- Charles Darwin Foundation

Results

Patricio Picón-Rentería CDF

Research in the Scalesia forest on Santa Cruz Island revealed more than 200 taxa of parasitoid wasps, compared with only 30 species previously reported for Galapagos. These tiny insects play essential ecological roles and highlight how much remains unknown about the archipelago’s biodiversity and fragile ecosystems in the Pacific Ocean.

Species Database Scalesia gordilloi O. Hamann & Wium-And.

Carlos Espinosa/CDF

Species Database Nesodesmus insulanus Chamberlin, 1914

Conducting PCR tests in Galapagos Giant Tortoises

Heinke Jäger-CDF

Scalesia forest restoration

Scalesia forests once thrived on the Galapagos Islands, forming a unique humid ecosystem for plants, insects, giant tortoises and birds. Today, only 1% of the forests’ original distribution remains, with several endemic species, including the Scalesia themselves, struggling to survive. We are working to restore this important habitat and given the rapid rate of forest loss, it is a race against time.