Lost Paradise Found
A "Lost Paradise" Found for Scientists and Conservation Biologists
Perhaps the exquisiteness of Darwin's perception, something that allowed him to see beyond his sight, was key to his finding the most unequivocal evidence for his theory of evolution at a time when a world in stasis was the prominent philosophy. Today the Galapagos are recognized as a "living laboratory" of evolution, a textbook full of examples with which to understand the way that life forms become modified, and how a single colonizing life form diversifies into a complex array of new forms, each one permanently adapting to its own particular way of life. Thus, the Galapagos are truly a 'lost paradise' for evolutionary and conservation biologists who, in these islands, are better able to understand the heart and soul of Darwin's evolutionary theory through the study of processes such as colonization, adaptation and speciation ruled by natural selection, and perhaps also a more modern theory that at the time escaped Darwin: the process of genetic drift. As a result of adaptive radiation in the Galapagos, many plant and animal species have diversified into other forms. Not only animals like the 'chiques', (the early settlers' vernacular name for the famous finches, Geospizinae, now honored with Darwin's name), but also land snails (Bulimulus spp.), land tortoises (Geochelone) and plants such as the 'Lechoso' (Scalecia spp.), an endemic genus of the sunflower family. Some species of scalecia have evolved into forms so enormous that they have caused the highlands of some of the largest islands to resemble a continental rain forest.
The islands remain as a silent witness to the turbulent geological past, and today they also represent a unique opportunity to study and apply the basic principles of conservation biology and sustainable management, both for marine and terrestrial ecosystems. The Galapagos are an open textbook to explore new theories, to confront existing ones in the face of actions and management decisions, and finally, to explore the role of science in conservation, the use (and sometimes misuse) of politics, in order to ensure that conservation and sustainable development policies actually become implemented.