Urban Galápagos: Part 1

What does it mean to be urbanized on a volcanic archipelago?

With ‘Darwin Day’ (February 12^th) just behind us, my upcoming research trip to the Galápagos Islands feels almost unbelievably well-timed. My goal will be to study one of the fabled Darwin’s finches, the small ground finch (Geospiza fuliginosa), and its relationship with an invasive nest parasite (Philornis downsi). The parasite has been wreaking havoc on finch nestlings across the islands (Koop et al. 2013), and because P. downsi likely won’t be completely eradicated (Causton et al. 2013), it is crucial that we study whether the birds are able to mount defenses against the parasite. However, the Galápagos Islands inhabited by contemporary Darwin’s Finches are a far cry from the islands of Darwin’s time. In addition to the threat posed by a deadly, invasive parasite, many of the finches of today share their habitat with booming human populations.

It’s not common knowledge, but the human population of the Galápagos Islands has been steadily growing, and now the islands are home to more than 25,000 year-round residents (“People Today” 2019). On top of the residential population, 224,745 tourists visited the islands in 2015, with continued increases in tourism predicted for the foreseeable future (Izurieta 2017).

The relatively recent growth in the human population and associated human developments, provide biologists with a fascinating opportunity to measure adaptation to urbanization in real-time. Because so much of the land mass of the Galápagos is protected from development, increasingly stark gradients of urbanization are forming at the edges of city centers such as Puerto Baquerizo and Puerto Ayora. Organisms whose ranges span these edges are facing new circumstances in which the willingness to use alternate food resources and nest locations, the ability to evade invasive predators, competitors, and parasites, and the flexibility to find and reproduce in novel landscapes will be adaptive.

What do I expect urbanized Galápagos to be like?

It wouldn’t be exaggerating to claim that for many biologists, the opportunity to study Darwin’s Finches in the Galápagos is a dream come true. And like many who are suddenly faced with the realization of a previously unattainable goal, I just don’t know what to expect. I envision lush vegetation (it is an El Nino year), pristine beaches scattered with imps of darkness, and raucous, magnificent seabirds courting each other in an ancient dance. But, when I think about the Galápagos, I realize that I tend to think about my presence as a visitor, and the human population of the islands as a minor foot note. And that can’t be right! On the eve of my first trip to the islands, I wonder about the people who live in the Galápagos. As a visitor, my perspective on the natural heritage of the islands is likely very different from that of the people live there year-round and whose livelihoods depend on the islands. Most people who live in the Galápagos live there for financial reasons, making a living in the tourism industry (Izurieta 2017). If tourism is affecting the integrity of the islands’ natural history, I wonder how the residents feel about the ever-increasing flood of visitors.

Reconciling the statistics of human inhabitance and tourism rates on the islands with the animal-centric nature programming and natural history accounts that have made the Galápagos famous is proving a mental challenge. Can a place still be wild when humans live there, when it loses biodiversity, when it gains an invasive species, when the animals adapt to the presence of humans? And if the islands are no longer pristine, what does it mean to call the Galápagos urbanized? Surely the urbanization found on this volcanic equatorial archipelago can’t be comparable to that of the mainland metropolises. For evolutionary biologists, the Galápagos are Mecca. For the resident human population, the islands are home. And for the finches, it seems, they’re still an environment in flux.

 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Featured image at the top is from Wikimedia Commons by Eric Gaba.