2003
| Eradication of the black rat: - May 15, 2003
First steps to the introduction of endemic rodents in Bainbridge
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| Traveling turtles- May 15, 2003 CDF tracks the movements of sea turtles |
| Hamish Saunders (New Zealand, 7 June 1976 — 15 April 2003)
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| Darwin Initiative awards grant - April 14, 2003 Climate Change and the conservation of Galapagos endemic bird species |
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www.darwinfoundation.org reaches its first million! - April 3, 2003 On Monday March 31st, 2003 the Charles Darwin Foundation's website received its visitor number one million. The website was inaugurated in February, 2000 and today holds more than 1,000 pages about the conservation work undertaken by the Foundation in the Galapagos islands. Visitors have read an average of 3.5 pages per visit, and have generated approximately 20.3 million hits. Enjoy your stay! |
| Presentation Ceremony Of Annual Report 2002 - April 2, 2003 Executive Director presents Annual Report in Quito ceremony |
| Red Ant Eradication program begins on Marchena island - March 15, 2003 The Land Invertebrate Department of the CDRS – together with the Galapagos National Park – has started a red ant eradication programme on Marchena. Two years ago, the ant was spread over 22 hectares of the island. In November 2002, this was reduced to 65m2 and the endemic ants, previously displaced by the red ants, have now repopulated those areas. It is hoped that by the end of 2003, all red ants will have been eradicated on Marchena and that this exercise will act as a model for ant eradication programmes elsewhere. |
| Aedes Aegypti Studied in Galapagos - March 15, 2003 The mosquito Aedes Aegypti, which can carry dengue and yellow fever, breeds in non-salty water and is found in tropical and sub-tropical zones. Cases of Dengue throughout the world have risen in the last few years so when the presence of this mosquito was confirmed in Puerto Ayora, a fumigation programme was immediately started. During follow-up monitoring, dried mango leaves, mixed with sugar, were used to attract the insects, with pupils from local schools helping set traps. Mosquito eggs had been laid in 91% of the traps. (NB: not all the mosquitoes carry dengue). It is hoped that a monitoring system, together with checking water tanks, fumigation and educational campaigns - will help keep dengue at bay in the future. Since January the hospital in Puerto Ayora has been equipped to do blood tests for dengue. |
| Ladybirds have been released on Genovesa - March 15, 2003 Genovesa is one of the last of the Galapagos islands to undergo this form of biological control. This year the program will be evaluated to see how effectively the ladybirds have controlled cottony cushion scale. |
| Pigeons in San Cristobal - March 15, 2003 Eradication continues, with 70% of introduced pigeons now removed. Gustavo Jimenez and Tim Walsh, CDRS vets, are checking for any parasites or diseases. |
| New Staff Appointments - March 15, 2003 Dr. David Wiedenfeld is Head of Terrestrial Vertebrates and Brian Cooke is researcher for the Introduced Vertebrates and Endemic Mammals Programme. |
| Biological Baseline for the Zoning of the Galapagos Marine Reserve (GMR) - February 15, 2003 CDRS personnel, helped by fishermen and tourist operators, have been studying the marine biodiversity in more than 200 shallow and rocky submarine sites distributed all over the archipelago. This ambitious project involved virtually every member of the department. During year 2002, we concentrated our efforts in completing the analysis of data on the abundance and distribution of species. These results were compiled in the document Biodiversity Baseline. This 500 – page Spanish language publication of 21 chapters presents the most comprehensive revision made to date of the state of the Galapagos biological communities and of key commercial and non-commercial species. It also constitutes a vital reference for the evaluation of the provisional zoning of the coastal areas of the GMR |
| Charles Darwin Foundation's (CDF) work in Isabela- February 15, 2003 |
| Galapagos Sea Lions are endemic! - February 15, 2003 According to "Marine Mammals of the World" (Rice, 1998) the most recent and accepted taxonomic publication on marine mammals, the Galapagos Sea Lion is an endemic species. The news were communicated by Biologist Sandie Salazar, who added that now Galapagos has two endemic sea lion species: the Galapagos Fur Seal (Arctocephalus galapagoensis) and the Galapagos Sea Lion (Zalophus wollebaeki). |
| Dr. Marco Altamirano new Director of the Galapagos National Park Service - February 2, 2003
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| Prize for creativity - January 25, 2003 Six year old Diego Guerrero, chosen as the grand prize winner in contest with a drawing depicting a rat attacking the eggs belonging to a Galapagos endemic species. |