Galápagos National Park

The Galápagos National Park ranges over 97 percent of the land in the Galápagos Islands, situated in the Pacific Ocean. The remaining percentage is occupied by the island’s inhabitants. Through millions of years of isolation and limited contact with human society, each island and sometimes regions of the larger islands have developed their very own distinct ecosystem, in which the animals and plants that occupy these regions have noticeable visual traits. Iguanas, tortoises, and birds are the best known endemic animal species in the national park depending on which island they inhabit and what their food source is. Many different types of finches inspired Charles Darwin to write his theory of evolution by natural selection. The islands are located where three ocean currents merge and therefore offer unique climatic conditions. Due to the increase in human presence in and around the national park there have been problems of invasive species threatening the fragile ecosystems: in 2007 the UNESCO declared the Galápagos National Park a World Heritage Site in Danger. The Charles Darwin Research Station on Santa Cruz island, and the National Park Services collaborate towards containing the invasive species.  

Contributed by Cesar Urgiles
Course: Modern Global Environmental History
Instructor: Dr. Wilko Graf von Hardenberg
University of Wisconsin–Madison, US