Island Conservation
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s proposed “Green List” would shift conversation to encourage the focus on the full recovery of a species–beyond preventing extinctions. A critical intervention was needed in 2012 on Pinzón Island in the Galápagos to save the endemic (found nowhere else on Earth) Pinzón Giant Tortoise from extinction. Captive […]
Galapagos Conservancy features an article by Island Conservation’s Restoration Specialist Paula A. Castaño about how removal of invasive rodents and feral cats will pave the way for ecological restoration and native species reintroduction on Floreana Island. By: Paula Castaño Floreana Island is located in one of the most amazing places on earth: the Galápagos Islands. […]
The University of Wisconsin awards alumna and IC Project Facilitator Paulina Stowhas the Forward Under 40 Award for her dedication to conservation. Paulina Stowhas has always admired diversity — in nature, in culture, and in people. Stowhas, a Chilean veterinarian and expert on human-wildlife conflicts, has recently followed her passion for biodiversity to the Juan […]
WIRED features GBIRd and Island Conservation Project Director Karl Campbell in an article about the potential for gene drives to help prevent extinctions of island species. By: Emma Marris KARL CAMPBELL IS a craftsman bedeviled by bad tools. He’s a middle-aged, medium-size, muscular Australian with a five-day beard and an intense gaze who seems perpetually […]
The future is uncertain for Earth’s incredible island worlds. By: Dr. Vivien Cumming The Earth is a blue planet with oceans covering over 70 percent of Earth’s surface. Out there alone, in the middle of these vast oceans, stand islands – havens for life on Earth. Standing alone in the middle of the ocean, there is […]
Researchers call attention to the speciation of a Galápagos Finch, a process seemingly accelerated by hybridization with a non-native finch. Speciation is an evolutionary process in which small genetic changes lead to an entirely new species. For the first time, researchers have been able to watch this process unfold in the field. Normally this process […]
In honor of Giving Tuesday we asked Photography Specialist Will Allen-DuPraw what inspires him to prevent extinctions. Here is his response… Islands are incredible. Some, like Hawai’i, are forged by volcanoes. Others, like Isla Mona, are born from the collision of continental shelves. In some cases, like the Palauan Rock Islands, islands are formed atop […]
Smithsonian features Island Conservation and partners’ efforts to restore Floreana Island. Genetic testing has proven the existence of remnant populations of Floreana Tortoises on Wolf Island that could one day return to Floreana–if the island is restored. Conservationists are on a mission to bring back the Floreana Tortoise from extinction. Galápagos Giant Tortoises evolved on […]
Gloria Salvador, Facilitadora del Proyecto Floreana, nos comparte la manera en que los residentes de la Isla de Floreana han encontrado formas de integrar la comunidad y la conservación para defender sus valores más profundos ante el cambio. Por: Gloria Salvador El archipiélago de Galápagos, también conocido como las Islas Encantadas, recibió su apodo por […]
Jon Hoekstra, Executive Director of the Mountains to Sound Greenway Trust and Island Conservation board member explains the damaging role invasive species play in biodiversity loss at the Harvard University “Ecological Systems in the Anthropocene” lecture series. Watch the panel discussion at Harvard University Center for the Environment Elizabeth Wolkovich: What are the major threats […]