (MDR) and have been detected in many continents. Here, we report four MDR S. Infantis strains recovered from p...

The Galapagos Islands are undeniably a highly attractive ecosystem for scientists worldwide. However, the energy efficiency and sustainability aspects of their building stock have not yet been studied in depth, which directly hinders the achievement...

The interest in the welfare of zoo animals, from both the public and the scientific community, has long been biased towards mammals. However, growing evidence of the complex behavioural repertoires of less charismatic animals, such as reptiles, revea...

The fragility of geographically isolated islands stresses the necessity of evaluating the current situation, identifying temporal trends and suggesting appropriate conservation measures. To support this, we assessed the freshwater quality of three st...

Due to their geographical condition and worldwide environmental protection policies, the Galapagos Islands must opt for implementing clean energy infrastructure considering natural hazard effects that can directly affect the resilience of community r...

Event-based biogeographic methods, such as dispersal-extinction-cladogenesis, have become increasingly popular for attempting to reconstruct the biogeographic history of organisms. Such methods employ distributional data of sampled species and a date...

The biotas of the Galápagos Islands are one of the best studied island systems and have provided a broad model for insular species’ origins and evolution. Nevertheless, some locally endemic taxa, such as the Galápagos Rail Lateral...

We studied Galápagos barn owls on Santa Cruz Island in the Galápagos Archipelago. We collected and analyzed pellets to determine diet composition. Barn-owl diet consisted—in terms of biomass—of ~89% rodents and ~10% insects. Bird remains occurred in...

Alien insect species may present a multifaceted threat to ecosystems into which they are introduced. In addition to the direct damage they may cause, they may also bring novel diseases and parasites and/or have the capacity to vector microorganisms t...

Motivations for traveling to World Heritage natural destinations shape important theories for academic research. This study aims to analyze the influence of motivational factors on tourist satisfaction in the Galápagos Islands. The quantitativ...

The Galapagos Marine Reserve is vital for cetaceans, serving as both a stopover and residency site. However, blue whales, occasionally sighted here, exhibit poorly understood migratory behavior within the Galapagos and the broader Eastern Tropical Pa...

The status of the Tramea species present in the Galapagos Islands (Odonata, Libellulidae) has been the subject of a long-standing debate among odonatologists. Here, we use molecular and morphological data to analyze a series of specimens from this ge...

Human activities contribute to the degradation of water quality on the Galapagos Islands, affecting human health and Galapagos’ fragile ecosystem. Despite the numerous resources vested in water management, programs have yet to achieve measurabl...

Invasive alien species control is recognized worldwide as a priority action to preserve global biodiversity. However, a lack of general life history knowledge for threatened species can impede the effectiveness of conservation actions. Galápag...

Renewable sources on islands seem to be the most attractive option to decarbonize and lower the price of electricity; currently, most islands do so by replacing their diesel generators with wind or solar sources, along with energy storage. The Galapa...

This study's concept was outlined around the principle of conservation medicine in a biodiversity hotspot from the Neotropical realm: the Galapagos Islands. The wildlife balance has been modified by multi-host parasites introduced with some domestic...