Cayot, Linda J.

Rassmann, Kornelia

Trillmich, Fritz

English

Aquatic Commons

April1994 NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS l3
ARE MARINE IGUANAS ENDANGERED ON ISLANDS WITH
INTRODUCED PREDATORS?
By: Linda J. Cayot, Kornelia Rassmann, and Fritz T[illmich
To visitors of Galápagos, marine iguanas (Ambly-
rhynchus cristatus) are the most obvious largereptile,
inhabiting nearly all islands. They occur most abun-
dantly on southern coastlines exposed to the prevailing
winds, currents, and wave pattems (Laurie 1983).
However, this superficial impression of widespread,
healthy andvery abundantpopulations may bein need
of careful revision. While it has been known for a long
time that introduced mammals prey upon marine igua-
nas (feral dogs attack adults (Kruuk and Snell 1981);
feralcats attackyoung (Konecny 1983, Laurie 1983)),
recent observations indicate a potentially alarming
lack of recruitment, i.e., survival and growth to repro-
ductive age, in some populations.
Laurie (1983) described an apparent lack of re-
cruitment in populations of marine iguanas on some
islands where cats and rats are abundant and whe¡e
cats, at least, demonstrably prey heavily on hatchling
and juvenile marine iguanas (his Fig. 2 shows cats as
apredatoron Santiago, where they apparently no longer
occur). In his survey of most of the coastline of the
Archipelago, Laurie noted this lack of recruitment of
hatchlings in a number of colonies on Isabela (see also
Jacome 1989), Floreana, San Cristóbal, and Santa
Cruz, all islands with abundant cat and rat popula-
tions. Acomparison of apopulation from SantaFe, an
island without introduced predators, with a popula-
tion from Punta Nuñez on Santa Cruz, shows great
differences. On Santa Fe, 53Vo of 650 hatchlings
marked in May 1981 still survived in November,
whereas at Punta Nuñez less than L%o of over 1000
marked hatchlirrgs were still alive in November (Lau-
rie 1983; Rauch, pers. comm. in Laurie 1983).
On a recent trip to collect blood samples of marine
iguanas throughout the Archipelago (FebruaryMarch
1993, Fig. 1), we were impressed by the conspicuous
absence ofjuveniles in the populations on Isabela,
Floreana, San Cristóbal, and Santa Cruz. These are
the only islands, other than Baltra, with feral cat
populations. There was evidence of iguana nesting
on all islands visited, but only on islands without
introducedpredators was an abundance ofjuveniles
observed.
Marine iguanapopulations seem to be much low-
er today than described for 1981 by Laurie (1983),
particularly at Caleta Negra and Punta Albermarle
on Isabela. Laurie indicated that many of the popu-
lations, particularly those on Isabela, were in severe
danger of extermination once the adults presently
comprising most of the populations die. Unlike for
other populations on Isabela, at Punta Vicente Roca,
Laurie found substantial recruitment and suggested
that the steep cliffs protected marine iguanas from
cat predation. However, Jacome ( 1 989) observed in
1987 and 1988, that feral cats had preyed on
hatchlings and thatrecruitmentwas nearly zero. The
causes for such differences should be investigated as
they may be due to factors not directly related to cat
predation.
The iguana population on Pinzon, where Laurie
also noticed a lack of recruitment, may present a
special case. Unlike the other four islands mentioned,
where cats appear to be the dominant predator of
marine iguanas, the only introduced predator on
Pinzon is the black rat. While black rats do not ap-
pear to have a major impact on marine iguana
populations on otherislands, they may beparticular-
ly food-stressedon Pinzon and, as in the case of giant
tortoises (MacFarland et al^, 1974), prey on the re-
cent hatchling marine iguanas, thus limiting
recruitment. Only in 1989, when the rat population
was near zero following the rat eradication campaign
t4 NOTICIAS DE GALÁPAGOS No.53
San Cristobal
Figure 1. Ma¡ine iguana sites visited in FebruaryMarch 1993.
in 1988 (Cayot and Calvopiña 1989), were more
marine iguana hatchlings observed than normally.
During our brief stay, we observed few adults and
even fewer young. The combination of a coastline
that does not provide the ideal habitat for marine
iguanas and an abundance of black rats may result in
a small marine iguana population.
It is probable that the current status of marine igua-
napopulations on the cat-infestedislands is due to the
combined effect of high mortality during El Niño
1982-83 (Laurie and Brown 1990) and continued cat
predation of hatchlings resulting in low recruitment.
