M. Veronica Toral-Granda

Galápagos is one of the most pristine archipelagos in the world and its conservation relies upon research and sensible management. In recent decades both the interest in, and the needs of, the islands have increased, yet the funds and capacity for necessary research have remained limited. It has become, therefore, increasingly important to identify areas of priority research to assist decision-making in Galápagos conservation. This study identified 50 questions considered priorities for future research and management. The exercise involved the collaboration of policy makers, practitioners and researchers from more than 30 different organisations. Initially, 360 people were consulted to generate 781 questions. An established process of preworkshop voting and three rounds to reduce and reword the questions, followed by a two-day workshop, was used to produce the final 50 questions. The most common issues raised by this list of questions were human population growth, climate change and the impact of invasive alien species. These results have already been used by a range of organisations and politicians and are expected to provide the basis for future research on the islands so that its sustainability may be enhanced.

Alien species, one of the biggest threats to natural ecosystems worldwide, are of particular concern for oceanic archipelagos such as Galápagos. To enable more effective management of alien species, we reviewed, collated and analysed all available records of alien species for Galápagos. We also assembled a comprehensive dataset on pathways to and among the Galápagos Islands, including tourist and resident numbers, tourist vessels, their itineraries and visitation sites, aircraft capacity and occupancy, air and sea cargo and biosecurity interceptions. So far, 1,579 alien terrestrial and marine species have been introduced to Galápagos by humans. Of these, 1,476 have become established. Almost half of these were intentional introductions, mostly of plants. Most unintentional introductions arrived on plants and plant associated material, followed by transport vehicles, and commodities (in particular fruit and vegetables). The number, frequency and geographic origin of pathways for the arrival and dispersal of alien species to and within Galápagos have increased over time, tracking closely the increase in human population (residents and tourists) on the islands. Intentional introductions of alien species should decline as biosecurity is strengthened but there is a danger that unintentional introductions will increase further as tourism on Galápagos expands. This unique world heritage site will only retain its biodiversity values if the pathways for invasion are managed effectively.

The global scale and rapidity of environmental change is challenging ecologists to reimagine their theoretical principles and management practices. Increasingly, historical ecological conditions are inadequate targets for restoration ecology, geographically circumscribed nature reserves are incapable of protecting all biodiversity, and the precautionary principle applied to management interventions no longer ensures avoidance of ecological harm. In addition, human responses to global environmental changes, such as migration, building of protective infrastructures, and land use change, are having their own negative environmental impacts. We use examples from wildlands, urban, and degraded environments, as well as marine and freshwater ecosystems, to show that human adaptation responses to rapid ecological change can be explicitly designed to benefit biodiversity. This approach, which we call “renewal ecology,” is based on acceptance that environmental change will have transformative effects on coupled human and natural systems and recognizes the need to harmonize biodiversity with human infrastructure, for the benefit of both.

Galápagos National Park is iconic for its biodiversity, its role in evolutionary science and as a tourist destination. Over 200,000 tourists visit per year, leading to tension between development and environmental protection. One way to alleviate tourist pressure is to increase visitor understanding for conservation through environmental education, delivered through national park guides and interpretation centres. This study investigated tourist satisfaction with official national park guides and park facilities. A latent class model of nearly 9000 tourists indicated that older women on cruise tours who had planned their trips well in advance were most satisfied with both. Younger men on short, spontaneous land-based visits were more likely not to be satisfied. However, while creating tourist products to satisfy young men could provide short-term economic benefits, such strategies could have long-term disadvantages if they threaten the Galápagos wildlife that gives the islands a competitive advantage over other sites.

Worldwide, most sea cucumber fisheries are ineffectively managed, leading to declining stocks and potentially eroding the resilience of fisheries. We analyse trends in catches, fishery status, fishing participation and regulatory measures among 77 sea cucumber fisheries through data from recent fishery reports and fishery managers. Critical gaps in fisheries biology knowledge of even commonly targeted species undermine the expected success of management strategies. Most tropical fisheries are small‐scale, older and typified by numerous (>8) species, whereas temperate fisheries are often emerging, mono‐specific and industrialized. Fisher participation data indicated about 3 million sea cucumber fishers worldwide. Fisher participation rates were significantly related to the average annual yield. permanova analysis showed that over‐exploited and depleted fisheries employed different sets of measures than fisheries with healthier stocks, and a non‐metric multidimensional scaling ordination illustrated that a broad set of regulatory measures typified sustainable fisheries. SIMPER and regression tree analyses identified that the dissimilarity was most related to enforcement capacity, number of species harvested, fleet (vessel) controls, limited entry controls and rotational closures. The national Human Development Index was significantly lower in countries with over‐exploited and depleted fisheries. Where possible, managers should limit the number of fishers and vessel size and establish short lists of permissible commercial species in multispecies fisheries. Our findings emphasize an imperative to support the enforcement capacity in low‐income countries, in which risk of biodiversity loss is exceptionally high. Solutions for greater resilience of sea cucumber stocks must be embedded within those for poverty reduction and alternative livelihood options.

"Reproductive biology of the red spiny lobster, Panulirus penicillatus and the Galapagos slipper lobster, Scyllarides astori in the Galapagos Islands" published on 01 Jan 2007 by Brill.

Long‐term density data for the sea cucumber, Isostichopus fuscus, from Canal Bolivar (separating western Isabela and eastern Fernandina Islands), Galápagos, were compared with catch statistics and used in a stock depletion model to determine the extent of the effects of the fishery on the existing population and the potential for the population to recover after each fishing season. Recruitment indices were found to be low from 1994 until mid‐1999, when a mass recruitment event was registered and numbers of small individuals increased dramatically. The increase in density of juveniles peaked in 2001 and has declined since. Recruitment in this species of sea cucumber appears to be highly sporadic and may depend on intense climatic events such as the warm El Niño. Current levels of fishing activity are unsustainable. The management implications of pulse recruitment in this fishery are discussed.

Analysis of ecological baseline data collected for key resource species within the Galapagos Marine Reserve indicates that variation in animal density associated with the location of fully protected zones can be comparable to protected area effects. Even with a high level of interspersion between conservation, tourism and fishing management zones, major differences in densities of economically important species were evident between zone types prior to enforcement of fishing restrictions. Densities of the most valuable fishery resource, sea cucumbers, were three times higher in zones that remained open to fishing compared to ‘no-take’ conservation zones, and densities of sharks were five times higher in tourism zones than fishing or conservation zones. These results highlight bias in the socio-political processes that can accompany selection of marine protected areas, where fishers attempt to minimize perceived impacts on their livelihood by locating large protected zones in resource-poor areas, and tourism operators and sport divers argue for protection of areas containing atypically-interesting features. Bias in the location of fully protected zones can seriously confound ‘control-impact’ field investigations when data prior to prohibitions on fishing are lacking, including meta-analyses, which are dominated by such potentially systematically biased studies.