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In 2001 Lynn Margulis visited the main campus of the Universidad San Francisco de Quito to give the commencement address and to travel to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Ecuadorian Amazonia.  We felt privileged to be part of her entourage for this trip to the rainforest and to have the opportunity to listen her descriptions of hundreds of plants, fungi, insects, slime molds, and even symbiotic protists inhabiting the guts of primitive termites.  During this trip Lynn expressed the need to promote a more comprehensive perspective on biological evolution, one that takes in account not only the classical and modern interpretations of Darwin’s ideas but also the mechanisms of microbial evolution, especially  symbiogenesis -the process that gave rise to eucaryotes  more than two billion years ago and has continued to shape protists and  multicellular organisms ever since.  It was clear that evolutionary science was concentrated primarily on macroscopic biota while neglecting microbes almost entirely.      Those conversations became the main motivation to bring some of the most important minds working in evolutionary science to the very place that inspired Charles Darwin, the Galapagos Islands. During  the summers of  2005 and  2009 we gathered scientists specializing on plants, animals, bacteria and, protists to discuss the peculiarities of evolutionary mechanisms within each domain of life. This book contains some of the most important lectures presented at the first two World Summits on Evolution.

Nature protection --- Evolution. Phylogeny --- General ecology and biosociology --- Geography --- Europees recht --- evolutieleer --- geografie --- natuurbescherming --- insecten --- ecosystemen --- Galápagos Islands

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The recent passing of “Lonesome George,” the last remaining Giant Tortoise from Pinta Island in the Galapagos Archipelago of Ecuador, marks a sad farewell to yet another species from Planet Earth.  The vulnerability of island ecosystems is particularly striking, especially given the expanding human imprint in many of these fragile settings and the corresponding risk of accelerated human development on native and endemic flora and fauna, many of which are iconic or emblematic species used to identify special places, like the Galapagos Islands, an internationally renowned Protected Area and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   In this volume, and the books to come as part of this Galapagos Series, we explore scientific approaches and conservation perspectives to address the challenges of social-ecological sustainability in island ecosystems, with a special emphasis on the social, terrestrial, and marine sub-systems of the Galapagos and their integrated and linked effects. In this initial volume, we include chapters from scientists, managers, and conservationists that explore contexts and explanations of historical, contemporary, and alternative futures for the Galapagos Islands to set the stage for more focused books in the Series on topics ranging from evolution, history of scientific engagement in the Galapagos, tourism and population migration, and marine ecology of the Galapagos Marine Reserve.   While this book launches the Galapagos Book Series, it also offers a broad and exploratory statement of threats to the Galapagos Islands, such as invasive species and the direct and indirect impacts of human migration, as motivation for subsequent studies and books to benefit science and society in the Galapagos Islands, also with the goal of creating a global template to examine other similarly challenged island ecosystems around the world.   .

Nature protection --- General ecology and biosociology --- Human ecology. Social biology --- Geography --- sociale ecologie --- duurzaamheid --- ecologie --- duurzame ontwikkeling --- geografie --- natuurbescherming --- ecosystemen --- Galápagos Islands

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This book investigates the introduction of invasive species and their behavior in oceanic islands. How can we define invasive species? What is their history? How did they come to dominate and transform ecosystems? These are relevant questions when trying to understand the behavior of invasive species—primarily in fragile ecosystems such as islands—and to understand the biological, ecological, social and economic impacts of invasions. We chose the Galapagos Islands, a place well-known to be unique in the study of evolution, as a laboratory to analyze the interactions between invasive and endemic species, to understand the makeup of the ecosystems emerging after invasions have occurred, to describe the relationships of invasives with the people that live in these islands, and to try to develop comprehensive analyses on this topic from multi-scalar and multi-disciplinary points of view. For a long time, the discussion has been about how proper management of the species could achieve two main goals: the eradication of the species to recover affected ecosystems and the conservation of endemic species. The discussion has taken on other nuances, including the suggestion that an invasive species, when it is already adapted to an ecosystem, forms an integral part of it, and thus eradication would in itself go against conservation. On the other hand, some invasive species are not only part of the biological compound of the island ecosystems, but they also form part of the social and cultural history of the inhabited islands. Some of these identified by the local inhabitants are species of real or potential economic value.

Nature protection --- General ecology and biosociology --- Animal ethology and ecology. Sociobiology --- Environmental protection. Environmental technology --- Geography --- biodiversiteit --- geografie --- natuurbescherming --- moleculaire biologie --- proefdieren --- milieubescherming --- Galápagos Islands