The contribution of the Galapagos Islands to increasing our understanding of evolution can
hardly be surpassed by any other place of similar size on Earth. Evolutionary biology
research on the Galapagos spans studies on the origins of life to molecular phylogeny and
evolutionary developmental biology. Most pioneering research conducted on the Galapagos
was basic descriptive natural history that focused on the evolutionary ecology of endemic
species, with an emphasis on the patterns and mechanisms of adaptation, geographic …

In this launch of the Galapagos series, this book provides a broad “framing” assessment of
the current status of social and ecological systems in the Galapagos Islands, and the
feedback that explicitly links people to the environment. It also highlights the challenges to
conservation imposed by tourism in the Galapagos Islands and the attendant migration of
people from mainland Ecuador to service the burgeoning tourism industry. Further, there is
an emphasize on the status of the terrestrial and marine environments that form the very …