Bokus
Galapagos Giant Tortoises, Inbunden

Inbunden, Engelska, 2020

Galapagos Giant Tortoises

Del i serien Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscapes

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Beskrivning
Galapagos Giant Tortoises brings together researchers and conservationists to share the most up-to-date knowledge of Galapagos giant tortoises. Despite being icons of the world-famous Galapagos Archipelago and the target of more than 50 years of conservation research and management, Galapagos giant tortoise evolution and much of their ecology remained unknown until recently. This book documents the history, the pressing conservation issues, and success stories recovering several of the 15 different species of Galapagos tortoises from near extinction.The book begins with an overview of the history of the relationship between humans and Galapagos giant tortoises, starting from initial heavy exploitation of tortoises by pirates and whalers, and extending to the start of the modern conservation era in the 1960s. The book then shifts to biology, describing Galapagos tortoise evolution, taxonomy, ecology, habitats, reproduction, and behavior. Next the decades of conservation efforts and their results are reviewed, including issues?of captive breeding, invasive species, introduced diseases, and de-extinction, as well as the current status and distribution of every species. The final portion of the book turns to four case studies of restoration, and then looks ahead to the future of all tortoise populations.The latest volume in the Biodiversity of the World: Conservation from Genes to Landscape series, Galapagos Giant Tortoises is a valuable resource for researchers and conservationists, as well as students of biology, wildlife conservation, and herpetology.

  • Provides a comprehensive overview of the Galapagos giant tortoise species as written and edited by the world's leading experts
  • Presents examples of restoration of tortoise populations following the near extinction of many of them
  • Describes conservation strategies to ensure the full recovery of all extant species
  • Explores recent efforts using replacement tortoises for extinct species to restore island ecosystems
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James P. Gibbs is Distinguished Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Vice President of Galápagos Conservancy. He earned a PhD in Forestry and Environmental Studies from Yale University (1995). He has conducted conservation research worldwide and authored more than 240 peer-reviewed papers and several books. He serves on several conservation boards focused on island and Galápagos biodiversity.Dr. Linda J. Cayot has worked for Galapagos conservation for 40 years. She received her PhD on Galapagos giant tortoises from Syracuse University, New York, US. Dr. Cayot served as herpetologist at the Charles Darwin Research Station (CDRS) from 1988 to 1998. In 1997-98, she initiated Project Isabela, aimed at eradicating feral goats on northern Isabela Island. She worked for Galapagos Conservancy in the US from 2006 to 2019, where she played a lead role in the development of the Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative. Washington Tapia Aguilera, Ph.D., is a conservation biologist and leading expert in Galápagos restoration, with more than three decades of experience in protected-area management, research, and species recovery. He earned his Ph.D. in Biodiversity and Environment from the University of Málaga in 2024 and has held senior leadership positions with the Galápagos National Park. From 2014 to 2025, he directed Galápagos Conservancy’s Giant Tortoise Restoration Initiative, helping advance major rewilding and restoration efforts across the archipelago. Currently Tapia serves as CEO of Biodiversa Consultants, based in the Galápagos Islands, and continues to advise globally on biodiversity management and ecological restoration.

Recensioner i media

"I want to emphasize that this book is not just for Galápagos giant tortoise enthusiasts. It also highlights the many lessons that have been learned from restoration of Galápagos ecosystems. I teach an undergraduate course on conservation biology and always include a discussion of “ecological substitutes” as a means or restoring lost ecological functions. The comprehensive list of tortoise rewilding efforts around the globe (Chapter 2) will definitely be incorporated into my discussion of this topic the next time I give the course. My course similarly includes a unit on eradication of invasive species, and the eradications successfully completed in the Galápagos (Chapter 19) are certainly a guide for future eradication attempts around the globe. I was particularly interested in the rat eradication carried out on Pinzón Island (Chapter 22) and the immediate benefits detected for not only Galápagos giant tortoises, but also land snails, lava lizards, Galápagos snakes, cactus finches, and Galápagos rails.This leads to my final point about the book’s inspiring accounts of individual tortoises. Although we are all aware of the incredible longevity of giant tortoises, the stories in this volume brought it home to me in a way I had not experienced before. I was particularly moved by the story of Diego (Chapter 21), the Española giant tortoise who was collected from his home island in 1934, spent 43 years at the San Diego Zoo, was then transferred to the Tortoise Breeding Center to participate in the captive breeding program for another 43 years, before being returned to his home island in 2020. It is incredible to think of any living organism having witnessed so much change, but the authors of this volume calculate that 2% of Galápagos giant tortoises alive today would have been present when Darwin visited the islands in 1834. It is only due to their extreme longevity that the tortoises were able to persist through centuries of human exploitation and invasive species (e.g., there was no natural tortoise recruitment on Pinzón for over a century). I commend the authors for composing engaging chapters across the board and the editors for forming them into a cohesive volume." --The Quarterly Review of Biology

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