We recommend the development of a ca¡eful moni-
toring program to determine the dynamics of the
apparently threatened iguanapopulations and the level
of threat due to feral cats. This would involve peri-
odic censusing using mark/recapture at specific sites,
on islands with and without cats.
In addition, we recommend a study testing the
feasibility of improving hatchling recruitment by
reducing cat numbers in iguana nesting zones. This
could be done by comparing survivorship of hatchling
iguanas on Caamaño, a small islet without feral cats
off the southern coast of Santa Cruz, with survivor-
ship ofhatchlings in 4-6 nesting areas on the southern
coast of Santa Cruz, whe¡e cats are abundant. No
reduction in cat numbers would be done at one of the
SantaCruz sites (control), whilevarious levels of cat
reduction would be carried out in the remaining sites.
A goal of this study should be the development of
techniques that will ensure an increase in hatchling
survival and eventual recruitment to the breeding
population. The results of the proposed study will
provide the necessary data to establish both the need
for and the means of apilot managementprogramfor
marine iguana populations. This program may need
to be implemented almost immediately for certain
populations; otherwise some marine iguana popula-
tions may become severely threatened in the near
future ifthey are not already.
April 1994 NOTICIAS DE GALAPAGOS 15
Both a long-term monitoring program and a pilot
study on increasing survivorship of hatchling marine
iguanas by reducing cat numbers may help maintain
the teeming abundance of ma¡ine iguanas through-
out the Galápagos Archipelago.
LITERÄTURE CITED
Cayot, L. and L. Calvopiña. 1989. La potencial er-
radicacion de ratas negras en la Isla Pinzon. Ca¡ta
Informativa 9(28): 10-11.
Jacome, M.A. 1989. Estado actual de los gatos cima-
rrones en Punta Vicente Roca, Isla Isabela. Carta
Informativa 9(28):6.
Konecny, M.J. 1983. Behavioral ecology of feral
house cats in the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador.
Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Florida. l27pp.
Kruuk, H. and H. Snell. 198 1 . Prey selection by feral
dogs from a population of ma¡ine iguanas (An-
blyrhynchus cristatus). J. Applied Ecology
18:197-204.
Laurie, A.W. 1983. Ma¡ine iguanas in Galápagos.
Oryx17:18-25.
Laurie, A.W. and D. Brown. 1990. Population biol-
ogy of marine iguanas (Amblyrhynchus cristatus)
II. Changes in annual survival rates and the ef-
fects of size, sex, age and fecundity in apopulation
crash. J. Anim. Ecol.59:529-544.
MacFa¡land, C.G., J. Villa and B. Toro. 1974. The
Galápagos giant tortois es (G e o c he I o ne el ep han-
topus) Part I: Søtus of the surviving populations.
Biological Conservation 6:198-212.
Linda J. Cayot, Charles Darwin Research Sta-
tion, Isla Santa Cruz, Galápagos, Ecuador.
Kornelia Rassmann, Department of Zoology,
University of Munich, Luisenstr. 14,8000 Munich
2, Germany. Fritz Trillmich, Chair of Ethology,
Faculty of Biology University of Bielefeld, P.O.
Box 10 0131,48 Bielefeld t Germany.
Supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemein-
schaft Tr 10517-1.
THE STORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE TORTOISE '.LONESOME
GEORGE'' ON PINTA ISLAND
By: Dr. Manuel Cruz P. (Translated by Heidi M. Snell)
THE BEGINNING
In the beginning of 1972, útri,ng the last year of
our studies in the Department of Natural Sciences of
the University of Guayaquil, Hipolito Ronquillo and
myself were asked to become the first scholarship
students to represent INP and the University at the
Darwin Station. This began a long term agreement
between the Instituto Nacional de Pesca (INP), the
Department of Natural Sciences of the University of
Guayaquil and the Charles Darwin Research Station.
GUAYAQUIL TO GALÁPAGOS
In 1972, TAME made twice weekly flights be-
tween Guayaquil and Galápagos. Hipolito told me
that this was the first time he would be away from his
family for so long. We were scheduled to be in Galápa-
gos for three months. After the three hour flight we
arrived at B altra and then to the dock. We went aboard
a small boat and rraveled four hours around Santa
Cruz until we arrived at Puerto Ayora where we were
met by the director of the Darwin Station, Dr. Peter
Kramer.


Are marine iguanas endangered on islands with introduced predators?

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Are marine iguanas endangered on islands with introduced predators?

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