Since 1960 the CDRS has assisted, scientifically and logistically, hundreds of researchers from all over the world who conduct short- and long-term studies in Galapagos. This collaboration contributes to the increase in scientific knowledge and helps CDF to fulfill its role as advisor to the Ecuadorian Government on the conservation of Galapagos. The work of visiting scientists is also important in that they include in their research teams Ecuadorian university students, who, as field assistants, enrich their experience through scientific interaction and field work.
Among the many scientists well-known for their long history in Galapagos and their training of students are:
Martin Wikelski
Finches, boobies, and marine iguanas
Visiting scientist and Charles Darwin Foundation member Martin Wikelski (Princeton University) is known throughout the scientific world for his work in Galapagos, especially his remarkable discovery that marine iguanas shrink during El Niño events. He has been coming to Galapagos since 1987, when he worked as an assistant for Fritz Trillmich’s marine iguana project.
Wikelski’s work nicely demonstrates the value of Galapagos as a “living laboratory of evolution”, for in addition to the work on marine iguana response to stress, he is studying reproduction in Darwin’s finches, rivalry between masked booby chicks, and how marine iguanas choose their mates. He and his students come to the Galapagos several times a year, with some students staying for months to make their observations.
Cleveland Hickman
Marine invertebrates
Dr. Hickman arrived in Galapagos in 1989 with a group of students from Washington and Lee University to conduct censuses of the intertidal fauna. It was the only existing study on some groups of animals, which gave him the idea of producing field guides on all the common marine invertebrates in Galapagos. Since then he has returned each year to the Islands to collect and photograph specimens in close cooperation with Station personnel from the Area of Marine Studies (Biomar). He has already published two books, in both English and Spanish, of a series of three on the marine invertebrates. The first in the series is on echinoderms (1998), the second, which was co-authored with Dr. Yves Finet, is on molluscs (1999), and the third, which is in preparation, will deal with crustaceans. Dr. Hickman then plans to continue with studies on algae and radiate animals. Many of the new records and new species found in recent years are the result of trips by Dr. Hickman with Biomar.
Conley McMullen
Field guide on the flowering plant of Galapagos
Botanic studies in Galapagos have produced important technical work. Nevertheless, these texts are intimidating for the beginner, since they contain unfamiliar terminology. In 1999, Dr. McMullen published Flowering Plants of the Galapagos, a long-awaited photographic field guide on the flowering plants of the Archipelago, illustrated with his own photographs. This book is the result of sixteen years of field work conducted with the help of CDRS personnel. The text introduces the history of botany in the Islands and the varied ecological zones and allows easy identification of more than 436 flowering plants (77 families, 192 genera, and 390 species.)
Peter and Rosemary Grant
Darwin's finches
Studies by Drs. Peter and Rosemary Grant (Princeton University) on Darwin’s finches are famous the world over and they have published extensively on their findings. These scientists have followed the lives of various generations of Galapagos finches since 1973. During this time they have verified that environmental conditions have a great effect on the survival of different forms, which shows that a population of animals can change its form over time. This means that the process of natural selection, proposed by Charles Darwin more than 170 years ago, does indeed function. At the same time it is a route for the final production of new species. In addition to their own publications, the work of these scientists was made available to the general public in the successful book The Beak of the Finch by Jonathan Weiner.
David Anderson
Marine birds, cuckoos, and cactus
Since 1984, Dr. David Anderson, of Wake Forest University, has been conducting long-term studies on Española Island on the ecology of boobies, the waved albatross, and the swallow-tailed gull. In addition he has carried out other studies on Opuntia cactus and mockingbirds. His field work seasons have been characterized by their length, sometimes lasting up to a seven-month stay on wild Española. Dr. Anderson has contributed to the training of several Ecuadorian scientists, who have done field work and, in some cases, an undergraduate thesis with him.