Tortoise Restoration Project

A SUNY-ESF graduate student who spent the summer of 2010 repopulating the Galapagos Archipelago with giant tortoises, returned to the island to find out just what those tortoises have been doing since then.

Elizabeth Hunter, a master's student in conservation biology, was accompanied by a four-person team that included a 2011 ESF graduate and an ESF student who is finishing her junior year.

"We're going to check on all the tortoises that were released last year. We'll download all the information about their movements over the last nine months," Hunter said prior to leaving. "We'll see if the plant communities have changed due to the tortoise activity and assess the avian and invertebrate populations' responses to tortoises."

Hunter spent eight weeks on Pinta Island. Accompanying her was John Mulligan, who graduated from ESF the day before departing; ESF junior Catie Homan; U.S. Geological Survey field technician Claire Phillips; and Ecuadorian undergraduate Daniel Lara.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ecuador
• tortoise
• galapagos
• habitat
• endangered species
• conservation
• environment
• SUNY-ESF
• Conservation Biology